The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The James Harden of the NFL (feat. Nick Wright)

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

"That feels like the most offensive thing said on this show said in 6 months." Nick Wright takes a brave stance on Lamar Jackson and we break down a magical 9th inning at Yankee Stadium between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. dot CA slash YMX Welcome to the big suey

presented by Draft Kings Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries

if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here. the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. This episode of the Dan Levitart show is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, The Crown is yours. Start of the Day, start of the day, this year, start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, this year, start of the day.

Start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, in this year, start of the day, start of the day start of the day in this year start of the day the day the Ravens point total this season is the most through four games

of his season by any team with this many losses in NFL history of the 47 teams in NFL history to score this many points through this many games in the season the points allowed for Baltimore

are the most in NFL history I see the smile on Nick Wright's face. He is so tired of the rush to defend Lamar Jackson, protect Lamar Jackson. I can see that he is fed up. But give that stat again so that everyone understands how unprecedented what's happening with that Ravens defense. So this was like I had to tweak this stat a little bit because that was before they surrendered the point total that they did to Kansas City, which Kansas City had an offensive get right game against the Ravens. because entering that game, they had already given up 96 total points,

which is the most through that many games in a season with an offense to score 110 plus points. And now the offense is facing all sorts of challenges with Lamar Jackson's injury. There's talk that he's going to miss this week. So that defense has a lot of issues right now, Dan. And it's weird because they have the talent. Yes, they've had injuries, but they've had historically over the last few years, Baltimore's had to navigate through plenty of injuries, and they haven't had the same kind of challenges that they've had this year.

That's the stat of the day, presented by Amazon Prime Video. Thursday night football is on. The San Francisco 49ers take on the Los Angeles Rams. Coverage begins Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern, only on Prime Video. You say that, Mike, but last year their defense was the healthiest in the league, missed the fewest games, and this year they're lacking the health more than any other team in the league. But, Nick, what are your thoughts here? You saw the get-right game that your beloved Mahomes had against one of the worst defenses

is ever seen and the worst one statistically in the sport this season. Yeah, listen, I get it. Josh Allen, you know, scores 40 on the Ravens. He's playing the position at a higher level than ever. The Lions score 40 on the Ravens, and they officially don't miss Ben Johnson anymore. They're back. The Chiefs score 40 on the Ravens. It's like, hmm, the Ravens must be bad.

But that's not the story. Listen, I want to have an actual adult conversation about how Lamar Jackson is discussed and why I think it's he's discussed as such okay so Dan see if I can sell you on this because there is a bit of the enemy of my enemy is my friend here which is when Lamar was coming out of school while Bill Polian got the face of it because he said he should be a wide receiver or whatever the loudest and most ardent Lamar Jackson skeptics, most of them were bad actors. I'm not calling Bill Polly in that. They were folks that people in my position in the media, young, usually pretty liberal, myself,

pretty, I think, evolved on a lot of social issues, really didn't like those folks. They didn't want, and they were like, and they found their opinions to be abhorrent, not really just about football and I believe to my core that because of that and because the biggest Lamar critics early on were just bad folks there has been an overcorrection where eight years later nobody seems to want to acknowledge what is so patently obviously obviously year after year after year, which is he is an all-time legendary first ballot Hall of Fame MVP who places absolute worst football in the absolute biggest games. There is a name for that in sports. It's called getting tight if we want to

be nice, choking if we want to be mean, we have no problem saying it about Aaron Judge, we have no problem saying it about James Harden, we had no problem saying it about Peyton Manning. But because Lamar for some reason or another, we are still fighting this old battle of can he be a quarterback? Folks don't want to seed any ground. And then I have to listen to even an over over correction, which is actually if you remove running, he's the best one of the best players ever. Look at his passer rating as if that isn't influenced by the defense being afraid of him being able to run because he's so dynamic.

