Reaction: Best World Series Ever? Plus, the "Alex vs. A-Rod" Premiere

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0:42Hi, everyone. Welcome back to The Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside Alex Rodriguez. This is a special edition, not your scheduled programming here, but we had to get together, Alex, to talk about the World Series. You were there. You saw it all unfold. I was watching on TV and candidly, there were a lot of people watching this. I want to break it down with you, get the perspective from, you know, you as a broadcaster, you as obviously a former all-star and also as a team owner, because this is a juggernaut of a business in the back-to-back champion Los Angeles Dodgers and also a really great moment, it feels like, for baseball.

1:21So give me your top line thoughts. You know, what did it feel like to watch this end up in the two best words in sports? Game seven. You were there. What did it feel like? And even better than game seven, game seven of a World Series, right? Yeah. Which is incredible. First of all, it was the most incredible event. It was the best World Series I've ever seen in my 50 years. You had three countries heavily viewing, heavily involved with the U.S., Canada, and Japan. you know you can make an argument that the jays outplayed them in every facet of the game but somehow in order to be a champion you got to you know knock out the champion and the dodgers just simply don't make mistakes yeah and they don't make it in a three-dimensional level right they don't make it at the mark walter level with ownership they don't make it at the andrew friedman who runs you know baseball operations for them and dave roberts just had one of the most magnificent i told him on air and then off air again is there's this third championship as the manager that is by far the best masterclass he's ever put on it was the most anti-script world series we've seen in over 10 years meaning yeah he did things that were unconventional it was an old school style he let pitchers pitch up to 120 pitches obviously yamamoto pitches game two six and seven you've never seen you had four starters pitch for the dodgers they made a combined 1.4 billion dollars in contracts and ironically is the guy that's basically making the minimum in Rojas, who hits the home run.

2:48And then you have Hugh Savage on the other side, the young pitcher who's 22 years old, also making the minimum. He started his season in Dunedin. So what makes it great about baseball, Jason, sorry to geek out of here, but you know how much I love baseball is that unlike basketball and football, where you know the ball is going to be in Tom Brady's hand, throwing to his favorite receiver, or in basketball is Michael Jordan or Steph Curry. In baseball, you have no idea who the next hero is going to be. And we saw exactly that in this series. Well, and it's interesting, too, because, you know, you came up in an age of baseball where it was a star driven league.

3:24You were one of those stars. It feels like baseball has been lacking some of that up until the last couple of years. And this series was really a showcase. I mean, a showcase, pun intended, with Shohei Otani, obviously doing things on the baseball field that literally have never been done before. And yet he doesn't even end up as the MVP. Yamamoto does. I think it's fair to say that had the Blue Jays won, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., obviously would have been the MVP. So the star making aspect, which ultimately is very important to the bottom line of this sport, I think you would agree, was really on display in a way that we haven't seen in a while.

4:05Does that track with you? You're 100 % right, Jason. The other thing is like covering this for Fox in the pre and post with Kevin Burkhardt and Derek Jeter and Big Poppy. It was like the most delicious, most tasty five-star dinner you can have. There was so much to talk about. I have a longtime producer who's a dear friend of mine who always said the key to a big World Series or big sports is the three S's, superstars, strategy, and storylines. And this had an abundance, all three. You had the biggest stars in the world, right? You had incredible strategy the stuff that was going on it was like chess three-dimensional and then the storylines were just incredible and what makes baseball so unique unlike a super bowl it's like a movie and it's a big time movie with tom cruise or you name your star what's great about baseball in a seven game series is like a seven episode docuseries where you're invested in the characters and the storylines and the injuries and so you must watch that game of thrones game seven is the final the finality.

5:06And it's everything that leads up to that that makes it so romantic. And I just walked out from our practice, the Timberwolves here in New York, and I had every guy come up to me because I've never watched a down of baseball, but I got to tell you, I couldn't take my eyes off the thing. And when we were flying, we had the whole team and this little TV just watching the games. It was a transformational, great, great, great moment for baseball. You know, obviously you look at this through the lens of being a broadcaster now. 26 million people tune into Fox, peak of 31 million, I believe, give or take in game seven.

5:45I have to think that the bosses at Fox had big smiles on their faces as you were walking around and traveling with them because it wasn't a given. Fox doesn't show in Canada. And so the Blue Jays, that at least coming into it, is not an optimal situation. And yet the numbers still delivered. What do you make of that? You can make an argument, and I'm not sure how the Fox executives felt, but any TV executive will say, boy, I wish it's two American teams so we can get both markets, right? Yeah. For example, you mentioned that 31.5 at the peak for game seven, which was about 1140 when things got a little dicey there.

