Hour 2: World Series Breakdown with ESPN’s Buster Olney, plus Commanders’ Sinking Season

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1:29This is the Rich Eisen Show. This game was incredible.

1:33Rich Eisen:From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Kelsey ties Priest Holmes. Earlier on the show. Fox Sports NFL analyst Mark Schlereth. Coming up. ESPN MLB columnist Buster Olney. Host of the Paul Feinbaum show, Paul Feinbaum. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Joining us right now, fresh back from Dodger Stadium, and I hope it is fresh, ladies and gentlemen, Buster Olney of ESPN. Yes! Good to see you. How are you, Buster? I'm doing great. Great to see you again. I did not see you. Great to see you again, too. I did not see a photograph of you in Dodger Stadium, so I don't know if you're wearing the same clothes.

2:13Rich Eisen:I'm assuming you have gone back. I don't even know if I'm wearing the same clothes, right? I just rolled out, and I came to see you. I asked you before, but share with everyone, when did you get back to your hotel room? At 1.30 last night. And then my first radio hit today was at 5 o 'clock. And so I was up at 4.45. And then you know how it goes. You just roll through. I know. Also, we're part of the car wash. Fantastic. We'll take it. We'll take it. I love being back on ESPN with the car wash. They were like, hey, can you do this? Can you do that? And then I'm like, nope. I'm committed to go see you rich.

2:43Rich Eisen:Thank you. I appreciate you honoring your commitment. Listen, man, how many World Series have you covered now? oh gosh this is for you tim kirchton keeps it count i don't it's somewhere in the 20s okay where does game three of the 2025 world series rank probably for the games that i've covered probably the second best game ever 2011 game six david freeze ties the game two outs ninth inning that's the best game i've ever seen that was the joe buck famous we'll see you tomorrow night in honor of his dad it was phenomenal sure last night was amazing look we had a an 18-in game in the 2018 World Series, that was bad baseball.

3:18It was seven hours plus, and there was no traffic in extra innings. There were two teams. Everyone was trying to hit home runs. Last night, there was traffic all over the place.

3:28Rich Eisen:Yeah, I was, I even threaded out that the Blue Jays got thrown out for the cycle, you know, like every base, you know what I mean? And then, but no, I mean, good Lord, There's so many ways to go here, but since you mentioned extra innings, 12th inning, bases full of Blue Jays, and Dave Roberts wanting to go lefty-lefty brings in Clayton Kershaw for his first ever career extra innings appearance with Sandy Colfax in the crowd. And he gets Lucas to ground out to Edmond, who flips the ball with his glove. I was just screaming from the couch. Unbelievable. That was unbelievable. It was. And by the way, Sandy Koufax, 89 years old, stayed for the whole game.

4:15So before the game, I saw Clayton in the Dodger clubhouse. And I'm like, so what are you going to do in retirement? He's like, I'm going to be a dad. And I mentioned to him, he is just having so much fun. Like when he was a young player, if he had a bad game, he could be super grumpy. He's just enjoying the experience. And so to see him, when Edmund flips the ball with his glove, I don't know if the cameras caught this, but he turns around and sort of a silent like, yes! and he goes into the dugout, Dodger dugout, and he's clearly making jokes at his own expense because his teammates around him are just cracking up the whole time.

4:51And I interviewed him after the game on the field, and he was just so happy. Like, having had that experience, perhaps the last one in his major league career, what a moment.

5:02Rich Eisen:I mean, for him to be put in the highest of leverage situations, right? No room for error. That, and for him to make the pitches and execute and then, you know, yada, yada, yada, there's six more innings after that. It was truly unbelievable. But all that said, there's only one unicorn in that stadium. And what is it like to be in a World Series stadium? Explain to everybody listening to us on ESPN Radio or at home on Disney Plus, ESPN and everywhere else. what is it like to be in a World Series stadium watching Shohei Otani be unstoppable what is that like for you you have to remind yourself that you're watching the greatest player who ever played baseball uh and I think he's in the conversation for the greatest athlete ever and what has especially come out in this postseason is for the first time is Shohei I mean wildly talented but in this postseason for the first time we're seeing competitive rage like we saw it in Tiger Woods we saw it in Michael Jordan we've seen it in Tom Brady but there was a game against Milwaukee game two of that series he strikes out with the bases loaded and he's going back to the dugout you could see in his face he was so angry and the next day he goes out on the field and he takes batting practice in Dodger Stadium which he never does and it's clear he's angry and Dave Roberts the Dodgers manager told us that he's asked like how much is Shohei aware of the narrative around him and by that time there was conversations about you know it is a pitching takeaway from his hitting and vice versa and his interpreter told Dave he hears it all like he absorbs it all like we always heard about Jordan and I think that's what we're seeing right now is that the the talent and now with this hyper focus understanding how people are watching him it's so cool and I mean to have a major league manager after the game and basically say, yeah, we're not pitching to him anymore.