We have to pretend as if it's not a fact that in the last 30 games he's had three multi-turnover games. The AFC title game against the Chiefs, the divisional round against the Chiefs and Sunday against the Chiefs. Then in the last 30 games

he's thrown seven total picks which is remarkable. Four of which were regular season picks that hit his receiver in the hands and the other three were just awful, awful decisions that were in the AFC title game, the divisional round game, and Sunday against the Chiefs, those games, all of which he also had an inexplicable fumble. It's patronizing to him to pretend like this is must be a coincidence

when it obviously is not. Nick laid it out tremendously well. I guess what Muddy's Water a little bit is all the individual achievements and accolades that Lamar Jackson has stacked, won a Heisman trophy, multiple MVP in the NFL, at no level, including high school, has Lamar Jackson ever quarterbacked a championship team. Dane back to Boynton Beach. He has never been a part of a championship team, not an ACC champion. Not an ASEC champion. Listen, I don't know if Tennessee ever won the SEC,

and I don't know if Arizona State ever won the PAC 10 or Pac-12 conference. tournament, but I know that no, I don't get why it's fair for other guys. Like James Harden has more first-team all-MBAs than Steph Curry. James Harden has the statistical profile of a top 15 all-time player, and he is barred from that conversation correctly because year after year after year, he comes up short in the biggest spot. Peyton when they won the Super Bowl in Indy, he didn't get over his big game stuff. He had three touchdown, seven picks on that playoff run. Bill Simmons did a whole Peyton Manning face thing.

And then I listen to the commentary after the Chiefs game Sunday, and there's eight seconds on the fact that they're up seven three, the Chiefs aren't humming yet, they have the ball at midfield, and for the first time in the regular season, two years, Lamar just throws a what the hell was that off his back foot first down interception and everyone's like, no, the defense was just too injured. The whole world picked the Ravens going into that game with the defense being injured. That game did not flip because Marlon Humphrey went out. Marlon Humphrey went out when they were already down 17. The defense

didn't, that game didn't flip because Roquan Smith got hurt. That game flipped because Lamar had two first half turnovers. While the chiefs were frustrated on offense, the chiefs were in a vulnerable position. The place that I would push back on you, I believe your critique is fair and accurate before the season and based on those playoff games. You're making this a big game when you can if you want, but this doesn't count. Like it's two one and two teams. This is not an AFC championship game. He had a bad game. You can make it a big game if you want, but it was a game between two one and two teams. He had a bad game. Dan, Dan, is it a game against a team that he called, quote, his kryptonite?

Yes. Was it a game against a player in Patrick Mahomes that he said a few years ago, no, I don't like playing him? Is it a game against a team that he has now played seven times, lost six to, and is it a game? Oh, Nick. No, but Nick, you know that, Nick, you know that the chiefs defend him differently than every team in the league. You know that they have a spotter and they have a way. They've got to solve on Lamar Jackson that no other team has. Their defense can stifle him,

but you're just making an arbitrary game four of the season count as much as one of the playoff games because he had a bad game. No, no, no. Hold on. I'm not doing that. What I am saying is that when there is, there are, there's a big three quarterbacking in the NFL at this point. Patrick, Lamar, and Josh burrows out because he's out.

And when Lamar has consistently played not every single game, but consistently played his worst ball in against one of those other two guys, particularly against Patrick, we can't act like that's coincidental. Nick, Nick, it's not coincidental that the chiefs have a solve for him. They put a spotter on him and they can slow him. Here's my answer to that. I don't buy that. I do not buy.

Are the Chiefs games not on film? Nobody else can watch what the Chiefs do. Everybody has tried for a decade to solve Lamar Jackson. And the way to solve Lamar Jackson is have Lamar feel like this is a huge spot. That's how you, like he, I don't. And so we, we're not going to pretend. like when Brady and man, like one of the most famous Brady Manning games ever was a regular season game.

But Nick. When Belichick went for the fourth down. You have him losing to Josh Allen in game one. That wasn't his fault. No, I, no, no, no. I'm not putting that on him at all. But you're saying the games against Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, the last one he had against Josh Allen, he had him beat.

Let me also provide some, let me also provide some more stats because it's not just the chiefs. He has five losses in the playoffs. Here are the Ravens point totals in these games. In Lamar's playoff debut, they scored 17 points. They lost to the Chargers. 12 points against the Titans. Three points against the Bills.