6:23If that was the Yankees, for example, that 31 would probably jump to like 45, right? Because all of New York, right? So the fact that you got 31-5 is the highest rating since 2017 when the Dodgers played the Astros. And that doesn't include Canada, doesn't include Japan. It's just a magnificent number. They were thrilled. They were thrilled, to say the least. And you had the best two teams playing the best style of baseball. and in many ways Jason the last 10 years the game of baseball that we all fell in love with had been taken away from us and what I mean by that is they were scripting these scripts at 10 o 'clock in the morning to do something at 10 o 'clock at night and it doesn't work that way yeah when you saw Dave Roberts and Josh Snyder both managers were brilliant here they were brilliant they were doing things unconventional in real time whether it's starting Rojas or whether it's, you know, benching their center fielder.

7:14And then he comes in and makes the catch of the century as he runs over Quique Hernandez, Pajes. And it was just incredible. The stuff you saw, you just fall in love with. Just staying on the numbers for a second. So you have that 26 million for the U.S. You have another, you know, 10 or 11 in Canada, which, by the way, based on the population of Canada, essentially one in four Canadians were watching this, which is wild. We haven't seen numbers around any event in television, maybe bar the Super Bowl in forever. I mean, that's insane. And then the Japan of it all, we all have sort of friends and colleagues who've been to Japan.

7:54It's Dodger mania over there, obviously, between Otani Yamamoto and other players who are sort of coming through the American system. It was an actual World Series. It really was. and again it had a little bit of an olympics feel because when it you know the canadians they did such a fantastic job of uh the pre-game ceremonies was just wild they would pull out the the beautiful red the canadian flag and it would start all the way in center field and it would end up at home plate and it was i get goosebumps talking about it now like you first go with the national anthem and that was beautiful and then that stops and then canadian and i'm telling you You had 50 ,000 people singing every word of the Canadian.

8:34It felt more than baseball. And look, we're in a world today that's kind of very spicy between political stuff, tariffs, which I'm not going to get into. But you certainly felt, and you think about this, Jason, if you're the Canadians and you have one team, one country, first time in the history of Canada, as far as Major League Baseball, that even in 92 when the Blue Jays won, 92 and 93, You still had the Montreal Expos that were really, really good at that time. This is one country, one team. So you had 41 million people, Canadians, cheering for one team. And they would have gone through our two Tiffany blue blood franchises, the New York Yankees and the L.A.

9:13Dodgers. My God, how sweet would they have tasted? And they literally tasted it. I've never seen a game six and a game seven both end on a double play, the most radical double play in game six with a tying run on third. It was just, you know, must watch TV. Well, and it's funny, you know, we keep talking about, you know, it went seven games. I mean, it went almost nine games when you figure in all, you know, I mean, the fact there was an 18 inning game, that's the equivalent of two games right there, and then extra innings to boot. All right, so put on your owner's hat. You and your partner, Mark Laurie, own the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx, which everybody who's listening to this probably knows.

9:52But I know you have a lot of admiration for Mark Walter and his group, Magic Johnson being one of the owners. You talked to him on the postgame show on Fox. As you're thinking about this from an ownership perspective, what do you take away? How does this inform your playbook as an owner? It's all people. I mean, when Mark Walter, I remember over a decade ago, Jace, I'm sure you remember, when he paid$2.2 billion, Mark Walter was a laughingstock of the market. How can you pay so much money? You overpaid, da, da, da. But what he knew more than anybody is that he had$250 million a year coming for basically the next 20 years from the TV contract.

10:29So essentially what you're looking at is NFL economics that just happens to be in the MLB umbrella. And the fact that they're the first team ever in Major League Baseball sports to go over a billion dollars in gross revenue. It's really a remarkable feat. But it's all people. I mean, look at the people they have. And I break it down into three layers. You have Mark Walters, you have Todd Bowley, you have Peter Guber, you have Stan Kasten, Lon Rosen, Magic Johnson, and then you go Andrew Friedman, who came from Tampa, did wonderful things there. And then on the field, you have Dave Roberts and you have a world-class roster.

