Hour 2: MLB Wild Card Round Reactions, plus Patriots Insider Tom Curran

0:00Rich Eisen:Hockey on ESPN is blowing up. Hockey is back. So, what does it look like now? The kids? Hughes. Celebrini. Schaefer. That's hockey. Ovi and Crosby. That's hockey. And with access to over a thousand out-of-market games, you can watch them and the rest of the league. Holy hockey. That's more hockey to love for more fans who love it. The NHL's best on ESPN. Watch all season long on ABC, ESPN, ESPN Plus, and the ESPN app. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern.

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1:02Rich Eisen:It's a blood sport when the Yankees and the Red Sox play one another. A three-run homer, Cody Binder! The Rich Eisen Show. Congrats, you're moving on. It's what it looks like. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald. Coming up, NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Tom Curran. Three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Baseball playoffs game three. The lone game three of the wild card series is coming up later on tonight because the Yankees closed out the Red Sox and the Padres closed out the Cubs in just two games.

1:54Rich Eisen:that left the Braves and the Phillies to fill the lone primetime spot tonight. At 8 Eastern time, the right to move on and take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres have moved on to take on the Brewers. The White Sox have moved on to take on the Guardians. And the Yankees have moved on to take on the Tampa Bay Rays because what's better than having teams that faced off all year long? than to put them in a playoff series against each other. Second straight series for the Yankees against an AL East team. All right. So dumb. But let's move on to the actual baseball playoffs itself. We like to put our finger on the neck.

2:45Rich Eisen:I mean, pulse of things around here. I don't know what was going on with Sonny Gray's neck. I was screaming at the screen all night long. What was on his back? I literally thought, because I am a very positive, Sonny dispositioned guy, thinking, boy, he had some sort of a rash or something on his back of his neck. I have no idea. But it was gone in the post-game, post-shower interview that Sonny Gray had, talking about being removed in the fifth inning last night, which personally, again, as you know, I'm a diehard Yankee fan here. I talk about it on this program and have since the jump. I was, Chris, personally thrilled to watch Sonny Gray leave that game last night after 70 pitches.

3:38Rich Eisen:Yeah, I bet you were. With two outs in the fifth. I bet. I could not believe Chad Tracy was coming to get him. Oh, my. Because Sonny Gray was dealing. dealing and confounding the Yankees until Luis Garcia yanked one out to give him a one nothing lead. And with runners on and and a decision to be made, out comes Chad Tracy and took him out after 70 pitches last night. And I thought to myself, I don't know what this guy's doing, and certainly bringing in the reliever who gave up a home run to Ben Rice the night before.

4:23And sure enough, Miller gives up a base hit.

4:27Rich Eisen:And if the Yankees' third base coach didn't wave Ben Rice home to cause the third out at home plate, that might have been a big inning for the Yankees. And then Wilson Contreras, the next inning, hits a home run. And I think he just crossed home plate right now. honestly uh he he took he took such a long time it was a stroll like he literally walked the last third of the third base path to home plate he literally stopped running and walked it you know 360 feet is tiring he made he made big poppy look like ricky henderson you know it's with that home That's the long walk. And Max Freed was staring a hole through him.

5:11Rich Eisen:But that 2-1 game turned into a much bigger deficit because now in comes Garrett Crochet, who hadn't pitched since April, and he threw such a nasty off-speed pitch. I guess that is off-speed pitch. I don't even. I mean, he's so good. He threw such a nasty pitch to Spencer Jones that it bounced, and Spencer Jones reached to first because Wilson Contreras fielded the ball behind first base. What was he doing? Well, again, that's baseball playoffs, man. Like, if somebody's got a little bit of a flaw, the ball will find him. And then Spencer Jones steals seconds, goes to third, because Rutschman threw it into center field, and then the route was on.