17 points against the Cincinnati Bengals. 10 points against the Kansas City Chiefs. When the opponent scores more than 20 points in the playoffs, Lamar Jackson does not win those games historically. Hold on. So I think we might be leaving. The Bengals won, I think, was a Huntley playing, just to be fair. but I think we're also leaving one out.

What is true is this. In four of his five years in the postseason, the single fewest points the Raven scored all year was in their playoff game. They've played the Chiefs in the playoffs once. It's not that the Chiefs have a solve for him. Like I don't, and you can, and no, I want to be very clear. I was not putting game one on Lamar,

and I think game one of the season was a game. he played really well in and that was a game where the defense and Derek Henry's fumble let him down I so to be clear a what I do but I just don't the bigger question I have is why on earth am I and seemingly Shannon Sharp on an island on this why is it is such a patronizing protectionism and I've got to deal with people I really like and respect I and we joke but I adore Meena Kimes as a human being and have massive respect for her football knowledge massive respect

I went on her pod this off season and I referenced the Ravens playoff game and she just said like matter-of-factly Lamar was not bad in that game he had four turnovers all year two in the first half of the playoff game they lost in what now Did he rally at the end? Did he give them a chance to come back? Sure, but he dug that hole. Like, I just, it is, it, if we were all just nice and kind and gentle in sports media about everyone, so be it. But that's not how it is. And so it feels to me like there is, and people also do this thing.

They're like, well, it, you know, all these bills and Ravens are this, these all time team stats. And Josh and Lamar, these all time player stats. but I haven't made a Super Bowl that's actually a Patrick Mahomes compliment be but that's true for the bills the bills four times got blocked in the playoffs by Mahomes the Ravens it's once and so and to kind of add to the other point Dan a week four regular season game against the defining player of the league when both of your teams are teetering on must-win adjacent territory, and you have your worst regular season game in two years, I'm not going to

call that a coincidence. Howdy, folks, it's Mike Ryan. I want to talk to you about game time, the official ticketing partner of the Dan Levitard show. They've been on with us for quite a while, and I practice what I preach here, people. It is my go-to when I'm trying to get in-demand tickets. Why? It's got so many incredible features.

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Well, turns out I'm a big fat liar because one of the things that I watched in the movie theater this summer, just a couple of months ago, was the naked guns. and I laughed my ass off. I enjoyed it so much being there in a movie theater full of people, everybody laughing, the communal experience. But now it's on Paramount Plus, and I get to do it all over again from the comfort of my home. I'm going to grab my family. We're going to gather around.

We're going to watch it. That's what you should do. You should grab your friends or your family. Watch the naked gun. It's hilarious. Liam Neeson kills it as Frank Rebben Jr. Yes, Frank Revin Jr. They're continuing the legacy.

There are a lot of little callbacks and Easter eggs. From the old Naked Gun movies, this one right here captures that spirit, captures that comedy. And why wouldn't it? It's produced by Seth MacFarlane. You know how much I love Family Guy and American Dad. He's a producer. The director of Akiva Schaefer. You know him from S&L.

He directed pop star, never stopped popping. He's hilarious. You got Pam Anderson in it. You got my man Danny Houston, aka I'm surprised. Oh, my God. You have to go catch this movie on Paramount Plus. And why wouldn't you? Who doesn't like to laugh?

It's fun times in your household tonight, Paramount Plus The Naked Gun. Hey, Jeremy, old buddy, old pal. Hey, Mike. I want to talk to you about Miller Life. You and I have bonded over these last few weeks talking about our shared love of Miller Life. That's right. A great partner of our show for practically its entire existence. It's been a partner of this show since I was 10 years old.

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Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96. calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don Levatard. This is the quickest it goes. Hey, this is the quickest it goes. Stugats. Everybody, this is the quickest it goes. Yeah.

