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Well, I tell you guys this all the time. No
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disrespect to the sports guys I have on weekly. Guys
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like Joe Benningo and Craig Carton, even Christopher Maddog Russo,
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the best baseball guy in the nation.
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In the nation.
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Whether it's the New York Post, MLB, it doesn't matter,
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is my friend John Heyman. John is great, and what
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a guy to have on the day before we start
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the 2026 World Series. John Heyman, welcome back, good buddy.
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Hey, thanks for the introduction. Big day in baseball, big
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day for you, Sid, going right to the Hall of Fame. Well-deserved,
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my friend, and no controversy about this Hall of Fame induction.
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You are the best.
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Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
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Thank you for saying that. That's right.
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I never would have thought 20 years ago that I'd
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be in the Hall of Fame and Bonds and Alex
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Rodriguez would not.
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But, of course, it's not the same Hall of Fame.
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You know what's funny?
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You and I have talked about this, John, is this
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inevitable work stoppage in baseball. And maybe it'll be a month.
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Maybe it'll be two months. Maybe the whole season. I
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think we all agree there'll be some stoppage of work.
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And it all comes down to the big market teams, right?
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I mean, baseball needs... a salary cap, the big market
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teams are spending all this money, and yet, what do
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we have tomorrow? Tampa, small market team. Milwaukee, ranked 19th
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in payroll, small market team. The irony, as we get
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ready for a word stoppage, the World Series is Tampa
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Bay and Milwaukee.
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Yeah, I mean, this is going to be shocking to
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a lot of people. Baseball aficionados, we love it. Neither
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of these teams has won a World Series. They're two
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of the five teams never to win, so we're going
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to get a First time World Series winner. It is great.
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They've done a great job in Tampa and Milwaukee building
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a team. And certainly the owners are going to certainly
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stick to their argument that it's very difficult to win
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as a small market team. And they're going to look
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at the history of it. And there is some merit
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to that. But this is a little bit of a
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dent in their argument, I think, that we have Tampa
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and Milwaukee, not just the two teams, World Series teams,
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the two teams with the best records and the two
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teams that eliminated the Dodgers and the Yankees both by sweep.
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Good point.
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Milwaukee, 103 wins, the most in the NL. Tampa Bay,
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98 wins, most in the AL. They've been the two
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best teams. By the way, only time ever talking about
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five teams that haven't won where neither team has won
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the World Series. This is the second time ever, I
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should say. Back in 1980, the Phillies beat the Royals
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in six. And again, one of these two teams will
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win their first World Series. And I got to say this,
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you know, all the great managers that I've met over
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the years working at WFAN, I sat down, John, with
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people like Joe Torre and even Lasorda and, you know,
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La Russa. I sat down with all these people, even
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Earl Weaver. The job that Kevin Cash does year in
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and year out, they don't win World Series, but 90-plus wins,
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first or second place finishes.
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With that payroll, Kevin Cash, to me, is a miracle worker.
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Both of them, Pat Murphy of Milwaukee too. Murphy is
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one of the manager of the year, the nationally two
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straight years. Uh, he might be deserving that this year,
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although it's probably hard to give it to him a
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third straight year, but I'm with you. Kevin cash is
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a miracle worker. What a great hire. That was, uh,
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by Tampa. They must've known something right away. They give
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a five-year deal. Uh, he had been with the Cleveland, uh,
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which seems to, uh, really, uh, do a great job,
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but with executives and coaches and whatever, but, uh, He's
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been amazing. He had a five-year, $ 1 million-a-year contract at
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the beginning. Now he makes probably five times that or four.
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So he deserves it. He's amazing. The front offices are amazing.
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They've all done an incredible job to get here. Milwaukee,
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19th in payroll, and Tampa in the bottom five. So
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it's pretty amazing that both of these teams are here,
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but they're proven. It's not a fluke. They are the
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winningest teams in their league, as you said.
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And they do have superstars both offensively, pitching. The Peralta
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pickup turned out to be very big, leaving the Mets
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and going to Tampa Bay. And usually when we get
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to the World Series, I got a pretty good feel. Well,
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the last couple of years was easy. It was the Dodgers.