5:56Rich Eisen:which I'll be honest I don't think would have happened if you had let Sonny Gray battle it out in the fifth inning he's got 18 wins for you and whatever the hell he was doing the deal because he had a no hit bid against the Yankees in the regular season that kind of flipped the entire season that series right oh yeah that was the sweep right and that kind of got the whole run going they got the 32 and 5 run sparked and this guy's on the mound you know ace been the best pitcher all year the biggest all-star snub of the season you know a clear al cy young but sonny gray will get votes he'll probably finish second it was just inexcusable i don't get it inexcusable i don't get it and then tracy intentionally walked ben rice with garrett whitlock to bring cody bellinger to the plate who by the way what a night for him his dad clay throws out the first pitch ceremonial first pitch to him, and then he has a 4-RBI night, including the big blast that sealed the season on the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium for the second straight year.

7:00Rich Eisen:And the Yankees not only beat the Red Sox two in a row, but beat them up a 16-run advantage. 9-0, 9-2. Two nines. And what the Yankees did, just to put a point on it for the Yankees. They came out with their best back-to-back games all year. Schlittler and Freed, check those boxes. The relief, with the exception of Will Warren last night, he's trying to learn that role for them moving forward because he's not going to get any starts with everybody else healthy.

7:39Rich Eisen:With the exception, the bullpen did its job. And then the two words that the Yankees had so much trouble with all year long. Productive outs. They were the kings of striking out when a ground ball or a fly ball would do. And last night, they came up with a bunt, a Trent Grisham bunt that loaded the bases that led to a big inning. and then productive outs, a fly out from Wells, a ground out from McMahon made it a 5-1 game. And then the big blast after Tracy decided to intentionally walk Ben Rice for Cody Bellinger. Productive outs. If the Yankees do not strike out as much as they do or have and get the bottom half of the lineup productive as they did without Judge and Stanton in this series and get the pitching that they got from Schlittler and Freed again with Cole and Radon getting starts against the Rays.

8:51Look out. Look out. It's for real is the way I feel about the Yankees right now

9:00Rich Eisen:in a way that I did not in August or July or June and parts of September, to be honest. The Rays are going to be tough. Rays are going to be tough. Do we have the American League divisional series schedule between these two teams? Let me just say it to you. You said it's weird. The first game is Saturday. Game two is Monday. Game three is Wednesday. Is it because they don't want to go up against the NFL? They're going up against the NFL on Monday Night Football. Well, a full slate of games. I mean, a one-off game is a little bit different. I don't know what they're thinking. It's Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday.

9:49Rich Eisen:Yes. A five-game series taking eight days is not baseball. It's just not. Nope. It's not the NBA. Are they trying to build in maybe weather possibilities? Well, Tampa's indoors. Yeah, that's true. I don't know. I don't know. That's very odd. So games one and two will be like a game seven. Look alive. Doesn't matter if you're going to use your relievers because you got the next day off. That's not baseball. It's not baseball. Certainly if you're going to jam the wild card in so fast that teams are 18 innings away from having their season over, what are we doing?

10:32Rich Eisen:That's frustrating. that's the Yankees. That's for the Red Sox. Dude, great season, regular season. Postseason, utter, complete disaster. And the manager that they've taken the interim tag from, he was in a blender. Honestly, Aaron Boone in Boston is a four-letter word from what he did with his bat. And it's a four-letter word frequently when the Yankees have taken on the Red Sox or anybody else in the playoffs, with all due respect for Yankee fans because we're wondering what moves he's made. I mean, again, leaving Tim Hill in the bullpen in game one of that World Series to bring out Nestor Cortez, who hadn't pitched in weeks and certainly not in this role, is something that I will take to my grave.

11:18Rich Eisen:It's a fact. It's a fact. But Chad Tracy has Aaron Boone looking like Casey Stengel, to be very honest. I'm not mincing. boone had a great series i mean because again bunting productive outs where has this been all year long doesn't matter they have it now or at least they did over the last two games against their blood sport rival that came in and the manager taking out sonny gray i still don't get it and neither did a lot of the red socks afterwards did you see wilson contraris was asked about it And he zipped his mouth shut. Yeah, he was like, no, not going to. And then went off on some sort of anti-analytics campaign.