This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Is your number one theory on this that people are afraid to criticize him because to criticize him might get you called racist? Like, what is your number one theory? No, it's not, no, no, no. I do not think, I want to make it very clear. I think it's that all of the racists in sports media or really, they're not even really in sports media,

that dabble in sports were anti-Lamar, all of them were. And let me again be very clear what I'm saying. Everyone who was anti-Lamar in the beginning was not, racist but all the racists were anti Lamar and because of that the anti-racists of which I consider myself one and I think a lot of my young media colleagues consider themselves are one over corrected and now feel like I don't want to give an inch it's it's that meme when the worst person in the world makes a good point and you're like no I don't want at all for those folks to have any type of

win which I actually empathize with and I might actually if I wasn't so felt so steady on my ground of like okay if folks want to call me an anti-black racist like you can go ahead and try but I just think I don't think that's gonna play so maybe I'm not maybe I'm I'm less anxious about it that I can just call for what I see it which is is James Harden of the NFL NFL. And you guys are going to be First Ball in All-Famer, one of the most unique players ever. But why do we have to pretend it's bad luck? That's all I'm saying. Why do we, and why do we have to pretend that it's surprising that that happened? It wasn't. He's the host of FS1's First Things First. I suggest that you listen to What's Right with Nick Wright. He does that with his son. You can watch him on First Weekdays at 3 p.m. on FS1. Did you think he quit? I don't think a lot of quarterbacks in that situation, people would leap to the conclusion

that he quit at the end of the third quarter when he left the game, but a lot of people did jump to the conclusion thinking that Lamar Jackson quit at the end of that game. What I thought, I thought it was weird that he wasn't seemingly getting treatment, and then they, he had seemingly tied around his hamstring just a couple of Gatorade towels. I thought that was weird. I also think that right after the game Harbaal was like, I don't know if he could have gone back in. Then the next day, he was like he definitively couldn't have gone back in. And then yesterday, the Baltimore son, none of like the national reporters, the Baltimore son's like, oh, he's out for Houston and it could be two to three weeks. I do not deny at all. Or I don't do not doubt I should say. say, that Lamar hurt his hamstring in that game. If you're asking my honest opinion of, if it were tied, do I think he would have kept playing?

Yeah, probably. Do I think, though, that would have been, like, that's totally reasonable. If it's like, ah, I could play through this, but it might make it worse, but we're down 17 and also we're playing the Chiefs, so we lost as soon as we got off the bus, I probably should get healthy. I think that's, I think that would be totally legitimate. Billy just said to me, classic Tony, classic just quitting at the end when you realize you're going to find it.

Nick, I don't know if you know this yesterday, Tony decided for some reason to kick fuel goals on the show while giving a list no one cared about. He lost the ball beforehand because he claimed that he kicked it so well that he kicked it over the fence. No one saw it happen. Then the kicks that we did saw were three horrific kicks. And on the fourth one, he just decided not to participate anymore

and pulled up and he said that he pulled his hip and he couldn't kick anymore. Can I, can I, I know we don't have a ton of time here, but can I tell a story where I was covered in shame? I've told him publicly once before. No, I can't. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, sorry. No, don't listen to him. Don't listen to him. I don't know. Billy's in charge. Would you fly on a plane with a captain that has a lisp just real quick before your story? Yeah, of course. That seems like the most offensive things set on this show in six months. Would you prefer, would you prefer your pilot to be blind or deaf?

I don't, you know what? I'm not comfortable answering any of these questions. What I will tell you you is this anybody that and then I'll tell the story about where I'm covered in shame anybody who I think has something it's the it's the Nick Wright on TV Corollary and don't you guys pull up the picture I'm gonna tell a funnier your story it's my how I how I look actually makes gives me more take credibility because like man that guy must really sons of bitches that guy must really be sharp because why else would he be on TV so whenever I see someone that has you know a different ability or

something that I think could have worked against them in the hiring process I'm like man they must be really good because they had to overcome it now to my story before I go um so people who are mad at me can at least take pleasure in this state final four by 800 relay high school I am the third leg a of the team and I think I'm running a great time but then I see three, when I got the baton, we were in metal stamp position and three people passed me on the second lap. With 200 meters to go, I started running, holding my back hamstring, which was not injured because I needed an excuse as to why I was letting the team