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I don't have a feel here. You know, I know
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Milwaukee won more regular season games, five more. And like
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you said, Milwaukee had to beat the Dodgers and Tampa
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Bay had to beat the Yankees. I don't have a
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real good feel here because they're both so good. They
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both pitch. They both get timely hitting. They both catch
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the baseball. So I don't know. You, John, you got
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a feel about which one of these teams is going
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to win this World Series?
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Well, I don't know about a feel, but I am
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saying my in-laws in Milwaukee. So if I say I
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don't know that Tampa's going to win, I could be
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in trouble. Milwaukee has been a little bit better. They're
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in the better league at this point. They did win
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more games. They did win any sweep in the LCS.
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I can see them as a slight favorite, but I mean,
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there's a good case to be made for Tampa. It
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feels like they're starting pitching is in better shape right now.
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Nobody's pitching better than Rasmussen. Peralta was the LCS MVP.
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It's hard to even imagine that after what we saw
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him do with the Mets. But I mean, he's a
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great pitcher. He's just had really basically one bad half
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year in his career in nine years. And that happened
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to be that half year that he was with the Mets. So,
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I do see a case for Tampa, but I'm going
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to go with a favorite here. I say that knowing
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that the favorite often does not win in the World Series.
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It does seem to be a crapshoot, and oftentimes a
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team that is– A big underdog wins. So in this case,
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I think Tampa's a slight underdog, although I think their
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starting pitching is in slightly better shape right now.
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Although this guy, Mazeroski, for the Brewers, what do you
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hear this guy had?
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The Miz, amazing. He's incredible. I mean, 1,000 pitches over
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100 miles an hour. I mean, pitches over 104 miles
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an hour. It's an event when he pitches in Milwaukee.
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The Miz is something else. Third-round pick. And really, Milwaukee,
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they do a great job drafting, developing. And this guy
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obviously has a gift from God with that arm. It's
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just incredible. It really is. And it's something to see.
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But I got to say, on Tampa's side, Rasmussen, the
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Yankee killer, he was a Guardian killer as well. And
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he is a terrific pitcher. And right now, he's giving
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more length than Mizorowski. Mizorowski is not good, given the six,
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seven innings that we've seen him give throughout the season.
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One thing about baseball, I always have this conversation with you, John,
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and others, is it's a regional sport.
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What do I mean by that? You know, in the NFL,
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I'm a Giant fan, okay?
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So I watch the Giants play Dallas at 1 o'clock,
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but then, you know, 4 o'clock, I'm watching the Raiders
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play the Chargers, you know, or the Niners play the Chiefs. Now,
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a lot of that is because of the gambling. Everybody
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knows it. The NFL doesn't like to admit it, but
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that's a fact. You're either playing fantasy football or you're
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betting on the games. So people watch Monday Night Football
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when their team is not even playing. Baseball, that's not
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the case. When the Mets aren't playing, most baseball guys,
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not you, I love you, John, but most baseball guys
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are not staying up to watch the Padres play the Giants.
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So when you get a regional sport and you get
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two small market teams like Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, even
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though it should be very, very competitive and they both
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deserve it, they're both number one seeds, inside their respective leagues,
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is it fair to assume the TV ratings.
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May be awful?
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Yeah, I'm worried about the ratings. They could be terrible.
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They were a couple of years ago when the Rangers
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and the Diamondbacks somehow made it to the World Series.
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They were not good. Now we have even smaller markets.
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My TV friends tell me that Tampa, for whatever reason,
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now that's not such a small market like Milwaukee. Milwaukee
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is the smallest market in baseball tied with Cincinnati. depending
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on how you look at it, but Tampa is not
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that small a market. They're a low revenue team, but
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they are Tampa for whatever reason in any sport is
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the death for rating. So I, I am worried, you know,
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the baseball aficionados are going to be tuned in because
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these are two great teams. It's very interesting to see
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how they built their teams and see how they do win.