7:04He's that good. John Snyder, the Blue Jays manager, after walking him five times intentionally, saying going forward that's how he's going to deal with him, that's incredible. Yeah, and it's not like there's a 200-hitter behind him.

7:15Rich Eisen:There's Betts Freeman and Smith behind him. All of Famers. So you are intentionally walking an individual to potentially set up a big inning. And also, forget a big inning, half the time that they did that last night, it was in a all-you-need-is-one-run situation. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, I've seen Bonds. I know Buck Showalter walked Bonds with the bases loaded once. I mean, that's the only thing you can compare it to. And it's interesting, though, too, Buster Olney from ESPN Radio and ESPN here on the Rich Eisen Show, that you mention for Otani competitive rage because I would also use the words effortless joy to describe the way he plays the game as well.

8:01Rich Eisen:And so you've got a combination of effortless joy and competitive rage. Holy cow. Honestly, I'm now out of words to describe it. Look, a lot of times the producers on SportsCenter will say, hey, we want to talk about Otani. What do you want to say? And I'm just like, it's simple. He's the greatest we've ever seen, and no one's close. And look, forget what idiot sports writers like myself think, okay? When you see the reaction from other athletes to Otani, right? LeBron James tweeting out about him. J.J. Watt tweeting out about him. People who understand how phenomenal and the range of skills he has as an athlete, and he's impressing them, that tells me everything.

8:43Rich Eisen:And then the video, I don't know if you saw this because you're running around sleeping and then talking, of Dave Roberts addressing the team in the clubhouse afterwards. Did you see that? I heard about it. Well, yeah, where he's addressing the team in the clubhouse afterwards. sort of like a football head coach an nfl head coach after a big win um and you could see how he says that we've got a game later today and he points to his watch after commending everybody that you hear it from managers and coaches all the time we need everyone in here to win and last night they actually did right both teams i'm getting goosebumps even talking about it's so rare in sports these moments get met that you want to see an epic game and you you actually witness one that he he says we got a game later today and in the background you see otani mimic being a pitcher like he's warming up and he's throwing like an eight-year-old would an eight-year-old would and somebody off camera screams and our pitcher just reached base nine times freddie freeman Yes.

9:55Rich Eisen:I mean, the guy who won it, you know, so he's even taking a cue or technically, if you will, a backseat. Unreal. It is like something you see in Williamsport, except these are the greatest baseball players in the world doing this. And that's the response of other players to Shohei that you see right there. And to go into tonight's game, I'm just fascinated by the pitching situation. Sure. Right. what will Shohei bring to the table? Because not only, I mean, when he was with the Angels, they would give him the day off before he made his starts to rest him up and to get him ready. Well, last night he played 18 innings.

10:33He was on base nine times. He had this all-time great game as a designated hitter. And tonight he's going to come back and pitch. And it feels like there's a chance he might top himself.

10:45Rich Eisen:Well, you need also length from your starters tonight. I mean, the Blue Jays are starting. The pitching is in rubble. That's what I'm saying for both teams. And Shane Bieber, a former Cy Young Award winner that was acquired from the Guardians at the trade deadline by the Blue Jays coming back from injury from previous seasons. You need length tonight, man, from both of these guys. And Bieber was just chilling out in his jacket. And Otani, I mean, I guess he was chilling out because he would just grab a bat and see four fingers held up. and and so that that leads me to my next question that a lot of people are talking about today is is should baseball do something about the number of times you can intentionally walk someone and i know we we won't have a conversation about this about anyone else maybe judge if he gets as hot uh as otani um and you want to see somebody like that hit for the fans we're staying up till two in the morning fans were at the game um what do you what do you think about that now that idea you can't do anything about it because in the end even if you made that rule then they would just throw four wide ones and he would walk to first first base uh i mean we always have those situations where the manager or the pitching coach goes out to the mound and says don't let the guy beat you um and so you could take away the intentional walk uh and alter that rule but in the end they're not going to pitch to him if they don't want to i guess that's that's true that would just be like an old old fashion way of doing him anything to hit and which i think they they told sir anthony dominguez when he gave up before he gave up the game timing home run don't give him anything to hit and he did and that was it and the blue jays were done at that point they're like we're not pitching to him anymore do you think john schneider is gonna intentionally walk him to lead off the game tonight?