down. It's a good move. It really is. Do you have anything for Pablo on your way out, your nemesis Pablo? Again, he's the host of FS1's first things. First, what's right with Nick Wright is a podcast. I recommend to you he does it with his son and it is a charming and smart and lovable it is oh charming and lovable i appreciate that that's how i hope all my media endeavors are described um yes i all i have for pablo is uh at this point i'm rooting for him to be right because i just want to see what cute like i'm at i at one point i was rooting for cuban but now i've kind of gone in the other direction and the only thing i'm rooting for more than Pablo to be right is for Pablo's next big story to be something I actually

care about. See you later, Nick. Always good seeing you. He does not care about the Kauai Leonard story. I too am rooting for Pablo to be right because I don't want the world's seventh richest man to sue me. So I kind of need Pablo to be factually correct on that because I don't want an ugly public fight on embarrassing Steve Ball.

in a way that is inaccurate. Greg Cody, I didn't want to go too much further in the show today without talking about the baseball yesterday because I thought it was really fun and I don't think baseball can get a lot better than the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. But you are someone who can be anti-baseball. Jeremy was so excited about an invitation to Yankees Red Sox

that instead of doing a live stream yesterday that he had promised, does. He immediately flew out, and everyone shamed him here for doing this, and I just love the adventure in him. I love that he's that hungry about loving sports, that the opportunity to watch a game at Yankee and a Yankee game at Yankee Stadium and see that bottom of the ninth inning is something that he bombed out of here and flew, hopefully, a pilot that didn't have a lisp, flew straight to Yankee Stadium to watch that game. What did you think of the fun yesterday in baseball? Because all of the games, were great, and I'm saying Dodgers Reds were also great

because I saw Shohei Otani take 101 mile an hour pitch from Hunter Green, hit it 117 miles an hour out of the ballpark and have it be his second most impressive home run of the night. Yeah, I'm glad they said 117, because I was guessing it went 120 miles an hour, so I really needed to know the specifics on that. I'm not a huge baseball fan. I am a Yankees Red Soxie. fan. Whenever they play, I'm tuned in. The Red Sox were my first love in baseball, probably in sports,

back in the mid-60s. And so I tuned into that game. I love the ending, obviously, because I'm a Red Sox fan, which means I hate the Yankees. But it's emblematic of what's wrong with baseball. Okay, the pitcher for the Yankees, Max pronounced Freed, is pitching a gym. He is shutting out the Red Sox, and the manager, pronounced Aaron Buffoon, takes him out after six in a third inning, and the bullpen blows up, and the Red Sox win because of Aaron Boone's misplay. And that's baseball now. Okay, when I grew up, Gaylord Perry had like 35 complete games in the season. The complete game has died.

Hell yeah. The leader in complete games now has like three, because it's late in the season, and they don't care. So they say, yeah, let's let McGillacutty pitch the whole game. Bring back the complete game. Too much reliance on the bullpen. And that was emblem. I'm thrilled that happened yesterday because I wanted the Red Sox to win. What a great finish. But Aaron Boone blew that game because he was following what baseball has become. Greg, it's not beneath you to change like his last name from Boone to Buffoon. Is that beneath me? Yeah. I would have thought that's beneath you. It was too easy. But it was not beneath me. He just said how it's pronounced. Same thing as like

Max Freed is pronounced. freed, even though it's spelled fried. So he has to tell us exactly how it's pronounced, not how it looks. He was a buffoon in that instance. People have been saying that about him since he intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera a couple years ago when he was trying to get his 3,000th hit. People have really been going after Aaron Boone saying he should lose his job for a while now. He's probably going to lose his job, honestly.

The thing about that that was weird, too, is that he brought him in to start that inning, and it was a three pitch at bat, and then he took him out. Like, why didn't you just, if you weren't going to have him pitch the inning, why didn't you just start with a clean slate? statement afterwards was just basically the bullpen, like, we were set up. Right after that first batter, we were set up the rest of the way with our bullpen. I mean, it's what every team does nowadays.