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I mean, they, They both use bunts. They both put
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both the ball in play. It's a more interesting game
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than the three true outcomes of the home run walk
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and strikeout. It should be a fun series, but the
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ratings are, I'm going to be shocked if the ratings
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aren't terrible. I really am.
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One local question for you, John. I know the Steinbrenners
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and catchmen love them. Yankees have decided to bring back
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Aaron Boone for his 10th season.
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I was talking to, oh, it was Belingo yesterday.
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I said, when I was a kid, it was World
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Series win, not even get in, because Steinbrenner was so
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embarrassed that his team got their answers kicked by the
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Reds in 76, that he went out and got Reggie.
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Jackson for 77.
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It was World Series win or bust. Now with the Yanks,
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with the kid Hal, it seems like, 95 wins. Let
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me sell out the Bronx every night. Just make it
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to the playoffs. We don't got to get to the
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World Series. We don't got to win. It seems like
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it's different. And I guess we haven't gone to one
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of the World Series, I should say, in 19 years.
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That would change the way your fan base thinks. But
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it does seem different, yes?
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Yeah, it doesn't only seem different. It is different. I mean,
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there's no way that Hal Steinbrenner can claim it's World
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Series or buzz. We've had nine straight years now. I
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grant you that Aaron Boone is a solid manager. He's
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got a 58% winning percentage in the regular season. which
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is excellent. He gets along with ownership. He gets along
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with players. And if they care, he does get along
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with media. But, I mean, it's clear. It doesn't just
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seem clear. It's clear that they are not adamant about
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winning the World Series, getting to the World Series, or
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anything like that. I mean, you wonder how many years
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it would take to actually make a change. I do
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kind of think that the lockout even though they won't
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admit it, probably made it clear to them, why do
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it now? Why hire somebody now? We're going into a
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lockout for sure, and we're going to pay another guy,
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and he's not going to be able to talk to
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the players, and it's, you know, Boone's got a year
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to go. So, you know, perhaps if the circumstances were different,
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maybe they would have made that change now. But, I mean, yeah,
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I mean, you know, it's not just Steinbrenner. Anybody in
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old-time baseball with a big market team, you're going nine years,
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You know, even if you are deemed good, and I
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think he is a pretty good manager, usually the time
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is up at this point.
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Final 30 seconds, whenever the lockout is over, if you're
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a Met fan, a New York Met fan, any reason
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some of these young guys and Ewing and the other
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kid came up big last year, any reason to be
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optimistic about next season?
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Oh, certainly. I mean, they had... perhaps the best collection
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of rookies in baseball, still counting McLean. He was a
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rookie technically. Benj, obviously, Ewing, you mentioned. I would say
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the Mets and the Guardians are the two teams that
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had the best collection of rookies. Obviously, they have the
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wherewithal with Steve Cohen there. And they did underachieve last year.
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They did play better in the second half. So, You know,
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I wouldn't give up on the Mets completely. I would
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think that their future is not as dim as probably
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some Mets fans even think that it is.
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Well, how about that?
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And there was Steve Cohen sitting courtside for the Knicks
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for the ceremony, the first night's loss against Philadelphia. John Heyman,
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I love you. You really are great.
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I mean this.
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You're the best baseball guy in the country. Keep up
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the great work, and please keep coming on, even if
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there's a lockout. We'll talk about, like, 20 years ago, baseball.
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You're the best, and a Hall of Famer. Oh, man,
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let's not forget that.
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Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you so much. You're great.
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John Heyman right there, for what it's worth.
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His in-laws are in Milwaukee, so he's picking the Brewers
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to win the World Series. What a super guy and
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a great baseball guy. We'll take a short break. It
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is Hall of Fame Thursday. Sit and friends in the morning,
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and I'll be back after these words.
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Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
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You can hear Sit and Friends in the Morning weekday
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mornings at 630. Share it with your friends and listen
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anytime at WABCradio.com and download the WABC Radio app. Hit
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that subscribe button on all major podcast platforms. Plus, follow
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WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X. See
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you next time for a new episode so you never
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have to wonder.
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What the heck is going on here?