12:08Rich Eisen:And this is what Sonny Gray had to say afterwards about being taken out. I think I'm the best pitcher in the American League going through the order the third time. I think that's a fact. Yeah, I mean, I would have liked to live or die with me in that moment. but that's the competitor I am. Yeah, I think you can probably ask the guys, and they felt the same way.

12:38So I felt strong. I felt confident. I felt convicted. You know, I'm just going to, but what can you do, you know?

12:49Rich Eisen:Yeah, I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment. Man, wow. Can you blame him? No, I was like, what is he saying that's not true right there? 2-7 ERA this year, led the American League in wins. He's been your ace all season because Crochet has just been out. Live and die with this guy. There literally is no tomorrow. And the analytics part is he's referring to when he says that I was the best third time through the order. Which pitchers don't really get the chance to do that anymore. Remember when Blake Snell got taken out? Same deal. In the World Series? The binder said, get out of here with that.

13:31Rich Eisen:Well, third time through the order, it's just like, how do you, like, thank you, 70 pitches? And that was Wilson Contreras' point after the game where he was saying, like, look. What are we doing? I get what the numbers say, but there is a feel and the eye test of what's happening in this game. It's 1-0. This guy is literally keeping you in the game with an offense that's really struggled in the last month. Without Roman Anthony. Who was out last night again with the same hand. I know. Unfortunate. And then, you know, again, I know this sounds like low-hanging fruit or whatever, but you look at that soundbite afterwards, that rash got washed off in the shower, man.

14:09Rich Eisen:That neck was clean. He's the only pitcher that's... No, I know that. No, I get it. No, Chris, I totally get it. It's been going on for decades. I totally get it. But it's 2026, and you got 4K cameras all over the place. You see it. all over the place. I don't know what that was because he kept going to it and I'm like sitting at home. I'm like, am I crazy? Like in game one, I was hearing music during the game. I'm like, what's happening? Yeah, that was odd. You know, and by the way, I thought NBC's coverage and it has been and it's great. I've really enjoyed it. I really enjoy their announcers and announce teams and I thought they've done a great job.

14:50Rich Eisen:But last night, like what was that about? but the Red Sox are going to have to deal with the way this season ended next year. And we'll see how it all does play out. Who knows? As the Yankees move on to take on the Rays, you've got the White Sox having moved on. Are they the most fun team or what? Well, you know, I mean, this, you know, do we want to do it here? Let's do it here. We'll do it now. We'll do it now. We're a calming man. This guy, he's incredible. You know, the last time we heard from him in a champagne-drenched locker room, he gave us a new time. 100! That's how he said he felt. Scale of 1 to 10, he said 100.

15:39Rich Eisen:And he kept it, play it again, he kept it 100 again. and in his celebratory moment with the White Sox moving on. Yeah, they're the only Chicago team left, and they're the only team with the word socks in their title left. The White Sox are moving on. 100 losses the last two years. Unreal. They are really a fun team to watch. All right, here's the latest from our friend, from Japan. Bune, you gotta tell me, what are you feeling right now? 100! 100? Not a thousand this time? Yeah, 100! I am Japanese! It's early in Japan. They're celebrating with you. Anything you want to say to them? Same, same.

16:32Same. He's drunk! He's drunk! But he's drunk! You told me you didn't need him. I'm drunk! Yeah, yeah, sorry, maybe hungover

16:44Rich Eisen:You know? Yeah Tomorrow hungover Yes, no, no, yesterday, tomorrow Yeah, sorry, I don't speak English You don't need the translator, congratulations Thank you so much The White Sox have to advance just for this alone I'm sorry to our friends in Cleveland You need to keep this going I need to keep seeing this I'm drunk Oh, we got a new trial? I'm drunk Fantastic fantastic it's great we make it's great everything about it is awesome you make a mistake 100, 1000 all of it we'll hit the National League later on because just want to comment about the Padres and you know put a bow on the Cubs season and you know do you hear what Bryce Harper had to say after the game about how he wiped out the memory of him botching a fly ball and right and then coming up with the game-tying home run an inning later.

