Hour 1: Joel Sherman

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Hockey on ESPN is blowing up.

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Hockey is back.

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So, what does it look like now? The kids, Hughes, Celebrany, Schaeffer. That's hockey. Ovi and Crosby, that's hockey. And with access to over 1,000 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.

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

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I gotta get more Kay.

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Michael Kay (0:41)

And a good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Wednesday. It's October 7th, it's 2026 Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. It's the fastest moving two hours in Sports Talk Radio, and it moves fast because of you, my co-host, 1-800-919-3776.

Because even when we disagree, we agree to have a discussion. And I love that there was a lot of disagreement on some of the words I had in yesterday's show, and that's fine. That's what this is all about. This is what Talk Radio is about. Some people think it's all on Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman. And I seem to think that when a player boots a ball, it's kind of on the player's doorstep, not the coach's and not the manager's. And I've been pretty steady in that all year. You know, when people wanted to get rid of the hitting coach, when the Yankees were struggling, I said, well, he's not in the box. He might be telling the right thing to do, and then not executing it. But I know that there's a lot of residual, I wouldn't say hate, but discontent with Aaron Boone because of the fact that, you know, this is his 9th year. And in the previous 8 years, he has not won a World Series. And I know that that's what it's all about with the Yankees. And I've told you and I told you yesterday, a Yankee fan that wasn't upset with the way the Yankees performed on Monday, really lives in a land of unicorn and rainbows. Because you're supposed to be upset when the team that you root for, that you put all your energy into, when they don't perform, even at a respectable level. You're supposed to be upset. And I don't try to cut you off at the pass there. I think that where we sometimes disconnect is you automatically want to blame the manager and the GM. And I think that there's enough blame to go around. You know, I blame Ryan McMahon for making that error to start the game, in game two. But I also blame Aaron Boone for putting in Ryan McMahon at third base when I said that the guy that should be playing third base was Jose Caballero. So there's all the blame to go around. You could find blame for everybody.

You could. That's the way it is. So now tonight turns into a win or go home situation for the New York Yankees. And having been around baseball as long as I've been around, momentum only goes as far as your next day's starting pitcher. So of the two games, there was one game where the Yankees were overmatched and seemingly outclassed. And that was game two. They had four official errors on the board.

And there were more mistakes than that. That weren't scored errors.

Game one was a good old-fashioned game of hardball. The Yankee pitching was outstanding. There was one pitch that Jonathan Aranda hit into the seats. And the Yankees lost one nothing to a pitcher that they have always done poorly against, except one start this year. And that's Drew Rasmussen. None of that should impact today.

None of that. Now, the likelihood of coming back from 0-2, it's not great. The odds tell you it's not great. So, was it 91 teams have gone down 0-2 in a best of five, and 10 of them have come back to win? And the last one to do it, I believe, was the 2007 Yankees against the Cleveland Guardians. I don't know if they're the Guardians or the Indians at that point, but against Cleveland. So, is it impossible for them to do it? No, it's not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm going to be quite forthright with you. It's improbable because despite what a lot of people said leading into the series, the Rays have not overachieved. The Rays should not be looked at as a little engine that could. The Rays are a really good team with really good starting pitching and a really good bullpen. And although they have a payroll of 110, they don't have a roster of 110 million. Think about it.