Hour 1: World Series Chances

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:32)
I got to get more Kay.

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**SPEAKER_4** (0:39)
And a good afternoon everybody.

**Michael Kay** (0:41)
This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Monday. It's August 24th, 2026 Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. You know how it works. It's the fastest moving two hours of sports talk radio in the entire history of the universe. And the thing that makes it so fast moving is you, my co-host. I'm not bunkered down or, or slowed down by any professional co-host. I find people out there that have things to say, that move the process along and that is you. And the membership number is 1-800-919-3776.
So much to do, so little time to do it. So many things to talk about, so many things to pick apart. Let's get to it. What do you say? Beginning of another full week, yesterday was a full week, not slowed down by any vacation days, not slowed down by any afternoon games. No, no, no, no. It's another five day week of full frontal Michael Kay. That's right, you heard it. Full frontal Michael Kay Show. Let's do this. Let's get to it. It was a very interesting weekend for the New York Yankees. They took two out of three from the Toronto Blue Jays. Yesterday's game was really, really important. Now, I don't think that the Blue Jays are going to catch the Yankees to have the same record, but you never know. So you want to have every single tool available in your back pocket. So yesterday was not only the rubber game of the three game set, but it was the rubber game of the season series. So both teams came in, six and six. Both teams had the exact same amount of runs scored, 41 and 41
So this not only was the rubber game for the weekend, but it was the one that would give one of the two teams the tiebreaker if, in fact, they ever were tied in any way possible. So the Yankees won this one by a score of eight to three. Rodin gave them four innings. But again, the bullpen was amazing. And I know there is a great deal of people out there that don't love themselves some Aaron Boone. I thought he managed a great game yesterday because he realized, I'm not going to save Paul Blackburn, who's become my highest leverage reliever other than David Bednar. I'm not going to save him for later in the game. The game is going to be won in the fifth and sixth inning. So I'm going to use him right then, which is really early for using Blackburn because Blackburn's been used in the seventh and the eighth. He has ascended so much in the circle of trust. Boone brought him in, and all he did was have two scoreless innings. While the Yankees were doing that, the Yankees were scoring some runs, pulling away. Then they went to Ryan Yarbrough and then Hedrick. So using Blackburn when he did, I thought it was really smart, intuitive, and also told you how big of a game that was for the Yankees. So the Yankees end up winning, but that was not the biggest story of the weekend. The biggest story of the weekend was again injuries, and the injuries have bedeviled the Yankees the entire season. And somehow they have overcome them. They are once again a season-high tying. This is the third time they've gone there. 18 games over 500 There are three games behind the first place Tampa Bay Rays, who are having a little bit of a market correction, and they're three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for the first wild card.
But we find out in Saturday's game that Ryan Weathers, who's pit so well for the team, ends up leaving the game. And you can see there was something wrong with his arm. It turns out later that it was a forearm strain. And you figure that you're going to lose him for the remainder of the year. But it was the lowest-grade forearm strain that you could possibly have. So it could end up working out for the Yankees. And here's what I mean.