Hour 1: Crushing it

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This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:31)
I got to get more Kay.

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**Michael Kay** (0:38)
And a good afternoon everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Thursday. It is April 20th, 2026 Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. It's the fastest moving two hours in the sports talk radio. You know that. You're a big part of it as well. You're the co-host and the membership number is 1-800-919-3776.
Let's get on board right away because there's a lot of stuff to talk about. So the Yankees beat the Orioles last night, five to three. The night before, they won three to one. So they take the first two games with three game set, which finishes tonight with Garrett Cole on the mound against Kyle Bradish. And coming into this series, I was kind of excited to see the Orioles because the Orioles had just come from Tampa Bay and taken three out of four. They took the first three games and they made an attempt at a comeback in game four. So like a spirited team, and when the Yankees faced them on Tuesday night, the Orioles were actually the third wild card team. After an awful start to their season, they had made a run to be the third wild card team. Now, I watched the first two games of the series and I'm stunned. They're just not good. I mean, they're decent, but I certainly don't look at them and say, well, this is a playoff team. I've gotten that feeling about a lot of teams that the Yankees have played. The Yankees went into Wigley Field, and everybody's saying, well, the Cubs, they're going to go to the World Series this year. The Yankees took two out of three. The Yankees took two out of three in Philadelphia. The Yankees took two out of three against Atlanta. Remember when they played Washington? Washington was the real deal. They could hit with anybody. They swept the Nationals. They took two out of three against Seattle. So all these teams that you're excited about seeing, they're not that good. So I'll make this statement. If, and it's a big if, because they're far from it, if the Yankees were whole, if they were not hurt, if Judge never broke his rib, the Yankees would steamroll their way to the World Series. Steamroll.
Because the Yankees are an unbelievably compromised team, and they keep beating these teams that are supposedly wheelie good. How's that possible? The Yankees don't score runs. They don't score runs, and I'm not saying that hyperbolically. They don't score runs.
So in the last like 20 games, they averaged under three runs a game. Do you know how hard it is to win games that way? And we keep seeing teams face the Yankees, and you go, well, this is it. This is the time for the comeuppance. There's no comeuppance. Because despite the Yankees being in second place, five games behind the Rays, you know what?
They still hold their own against everybody. And this is not an opening to stay in there and hang on the rim about the Yankees, because the Yankees have their issues.
Cody Bellinger starts his rehab assignment today. So maybe we see him over the weekend when the Yankees play Toronto at the stadium. Aaron Judge is in the pool, and he's running and playing catch, but we don't know when he's going to get back. We still have no idea when we're going to see John Carlos Stanton yesterday, another ill-advised base running mistake by the Yankees. A ball hit right in front of him. Ryan McMahon goes for second base, gets thrown out, jams his finger. How to leave the game, how to be pinch hit for against a right-handed pitcher by Jose Caballero. Now if you had a bet, he's at least missing a couple of games. You know, they said they took an x-ray. Well, what does that mean? The x-ray didn't show a break. There are so many more injuries than a break. So they are operating, I'd say, at 65 percent of what they could be. And still they're right there. How do you explain it? How do you explain what's going on? And when you look at the American League, it's a 15-team league. There are five teams that are over 500, and one of the teams over 500 is over 500 by one game.