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Well, I tell you guys this all the time. No
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disrespect to the sports guys I have on weekly. Guys
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like Joe Benningo and Craig Carton, even Christopher Maddog Russo,
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the best baseball guy in the nation.
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In the nation.
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Whether it's the New York Post, MLB, it doesn't matter,
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is my friend John Heyman. John is great, and what
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a guy to have on the day before we start
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the 2026 World Series. John Heyman, welcome back, good buddy.
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Hey, thanks for the introduction. Big day in baseball, big
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day for you, Sid, going right to the Hall of Fame. Well-deserved,
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my friend, and no controversy about this Hall of Fame induction.
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You are the best.
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Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
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Thank you for saying that. That's right.
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I never would have thought 20 years ago that I'd
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be in the Hall of Fame and Bonds and Alex
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Rodriguez would not.
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But, of course, it's not the same Hall of Fame.
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You know what's funny?
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You and I have talked about this, John, is this
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inevitable work stoppage in baseball. And maybe it'll be a month.
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Maybe it'll be two months. Maybe the whole season. I
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think we all agree there'll be some stoppage of work.
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And it all comes down to the big market teams, right?
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I mean, baseball needs... a salary cap, the big market
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teams are spending all this money, and yet, what do
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we have tomorrow? Tampa, small market team. Milwaukee, ranked 19th
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in payroll, small market team. The irony, as we get
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ready for a word stoppage, the World Series is Tampa
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Bay and Milwaukee.
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Yeah, I mean, this is going to be shocking to
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a lot of people. Baseball aficionados, we love it. Neither
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of these teams has won a World Series. They're two
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of the five teams never to win, so we're going
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to get a First time World Series winner. It is great.
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They've done a great job in Tampa and Milwaukee building
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a team. And certainly the owners are going to certainly
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stick to their argument that it's very difficult to win
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as a small market team. And they're going to look
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at the history of it. And there is some merit
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to that. But this is a little bit of a
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dent in their argument, I think, that we have Tampa
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and Milwaukee, not just the two teams, World Series teams,
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the two teams with the best records and the two
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teams that eliminated the Dodgers and the Yankees both by sweep.
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Good point.
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Milwaukee, 103 wins, the most in the NL. Tampa Bay,
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98 wins, most in the AL. They've been the two
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best teams. By the way, only time ever talking about
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five teams that haven't won where neither team has won
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the World Series. This is the second time ever, I
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should say. Back in 1980, the Phillies beat the Royals
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in six. And again, one of these two teams will
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win their first World Series. And I got to say this,
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you know, all the great managers that I've met over
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the years working at WFAN, I sat down, John, with
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people like Joe Torre and even Lasorda and, you know,
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La Russa. I sat down with all these people, even
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Earl Weaver. The job that Kevin Cash does year in
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and year out, they don't win World Series, but 90-plus wins,
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first or second place finishes.
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With that payroll, Kevin Cash, to me, is a miracle worker.
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Both of them, Pat Murphy of Milwaukee too. Murphy is
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one of the manager of the year, the nationally two
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straight years. Uh, he might be deserving that this year,
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although it's probably hard to give it to him a
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third straight year, but I'm with you. Kevin cash is
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a miracle worker. What a great hire. That was, uh,
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by Tampa. They must've known something right away. They give
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a five-year deal. Uh, he had been with the Cleveland, uh,
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which seems to, uh, really, uh, do a great job,
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but with executives and coaches and whatever, but, uh, He's
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been amazing. He had a five-year, $ 1 million-a-year contract at
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the beginning. Now he makes probably five times that or four.
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So he deserves it. He's amazing. The front offices are amazing.
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They've all done an incredible job to get here. Milwaukee,
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19th in payroll, and Tampa in the bottom five. So
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it's pretty amazing that both of these teams are here,
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but they're proven. It's not a fluke. They are the
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winningest teams in their league, as you said.
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And they do have superstars both offensively, pitching. The Peralta
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pickup turned out to be very big, leaving the Mets
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and going to Tampa Bay. And usually when we get
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to the World Series, I got a pretty good feel. Well,
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the last couple of years was easy. It was the Dodgers.