17:45Rich Eisen:Did you hear about that? It's pretty neat stuff. It's pretty neat stuff. That's coming up. But since it is now officially Patriots season for you, Chris, I figured we'll have Tom Curran on the program. Well, I think it's Celtic season. Oh, okay. I might be done with the Pats. Oh, God. Brockman. They're going to lose by 30 in Buffalo. Let's be honest. I don't know. We fought that last year, too. Don't forget, they started one and two, then they put up a 40-burger on Carolina. It was like, okay, great, Carolina. Now you're going to Buffalo. Now we'll really see. And you had no idea that a 10-game win streak was about to uncore.

18:19Rich Eisen:True, very true. I think it was more than 10 in a row. I don't know. Yeah, I just don't have that same level of optimism right now. I'm done! Tom Curry. Maybe I should be. Whether it's a crisp fall morning, a full-blown thunderstorm, or you're loading up the car and heading into the game, or whether you're kicking through piles of leaves or trudging through puddles of mud, whether you call it fall or autumn or you're one of those sweater season people, you're going to want WeatherTech for your vehicle. Whether the mess is your fault, your kid's fault, the dog's fault, or just the weather's fault, you're going to want WeatherTech.

18:54Rich Eisen:For American-made floor liners and seat protectors that laugh in the face of fall weather, visit WeatherTech.com today. when we come back Tommy C. what is going on in New England football wise

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21:31The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

21:34Rich Eisen:Hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Get started by posting a free job at linkedin.com slash Eisen. 23 year old Fernando Mendoza today happy birthday he turns 23 today Mr. LinkedIn himself by the way born in Boston yeah man that's why he's a Brady fan right everybody's a Brady fan Tom Cairns joining us here on the Rich Eisen show fresh fresh from New England right now NBC Sports Boston and Patriot Maven how are you Tommy C Tommy good I'm sorry I hope my audio is okay i was just trying i got a new laptop my new lappy 436 and i was just trying to get everything straight oh good that's all good you sound you sound great with a new lappy and everything you know what i mean thank you buddy oh right back at you all right tom um we were just playing soundbites of drake may saying vrabel's the best coach i've ever had i'm so excited to play for him and where did this conversation come from that he and vrabel are potentially not liking each other anymore.

22:34You know, we germinated with our friend Dan Orlovsky, who wondered if Mike and Drake were a compatible match. He said he still has plenty of confidence in Drake, but he wasn't sure how he felt the match was. And Colin Coward also intimated that maybe Josh McDaniels was rubbing him the wrong way. And I had a long discussion the other night with Michael Felger, who you know on NBC Sports Blaston. And he's like, this has to be coming from somewhere. I said, you know what, Mike? Sometimes I say stuff and because we have time to kill, I speculate on things when you're casting about for reasons and issues.

23:10Sometimes you land on things and you don't have anyone at all whisper to you. But it continued with Greg Hill on WEI, who Mike is on the morning show with him. And he said that an insider had whispered that there was some trouble afoot. So all Drake may have to do was complete that pass at the end of the Seahawks game to Mac Hollins and nobody's talking about any of this stuff.

23:34Rich Eisen:Yeah, you know, I hear you. You know, sports nature abhors a vacuum because we're trying to come up with answers to something that we are kind of surprised is a question and that's Drake May's abilities. You know what I mean? Like it looked so good last year for so long and And it looks so opposite of that that we've got to we're in search of something. My guy, Kurt Warner, says it's a crisis of confidence for him. Would you agree with that? I do. And it really stretches back. Kurt probably highlighted this. I would echo the same feeling is it really stretches back to when he's played good teams, period.

24:21You know, they went it's a seven game stretch now. It's not just this regular season. In the playoffs last year, he had seven fumbles. Since the beginning of the playoffs last year, he's had 15 turnovers in seven games. He's taken 30 sacks. He played good defenses against good defenses last year, even though that schedule was horrific. It was mostly the offenses on those teams which were bad. Cleveland had a good defense, obviously. There were plenty of good defenses that he saw. But he had the comfort of knowing, in some instances, that he was going to be able to take care of business. I think he misses Diggs.