12:37Rich Eisen:Do you really think that's going to happen? I don't believe that it's going to happen, but to hear John Schneider's answer post-game last night where he's like, yep, you can count on this going forward. That was eye-opening to hear that. Like, he's that open about it. Because most of the time, they play coy. They're a little competitive. They don't want you to think that they're being wimps about it. But to hear John Schneider, I mean, he's waving the white flag. Like, no, we're not dealing with this guy because he's playing in another stratosphere. Yeah, but you can't tell Shane Bieber before his first, is it his first career World Series start?

13:13Rich Eisen:It's going to be, yeah, obviously, right? Right. Because I don't think that, you know, he wasn't on the Cleveland team. Right, exactly. So what are you going to tell him? First World Series batter is on first. And then you've got to start to work. And Shane would get it. You think so? They all understand. Oh, totally. Really? Because I would think the competitive spirit in him would be like, to hell with that. I didn't wait my entire life for this moment to just have the second guy. Right? I mean, am I wrong? Don't you think? You can't want to be. Do you want to have a guy in first or do you want to be down 1-0?

13:44Rich Eisen:Right. It's that simple. Do you think, TJ, they should walk him to start the game tonight? Well, I mean, it all depends who they want to win. That's the perfect way to describe it, right? That's what John Snyder said last night. We're trying to win the game. We're not letting this guy swing the bat against us. What about you, Felly? He's the Dodger fan here. I mean, I want to see him, but I can't blame him. Guys get hit on him every time. And what do you think Betts feels about that? I'd love for you to ask him, hey, what do you think about? He would be. I mean, this is Mookie freaking Betts that you're doing.

14:22Rich Eisen:Yeah, but he has not played well this year. And he has not hit well this year. And he certainly, I mean, the telltale sign with Mookie is if he's popping the ball up to the right side, It means his timing is off. I think Mookie would be the type of person to say, I totally get it. Like, this guy is so good right now. I'd rather pitch to me than that guy. Okay. Does Dave shake up the lineup because of that? Do you have Freddie bat second? You can't back up lefties. You don't want to back up lefties on that. I guess you could. He's always talked about the Oscar tax. That way you bring in, but not with a right-hander going tonight.

14:59I don't think they would do that. Who would you put second? No, I don't think you can. I think you just have to hope that at some point the Mookie starts to hit and response. Is Will Smith going to play tonight? That is a great question. So I was watching two people during the game, late in the game. One was the home plate umpire, Mark Wagner. My God.

15:16Rich Eisen:I thought he did a great job last night. I thought he was really good. He actually graded well. You know, that play early in the game when he was slow with the strike call. That one, yeah. That wasn't good. But generally speaking, he had an excellent game in balls and strikes. Right. 609 pitches out there for six hours and 39 minutes. Mark Wagner, what a great job. Do you know what his rating was? Have you looked that up yet? Eduardo Perez and I talked about that this morning. It was good. I can't remember the exact number. I think it was only out of 609 pitches, I think he missed only 18. That's pretty good.

15:47Rich Eisen:That's great. Pretty good. That's good. Thank goodness for that because that's the last thing you'd want to be talking about this morning. Even though that was the first thing we were talking about last night. It was like, you know, hey, can you call strike two on a 3-1 pitch? a little faster i mean um but what to answer the question sorry yes will smith i think he'll play i mean it's that sort of thing where it's a time of year where they understand you got to be out there it reminds me of a story there's a world series ended i think it was 2017 and brian mccann was catching and he told aj hinch the manager he said leave charlie morton in the game for the bottom of the ninth inning yes because i'm done this is the last inning i can catch i am so tired Let's get Charlie in there.