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I don't have a feel here. You know, I know
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Milwaukee won more regular season games, five more. And like
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you said, Milwaukee had to beat the Dodgers and Tampa
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Bay had to beat the Yankees. I don't have a
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real good feel here because they're both so good. They
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both pitch. They both get timely hitting. They both catch
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the baseball. So I don't know. You, John, you got
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a feel about which one of these teams is going
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to win this World Series?
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Well, I don't know about a feel, but I am
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saying my in-laws in Milwaukee. So if I say I
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don't know that Tampa's going to win, I could be
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in trouble. Milwaukee has been a little bit better. They're
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in the better league at this point. They did win
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more games. They did win any sweep in the LCS.
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I can see them as a slight favorite, but I mean,
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there's a good case to be made for Tampa. It
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feels like they're starting pitching is in better shape right now.
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Nobody's pitching better than Rasmussen. Peralta was the LCS MVP.
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It's hard to even imagine that after what we saw
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him do with the Mets. But I mean, he's a
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great pitcher. He's just had really basically one bad half
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year in his career in nine years. And that happened
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to be that half year that he was with the Mets. So,
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I do see a case for Tampa, but I'm going
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to go with a favorite here. I say that knowing
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that the favorite often does not win in the World Series.
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It does seem to be a crapshoot, and oftentimes a
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team that is– A big underdog wins. So in this case,
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I think Tampa's a slight underdog, although I think their
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starting pitching is in slightly better shape right now.
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Although this guy, Mazeroski, for the Brewers, what do you
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hear this guy had?
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The Miz, amazing. He's incredible. I mean, 1,000 pitches over
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100 miles an hour. I mean, pitches over 104 miles
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an hour. It's an event when he pitches in Milwaukee.
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The Miz is something else. Third-round pick. And really, Milwaukee,
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they do a great job drafting, developing. And this guy
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obviously has a gift from God with that arm. It's
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just incredible. It really is. And it's something to see.
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But I got to say, on Tampa's side, Rasmussen, the
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Yankee killer, he was a Guardian killer as well. And
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he is a terrific pitcher. And right now, he's giving
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more length than Mizorowski. Mizorowski is not good, given the six,
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seven innings that we've seen him give throughout the season.
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One thing about baseball, I always have this conversation with you, John,
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and others, is it's a regional sport.
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What do I mean by that? You know, in the NFL,
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I'm a Giant fan, okay?
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So I watch the Giants play Dallas at 1 o'clock,
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but then, you know, 4 o'clock, I'm watching the Raiders
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play the Chargers, you know, or the Niners play the Chiefs. Now,
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a lot of that is because of the gambling. Everybody
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knows it. The NFL doesn't like to admit it, but
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that's a fact. You're either playing fantasy football or you're
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betting on the games. So people watch Monday Night Football
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when their team is not even playing. Baseball, that's not
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the case. When the Mets aren't playing, most baseball guys,
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not you, I love you, John, but most baseball guys
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are not staying up to watch the Padres play the Giants.
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So when you get a regional sport and you get
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two small market teams like Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, even
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though it should be very, very competitive and they both
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deserve it, they're both number one seeds, inside their respective leagues,
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is it fair to assume the TV ratings.
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May be awful?
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Yeah, I'm worried about the ratings. They could be terrible.
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They were a couple of years ago when the Rangers
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and the Diamondbacks somehow made it to the World Series.
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They were not good. Now we have even smaller markets.
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My TV friends tell me that Tampa, for whatever reason,
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now that's not such a small market like Milwaukee. Milwaukee
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is the smallest market in baseball tied with Cincinnati. depending
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on how you look at it, but Tampa is not
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that small a market. They're a low revenue team, but
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they are Tampa for whatever reason in any sport is
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the death for rating. So I, I am worried, you know,
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the baseball aficionados are going to be tuned in because
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these are two great teams. It's very interesting to see
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how they built their teams and see how they do win.