It's not like Aaron Boone did anything different than what most every other manager does. But it's ridiculous that you adhere so strictly to the pitch count. He was on 99 pitches, which is why they let him see the 7th. He threw 102 pitches and the thing that needs noting here, while I understand

your criticism, and you're not alone because Freed and Jazz Chisham seemed upset about it. The reason that they do that is because statistically empirically, okay, this is so what I'm about to say, it's mathematically factual. The third time through a lineup is

when these pitchers get hit. The first two times through the lineup is when, that's why the whole sport has changed in this regard, but I too would have stayed with my ace in that spot, especially since my ace is better than my bullpen. They figured Luke Weaver out in the first time through that lineup

though real quickly, to the tune of not getting it out. All that being said, they still had an opportunity to win that game. They had bases loaded, no outs against the Raldus Chapman. Now, a lot of lefties in that bottom half of the ninth for New York. Granted, one of them is Bellinger. He does historically well against lefties, but the Yankees are the first team in Major League postseason history

to have the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, but not score a run and go on to lose the game. A roll this Chapman. Still throwing that beat. There was a sequence where he went from 101 to 87. How does anybody work with this? Doong, do do do, do. Hey, NFL fans, what's your favorite touchdown?

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Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Don Lebertard. You don't remember the idea for a home runoff? I was probably like, that kind of thing. Something. Okay, no. The home run call was that kind of swing, that kind of thing.

Stugats. Oh, it's a good call. Thank you. And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. Like, you're not tailing it to a particular name. You know, all that jazz. You know, you don't kind of do that. Oh, that would be a great call.

That kind of swing, that kind of thing. This is the Don Labatar show. with these two gods. I want to talk about that bottom of the ninth inning, okay? And I want to talk about it for 10 minutes because of how special it actually was. First of all, give me the music again so that Mike can give the stat from our most historic sport.

Start of the day, start of the day. This year, start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day In this year, start of the day Start of the day, start of the day In this year, start of the day Start of the day, start of the day, in this year, start of the day.

Courtesy of Optusats, The New York Yankees are the first team in Major League Baseball postseason history to have the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th, but not score a run and go on to lose the game. I guess the context there is maybe it's happened once before and teams ended up winning in extras and coming back. But to have a winner-loss situation against Boston Red Sox like the New York Yankees had last night with the best possible scenario.

Basis load, no outs. No team has done what we saw the Yankees do last night. Also had like a small stat of the day here. I saw as well. Now granted, this new format only began in 2022, but no team in this wild card round has lost game one and then won the next two games. Yeah. In fact, getting to game three, this only happened four times. I thought the baseball was awesome. I checked in on it and I was locked in. These games flew. They were high drama. I loved what Major League Baseball had to offer yesterday. I'm back in today. Anyone else want a little more from Aaron Judge in that ninth inning? Base sit up the middle. Need more. Let's talk about this for a second because that really was a magical half inning. And let me go through all of this because Crochet, retirement.

fired 17 straight batters, and you can do all the managerial stuff you want. And I understand it today. You're not alone, okay? Nick Terturo is furious. Nick Terturo, as is his want. He is enraged with all things Yankees. Nick Tudorough, NYPD Blue? Let's listen to Nick Turturro, who's been on the show with us.

He's a lunatic. He's the brother of John Tuturo. How do you not score? How could you not score? Three singles in a row! fucking unbelievable that same shit every year and then you take out a guy pinching a shutout did you agree with the decision to not pinch run goldschmidt i know he didn't represent the tying run but with bases loaded no outs like there were there seemed like a play could

have been made where you could have advanced the runners okay so this is exasperating to me because I understand how we're going to make this about something other than Eraldus Chapman. Like, I understand how we're going to do this manager, this decision, here's why it's wrong. Boone sucks, though. I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it.

I have been shut down. You're not alone with that. And, uh, freed, uh, that's how you pronounce it, right, uh, Gregg, uh, freed, uh, says of buffoon. And I was wrong on Freed. I said the Yankees aired by immediately, uh, pivoting off of Soto and I thought they overpaid, Freed. They needed Freed to be an ace yesterday. He was an ace. But let's listen to Freed, because he sure as hell didn't want to come out of the game. Let's listen to him before we go to Jazz Chisholm with his back to reporters because of how pissed off Jazz Chisholm was.