16:29And so we finish the game here.

16:30Rich Eisen:And then what do you think the Blue Jays, how they respond and bounce back? What are your two cents on that? Because you know Dodger fans here think this is a wrap. The last time, you know, Freeman homered in a World Series home game, it was essentially a wrap. And certainly if they bring out Cube tonight to start the second home game of the World Series, that thing could be a wrap. You know, what do you think about this? I think home crowd hasn't mattered at all in this postseason. So I think the energy of the building doesn't matter. Right. And it was interesting. I saw a lot of people say, well, Dodgers have a clear advantage now.

17:01I don't necessarily agree because the pitching staffs are so screwed up by what happened last night.

17:06Rich Eisen:But the whole thing about the Dodgers bullpen being their biggest problem and Achilles heel and good luck trying to get through the playoffs on that front. They were dynamite last night. They were good last night for sure. But Roki Sasaki, can you bring him back? Right. The Hoffman pitched two innings, too. I mean, both sides. So you don't know what's going to come out of that. And I am curious about Shohei. Like, we know that he is physically going to try to give it a go, but you do wonder, what is his stuff going to be like? And what about Springer? I mean, obliques usually take weeks to overcome sometimes.

17:39Rich Eisen:You would assume he's done. You would assume. And that is a huge loss. Maybe the most significant competitive issue coming out of the game last night with Springer being out. They do have an easy pivot point. They've been sort of shoehorning Bo Bichette into their lineup to play second with this injury. He can go to DH. Now you put Isaiah Kiner-Falefa at second base or go with some other way. I'm guessing Ernie Clement has been so good in this postseason, he could lead off for them. Yes. But, I mean, George Springer is one of the best World Series hitters of all time. Yeah, that's why he was booed lustily last night, although they also, in Los Angeles, think there might have been a buzzer or a trash can back in that day, but that's for another day.

18:18Rich Eisen:Buster Olney here. Can you stick around one more segment? I want to talk about the rest of everything going on in Major League Baseball. with one of the best right here, Buster Olney, next on The Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Your phone call is still to come as well.

18:36Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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20:20Rich Eisen:we're back here with buster only we're on espn radio presented by progressive insurance 844-204-rich is the number to dial on the program the other stories to talk about in major league baseball let's start with the philadelphia phillies schwarber is a free agent and bryce harper appears to be a bit pissed off of the play of his assessment from Dave Dombrowski, basically saying, well, he didn't play elite. Well, it's up to him to see if he can still be an elite player, which was a, let's start with that one first. What was that all about? It was shocking that he said that out loud. I mean, what he said was absolutely the truth.

20:59I mean, you get into your early 30s and you wonder, can a player continue to ascend or is that we've seen a slow descent? but for the head of baseball operations for the Phillies to say that out loud, that was an eye-opener, and you're wondering what that's about. Now, in recent years, Bryce signed this 13-year contract without any opt-outs. He made it very clear from the first day he signed, I want this to be like a long-term marriage. I don't want to think about leaving the team, but in recent years, he's mentioned, you know, I'd be open to an extension. Can we talk about an extension? And so the perception within the sport is that Dave was trying to get ahead of that.

21:36Okay, enough of the extension talk. You're halfway through your contract. You were starting to see some production slide a little bit. It's something that they're going to have to sort through as they go through this wintertime. People around baseball think that the Phillies in the end will sign Schwarber because he's so important to the team, not only for the home run production. But for me, if I were to draw up a list of 10 best teammates that I've ever witnessed and heard stories about, Kyle Schwarber would be one, two, or three. Sabathia would be in there for sure. Kyle Schwarber is worth every nickel, whatever they pay him.

22:06Rich Eisen:And he might actually help smooth over this situation with Bryce. You think so? Because when Bryce Harper is called out like that, that's why I asked you, what's that all about? Because it sounds like there's an iceberg, just like everything in Philadelphia with A.J. Brown, right? like um that there's a tip and underneath there's a massive piece of ice that why would dave dombrowski he knows he i mean he's been around the block he knows when he says something like that yep in philadelphia or wherever he's been that everyone's going to be like what's up with that and he just willingly said that is there some sort of friction that's happening there not my sense the interesting thing is that bryce has done everything that they've asked him to do like He embraced Philadelphia.