11:04I mean, it's hard not to get it right with so much talent in the room. And what Mark Walters has done better than anyone is he has a big vision, obviously has deep pockets, but he's wonderful at bringing the best people in the world to surround him. and then have a balance between analytics and humans, and he does that better than anyone. It's also funny to think about in your relatively new job as an NBA owner, I'm sure you're looking at that, and on the one hand, you have a lot of admiration for him as the owner of the Dodgers. On the other hand, you're looking at it and said, oh, wait, now he owns the Lakers.

11:37Right, right. Right there at the Western Conference. Yeah, exactly. So maybe that's coming a little closer to home as you go. So one of the things that does sort of stick in my mind, and I'm not the first person to say this, is baseball, it's doing great. The numbers bear it out. You know, some brilliant moves with the pitch clock. Obviously, you think about that 18 inning game. Can you imagine how long that would have been without the pitch? I mean, they'd still be playing it right now. Yeah. Um, so great moment. And yet you and I both know CBA expires next December, just over a year from now.

12:17How worried are you not to put too fine a point on it? The baseball could just like blow this again and, and sort of squander this moment of increased popularity. You know, it's funny. You see commissioners go through ebb and flows of, like, popularities and all that. And, you know, Rob went through a hard time. I personally think he gets too much of a hard time. He's just a real guy, very honest, doesn't really play the political game. And in some ways that's hurt him. And I actually think what he's done over the last five years, I mean, he should be on his way to the Hall of Fame because he really saved the game of baseball with the clock, the bases, and just implementing these things.

12:58that make the game a lot more progressive and more fun to watch. This has been such an extraordinary year, and it's taken us over 10 years to get this moment back, to get baseball back, to bring back starting pitching, to bring back strategy, to bring back... We had more hit and runs and bunts in this series in the last five or seven combined. I hope that between Tony Clark, who's very capable, and Rob Manford, that they figure out a way not to strike or have any work stoppage. Because when you have everybody in the game talking about baseball, this is the time to add on, not to subtract. Yeah.

13:32Yeah. Tony Clark, of course, the head of the PA, well-regarded head of the PA. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of work to do. I mean, there's talk of potential expansion in the next couple of years. Obviously the media deals, which you're very familiar with, that continues to be a challenge because as you mentioned earlier in the conversation, the Dodgers have that incredible TV deal. Not every team has that because baseball doesn't have the national deals that some of the other leagues have. So I am so excited about baseball. I, of course, want the Atlanta Braves to be a little bit better, but I do worry a little bit because we've seen it go away before.

14:10And we've also seen, and you mentioned the last 10 years, I remember back to the 90s when there was the work stoppage and how long it took to sort of get people back. You know, the Yankees obviously had a lot to do with it. But it's interesting, since you played for the New York Yankees, to think about the Dodgers now being, I mean, they are what the Yankees were, you know, back-to-back champions. I believe the last team to do it was the Yankees. They've got a target on their backs, but, you know, they're the odds-on favorite. I mean, they could three-peat. They are an absolute juggernaut right now.

14:44Yeah, I mean, just to echo a little bit what you were saying, this has only happened when I mean repeat, right? like what the Dodgers just accomplished. It's happened twice in the last 46 years. To your point, the Yankees, 98, 99, 2000, three-peat. And then before that, it was the Blue Jays, 92 and 93. It is very difficult to do, but the Dodgers are not going anywhere. The New York Yankees had a lock on the top franchise and on the game probably for about a century, 100 years. And for the first time, you can actually say, without a doubt, the Dodgers have now taken over that position and they're only getting stronger.

15:19A little bit more bad news if you're not a Dodger fan. They have the number one farm system in baseball. They have the number one pitching farm system in baseball. And they have the number one hitting. Besides that, nothing's going well. Yeah. I mean, it's crazy. And it's also crazy to think about, you know, the deals that they've done in the past few years. You know, obviously, Otani is the one that everybody will point to. But you think about Freddie Freeman, a key role that he played in this series. Mookie Betts was, you know, somewhat quiet. But, you know, there he was helping make the very last out to secure the championship.

15:51So, I mean, these are marquee players. And again, I go back to this idea because you and I both know this. Stars are really important. And sort of these name brand stars that baseball didn't have for a long time, they have now. Jayce, I want to make one quick point just to put a button on this. You know, I get often asked by a lot of folks, you know, where should I invest my money? You know, you have all the big, obviously you have the big four, right? NFL, NBA, and will be NHL. And then you have all the secondary ones like pickleball and volleyball. But I've always said the NHL has been on a honeymoon.

