Hour 1: Drinking Kool-Aid

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
So good, so good, so good.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:01)
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**SPEAKER_3** (0:31)
This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I got to get more Kay.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:35)
Listen live weekdays at 1 on the ESPN New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:41)
Good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Friday, August 21st, 2026, me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement in the fastest moving two hours in Sports Talk Radio. Of course, you are the co-host. You know, the password 1-800-919-3776.
I wonder if you punch that into a computer if they say weak password. Make it more difficult. Put an exclamation point at the end of it. Anyway, the password is 1-800-919-3776.
And what makes today even more special than usual, it's a free for all Friday. Whatever you want to talk about, whatever you want to hit me with, please do it. I'm ready. 1-800-919-3776. Got a lot of stuff to talk about. One thing caught my eye. The Mets are beginning a three game series against the White Sox in Chicago. And the New York Post today had a story about how the Mets still have a chance, a chance at getting the third wild card. Now, I understand you got to write something every single day. And I've been impressed by how the Mets have played. They won 11 of their last 15 There's nothing to sneeze at. And I've been a big proponent of saying, why is Andy Green not being considered to be the manager next year? Why not? He's done a really good job. He's kept a team that was decimated at the trade deadline together. Young players, who obviously he knew, because he was kind of the head of the entire farm system. And he's motivated them to play very well. And they've taken giant leaps. Carson Bench has played very, very well. The guys they've added in the bullpen have meshed and played very, very well. But do you know what the Mets' chances are when you look at all of the prediction and baseball analytics sites? Their chance is 0.1%. 0.1%. So it's like the movie Dumb and Dumber. So you're telling me there's a chance? Yeah, there's a chance. But let me give you the facts. To get to 83 wins, which is what the Mets won last year and just missed out on the playoffs. So you assume that there's so many bad teams in baseball, 83 wins could get you, could get you the third wild card. For the Mets to get to 83 wins, they have to go 25 and 9, which is an otherworldly 735 winning percentage. On top of that, they have the 7th most difficult schedule remaining in baseball. 7th most difficult game remaining.
So they have 34 games remaining, 18 of them are on the road. They are out of the 3rd wild card by 10 games. And they have 6 teams to jump over. So you're telling me there's a chance? No, there's not a chance. And if you're a Mets fan, you shouldn't be rooting for that, for them to come close.
You want them to think that this team is good enough for next year? They've got to make major changes for next year.
Let Andy Green continue to motivate them, let them play 500 for him and feel good about things. But don't make the organizational delusional and make David Stearns think, you know what, I must have been smart. No, no, you weren't smart, because every move you made is backfired, every one. And the ones that you wanted to make, thank goodness they didn't happen.
The manager of Kyle Tucker was for his last 25, like he is with the Dodgers. And looking like he's crying on the bench and dropping balls in right field, the Mets offered him $60 million a year. Same deal as the Dodgers. And he took the Dodger deal. The Mets should thank their lucky stars.
He wanted Edwin Diaz back, so did I, but he got lucky, Diaz got hurt, and since he's come back, he was ineffective and he's hurt again. So we don't even know if he's going to be a big part of the Dodger run.