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I mean, they, They both use bunts. They both put
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both the ball in play. It's a more interesting game
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than the three true outcomes of the home run walk
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and strikeout. It should be a fun series, but the
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ratings are, I'm going to be shocked if the ratings
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aren't terrible. I really am.
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One local question for you, John. I know the Steinbrenners
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and catchmen love them. Yankees have decided to bring back
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Aaron Boone for his 10th season.
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I was talking to, oh, it was Belingo yesterday.
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I said, when I was a kid, it was World
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Series win, not even get in, because Steinbrenner was so
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embarrassed that his team got their answers kicked by the
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Reds in 76, that he went out and got Reggie.
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Jackson for 77.
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It was World Series win or bust. Now with the Yanks,
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with the kid Hal, it seems like, 95 wins. Let
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me sell out the Bronx every night. Just make it
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to the playoffs. We don't got to get to the
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World Series. We don't got to win. It seems like
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it's different. And I guess we haven't gone to one
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of the World Series, I should say, in 19 years.
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That would change the way your fan base thinks. But
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it does seem different, yes?
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Yeah, it doesn't only seem different. It is different. I mean,
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there's no way that Hal Steinbrenner can claim it's World
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Series or buzz. We've had nine straight years now. I
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grant you that Aaron Boone is a solid manager. He's
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got a 58% winning percentage in the regular season. which
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is excellent. He gets along with ownership. He gets along
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with players. And if they care, he does get along
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with media. But, I mean, it's clear. It doesn't just
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seem clear. It's clear that they are not adamant about
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winning the World Series, getting to the World Series, or
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anything like that. I mean, you wonder how many years
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it would take to actually make a change. I do
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kind of think that the lockout even though they won't
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admit it, probably made it clear to them, why do
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it now? Why hire somebody now? We're going into a
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lockout for sure, and we're going to pay another guy,
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and he's not going to be able to talk to
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the players, and it's, you know, Boone's got a year
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to go. So, you know, perhaps if the circumstances were different,
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maybe they would have made that change now. But, I mean, yeah,
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I mean, you know, it's not just Steinbrenner. Anybody in
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old-time baseball with a big market team, you're going nine years,
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You know, even if you are deemed good, and I
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think he is a pretty good manager, usually the time
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is up at this point.
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Final 30 seconds, whenever the lockout is over, if you're
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a Met fan, a New York Met fan, any reason
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some of these young guys and Ewing and the other
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kid came up big last year, any reason to be
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optimistic about next season?
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Oh, certainly. I mean, they had... perhaps the best collection
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of rookies in baseball, still counting McLean. He was a
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rookie technically. Benj, obviously, Ewing, you mentioned. I would say
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the Mets and the Guardians are the two teams that
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had the best collection of rookies. Obviously, they have the
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wherewithal with Steve Cohen there. And they did underachieve last year.
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They did play better in the second half. So, You know,
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I wouldn't give up on the Mets completely. I would
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think that their future is not as dim as probably
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some Mets fans even think that it is.
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Well, how about that?
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And there was Steve Cohen sitting courtside for the Knicks
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for the ceremony, the first night's loss against Philadelphia. John Heyman,
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I love you. You really are great.
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I mean this.
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You're the best baseball guy in the country. Keep up
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the great work, and please keep coming on, even if
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there's a lockout. We'll talk about, like, 20 years ago, baseball.
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You're the best, and a Hall of Famer. Oh, man,
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let's not forget that.
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Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you so much. You're great.
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John Heyman right there, for what it's worth.
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His in-laws are in Milwaukee, so he's picking the Brewers
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to win the World Series. What a super guy and
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a great baseball guy. We'll take a short break. It
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is Hall of Fame Thursday. Sit and friends in the morning,
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and I'll be back after these words.
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Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
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You can hear Sit and Friends in the Morning weekday
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mornings at 630. Share it with your friends and listen
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anytime at WABCradio.com and download the WABC Radio app. Hit
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that subscribe button on all major podcast platforms. Plus, follow
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WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X. See
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you next time for a new episode so you never
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have to wonder.
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What the heck is going on here?