I mean, I definitely felt, felt good at the end. Yeah, you know, coming out, coming out, feeling good. Would you have liked to have stayed in longer? I mean, I'm going to stand until I'd get the ball taken for me. I want to pitch as long as I possibly can, and, you know, when the ball gets taken out of my hands, is, you know, that's what it is. Max, did you feel like you had more left? Yeah, I mean, I definitely felt, I felt good. I felt like, you know, whatever the team needed.

How great would have been if when she asks him, did you want to stay in long or just goes, no. Got to look out for your coach there. That'd be a nice guy. Nice move. What was Boone thinking? That's what he should have said. Boone's not going to be that much longer. Can I say something that people were not going to agree with? They take a fire in mid-series?

Oh, wow. I like that. You know what I don't like? Watching that clip back? Let's bring back the facial hair rule for the Yankees. How can you clean up that stubble max free? You look like a disaster. Was an old-timey baseball-looking guy with a mustache and no batting gloves that came up in that bottom of the ninth. I do have general baseball questions, though, because surprise that O'Raldus Chapman is still that unhittable. Surprise that he can hit 107, 101, like 17. times in that half-ending. He was unbelievable, and he pulls it on a string and goes to the mid-80s. That's crazy. And the Goldschmidt thing seemed weird to me, and there was one sequence where

a base runner that has more fleet of foot could have possibly tagged up from third. I'm going to ask you guys again, because I want to get to the greatness. I know we've got a million questions. We love to do this whenever somebody loses, okay? But I want to talk about Chapman, and I want to talk about the Cuban pitcher specifically, because what happened in that ninth inning was Chapman happened to the Yankees in that ninth inning. After three straight pitches, they get singles. It's Goldschmidt, it's Judge, and it is Belinger. Three straight pitches, singles, they load the bases, okay? Again, as Eduardo Perez is saying, that's the best pitcher in baseball. A manager called me and told me that's the best pitcher in baseball,

Aralda's Chapman. Billy, can you look up for me? How many teams has Chapman played for? He played for the Reds, then the Yankees, then the Cubs, then the Yankees again, then the Royals, the Rangers, then the Pirates, now the Red Sox. How old is he? Allegedly 37. Okay, that's good, that's a good allegedly, because I do want to talk about the Cuban pitcher, and specifically, I want to ask the rest of you, because they tend to come through Miami, and it's always pitchers, right?

Contreras has helped win a title. LeVan Hernandez has helped win a title. El Ducca has helped win a title. It's never a position player. It's always a pitcher. So, Araldis Chapman is in that game, and he is. He's throwing 101. When Mike says he goes 101 to 87, it's when and how he went 101 to 87.

He's facing Grisham with the bases loaded. He's down to one in the count. Grisham's got no chance when he goes lefty on left and he throws an 87 mile an hour slider right over the place, right over the plate, down to one in the count. What came up next is the meat of the Yankee order, okay? Because I know you put your top three guys up at the top of the lineup now, statistically. That's how they all do it in baseball. But it's going to be Stanton. It's going to be Chisholm.

They're going four, five, six. He gets two strikeouts and he gets a flyout. Let's go to the sound and the video of Jazz Chisholm with his back to reporters because he's doing the same thing you guys are doing. He doesn't want questions about when the starter was taken out, when Goldschmidt should be taken, lifted for a pinch runner. I thought you guys would be interested in this inning just because it's all players you've heard of. It's Stanton, it's Chisholm, it's Judge, it's all the players that you guys actually know.

And the one that I didn't have the glorious mustache with no batting gloves. And here's Jazz Chisholm, whether it's just back the whole time to reporters. Were you surprised about the decision? I guess. Yeah. Jazz, is that a conversation at all with him, or is it, he shoots you a text that is what it is? It's a little conversation that much, but, you know, yeah. He has a shirt on. Why is he looking for a shirt? I'm curious. Did they start asking him

questions with his back turned or was he facing them? They started and then he turned around. Because if your back is turned the whole time, it's just kind of like, all right, you don't want to talk. He wasn't ready for questions yet. Well, my first question would have been jazz. Do you mind turning around and so that we can hear you? You would have said that? Yeah. Like jazz, are you looking for another shirt because you're wearing a shirt currently. That would have been a great, that would have been a great question that you're asking there. And so we do this in baseball all the time. I told you

the story. Renee Latchman got really mad at me, okay, because 61 games into their inaugural season, I'm in print questioning a bunch of managerial decisions. The Yankees lost because the six guys at the top of their lineup, three of them singled.