16:26They've been up like 27 % over the last few years. NFL is the monster that just keeps on giving. NBA has been on fire. And what I mean by that is some of these multiples have gone from NBA, NFL, anywhere from 11 to like 18 times, just top line revenue, right? Baseball is the one sport that's gone up about 3 % or 4%. So when I talk to investors, I've always been a contrarian. I think actually the best asset to buy right now is to invest in the MLB baseball because you have the uncertainty of the work stoppage. You have a lot of uncertainties, a lot of headwinds. So I think if you're an investor, you can look at a major league baseball team at a six or seven-time multiple, and there's some real value there.

17:09There's a value buy, and you haven't seen this in sports in the last seven or eight years. Yeah. And it'll be interesting to see sort of who emerges next year as we think about next season. You know, it wasn't that long ago that it looked like, you know, one of the teams that was going to make it all the way was the much lower payroll Milwaukee Brewers. Our friend Mark Adonacio obviously has stewarded that club very well. They did not make it all the way. And we'll sort of see how the economics continue to change.

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18:15All right. So speaking of stars, you came back from doing that. You're here in New York this week and premiering a documentary series, Alex vs. A-Rod. I got to be with you at the premiere. Congratulations. I would say two things. Congratulations and whoa, beast. I mean, It is, it's intense. How are you feeling? You know, some nervousness, some anxiety is definitely triggering. I talk about a lot of difficult, intimate things in this documentary on HBO, Alex versus A-Rod. I think people are going to be very surprised. I think you're going to expect one thing and see another, as you saw in the first episode.

18:53And I really dive into the mental health part of things and how that affects. And I think the great Mike Francesa, who's a legendary sports radio icon here in New York for the last almost 40 years, he had a great line in it where he said, you know, A-Rod is a Shakespearean figure and he's a very flawed man. Or he was a very flawed man. And I thought that was spot on. And then I talk about my therapy and what I did about being that flawed man and all of that. And it's a human story and that human just happened to play baseball. It's not a baseball story with a guy that had issues. So my hope is that the next generation of athletes or young people out there like our kids can take some of my mistakes, learn from them and hopefully avoid them and move up to the front of the line.

19:40Yeah, it was quite an experience to be in that room with, you know, a lot of other friends and family and, you know, notable folks showing up to show their support. Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, among them, Constance Schwartz-Marini. A lot of people who have been in and around the deal cinematic universe, as I like to say. And obviously have been key figures in your life, your family, your daughters, you know, your brother and sister, your mom, you know, everybody sort of in the room. You know, you and I are close. It was intense. It was intense to sort of sit there with you and sort of take all that in.

20:13So congratulations on that. I'm excited for the world to see it. And again, excited to be your partner in this. So thank you for putting that out into the world. Congratulations on another baseball season in the books. It was fun to watch you on TV. And you guys were obviously having a lot of fun doing it. And it's great to see baseball. You know, we talk all the time on this show about this intersection of business, sports and culture. I don't know that I've seen baseball feel as much a part of the culture as it does right now in a long time. To your point, like 10, 20 years, you know, going back to, you know, probably when you guys were winning World Series in 15, 20 years ago.

20:50Yeah, two things to close here, Jason, is one, this World Series had a feel like when you guys won the Atlanta Braves, I mean, in the mid 90s, right? Yeah. And then you go to the Braves and you go Twins and you had some of the Blue Jays. It just felt like an old school series. And it reminded us all why we fell in love with baseball. And it was very, it had the resemblance of those feelings we had when we were all younger. And that's great for baseball. The second part in closing, I'm really looking forward to what you think about, but I'm even thinking about more where your mom's going to think about the documentary.

21:26And I would love to hear what she thinks. Oh my gosh. The Debbie Kelly review will be, will be an honest and verbose one, I believe. So just maybe we'll have to book some time down in Atlanta for that one. All right. Thank you so much for listening to The Deal. We will see you next time.

21:53The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me, Jason Kelly. This episode was made by Anna Mazarakis, Stacey Wong, and Lizzie Phillip. Amy Keene is our editor, and Will Connolly is our video editor. Our theme music is made by Blake Maples. Our executive producers are Kelly LaFerriere, Ashley Honig, and Brendan Noonan. Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts. Additional support from Rachel Carnevale and Elena Saus Angeles. Thanks so much for listening to The Deal. If you have a minute, subscribe, rate, and review our show. It'll help other listeners find us. I'm Jason Kelly. See you next week.

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