Judge is still, Judge had two hits yesterday, and that's not going to be enough because people are seeing what Otani's doing. Judge now has this reputation of they need home runs from the Yankees. The Yankees keep getting their season stifled because they hit home runs during the season and then they get to the postseason and they don't hit home runs. Their first three hitters, single, single, single on three straight pitches. And then he mows through the other three guys. And the thing that I wanted to talk to you about as it relates

to the Cuban pitcher. I remember years ago, Renéio Rocha gets here. They get here in the strangest fashion. Some of them have to defect in ways like in Dukes' case. He's living. He's living. on an island, a boat, he's eating snails and getting very sick because he's trying to get to America. A Raldus Chapman's story is nuts. It doesn't make any sense that that human being at 37 years old would still be throwing 101 miles an hour when he introduced us to 100 miles an hour. The idea that from the left side that he would slingshot through those lefties in the middle of their order, go through Chisholm, after allowing Bellinger to have the hit, after allowing Judge to have the hit, the idea that Eduardo Perez would be describing that, would

be saying on the telecast that a manager told me, that's the best pitcher in baseball this season. When Billy just gave you the number of teams, he was. Allegedly 37. He was on the Texas Rangers. They weren't using him when they won the championship. Right. But I know baseball has evolved some in the years that I've kind of disconnected from it. I was watching baseball when we're all the chap and was throwing heat. I understand that. I also understand righty lefty matchups and why Bellinger is an outlier for lefties. Why so many lefties in the lineup, Jeremy, I'm going to tag you in and why not pinch run for Goldschmidt? Those were the questions that I had. Is this some new evolution of the sport

that I'm missing here? The Goldschmidt pinch running, that run doesn't matter, right? You got a runner standing on second. It represents the tying line. I would argue with zero out. So there was a situation where he could have advanced the runners with a better runner. Yeah, but he's sitting there, that run doesn't matter. You end up needing a walker hit to tie it. I understand. I understand he doesn't represent the tying run. But again, you could have advanced the runners.

But ultimately, you're also looking at more options for pinch hitters. And Grisham coming up lefty on lefty, Ben Rice was their best option off the bench. He was sat specifically because they had a lefty and Garrett Crochet going to begin with. The only guy who could have been hitting as a right-handed hitter would have been switch-hitting Jason Dominguez. Their entire bench was full of lefties. It's just an unfortunate circumstance for them where their plan was to deploy guys like Jazz and Ben Rice against right-handed relievers by hoping that you could get to some of those guys in high-leverage innings in the seventh or eighth because they would take out crochet by the sixth or seventh, similar to how Freed was taken out by the Yankees. The thing about Chapman, Dan, that we didn't mention before when we were saying the names is since 2022, it's a different team every single season. So 23, he was on two teams.

2024 he was on a new team, 2025 he's on a new team. I was legitimately awed by what it is that he did yesterday, and I understand we do this all the time. He's also fallen off, by the way, in terms of, like, he has the record for fastest pitch ever at 105.8 miles an hour. So at 101, they're like, hmm, this guy, a shell of himself. He's also had off-the-field stuff, which could explain why he's been around. Well, I was about to say, why has the, quote, best pitcher in baseball been traded so many times,

been literally, had a journeyman career and been with, what, eight, nine teams? Why? There have been a lot of off-field issues. Like, there's some ugliness there. But that rarely deters teams from signing someone that's talented enough. We're going to be completely honest. That's the truth. I still am stunned, though, to see someone who's allegedly 37 years old still throwing 101 miles an hour.

I can tell you for a fact, he is 137 years old. And if you didn't know, the reason I'm dressed as Alan Iverson is because I'm doing my punishment, the AI, where I will be giving you only factually correct. information from AI for the rest of this show, including the fact that the Bucket is named after Charlie Bucket from Omar Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Billy, what did you ask, Jeremy? Where he slept. The double tree hill.

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