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Hour 2: What Needs to Change? artwork

Hour 2: What Needs to Change?

The Michael Kay Show

October 8, 2026

What changes do you want to see the Yankees make? Is it time for a new view?

Speakers Michael Kay

TopicsSports

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Welcome back to the show. So Yankees get swept up by the temp of a raise.

And this season, actually one game less than last season. They lost in four games to the Toronto Blue Jays. And now they lose in three games to the raise. And the thing that's so disheartening, if you're a Yankee fan, it was all right in front of you. If you got past the raise, you can't tell me you wouldn't get past the Guardians or the White Sox. That side of the bracket is so easy. Tampa Bay is going to the, they're going to go to the postseason.

They're going to go to the World Series, I should say. Because I don't see the Guardians or the White Sox beating Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is a good team. And for those that called up before the series and said, they've overachieved all year, you got it wrong. They're good. They're not overachieving. They're a good team. And as I said yesterday, you can't look at them as a little engine that could, because they have players that are undervalued in the market, but are outstanding, some of the best players in baseball. Caminero, Rasmussen, Brian Baker, who they got from the Orioles. The Orioles, they couldn't use a closure like that.

The kid who hit the home run yesterday, Victor Mason Jr., who was released last year, released.

They got away, like the Billy Joel song. They got away.

Yandy Diaz has been a really good player for a long time. Jonathan Aranda is a really good player.

Richie Palacios is a hard-nosed kid from Brooklyn, who's done a great job at second base.

They're a good team.

And I love the nonsense, while the last thing Major League Baseball wants is the Rays and the Brewers to meet in the World Series, which is a distinct possibility. Why? You think they're going to come off the cap that they want? They're still going to talk about payroll disparity. The thing that they're going to say is, yeah, but Tampa Bay's not going to be able to keep their stars.

Like, Kansas City won a championship. They couldn't keep their stars. You think in three years under the present system, they'll be able to keep Junior Caminero? No, they'll trade them. But what makes them a really smart organization, they trade them for something good. They get rid of somebody a year early. They don't care about the shouts from baseball people or their fans. They know what they're doing, and they'll get rid of somebody a year early. But that's not going to stop Major League. You think Major League Baseball is going to be embarrassed to say that the small market teams can't compete? They'll say they'll change it to can't compete consistently. That's what they'll say. It'll be a great World Series, Tampa Bay against Milwaukee. And if you watch that Milwaukee San Diego Series, it was amazing. Each game was a nail biter.

A home run by Machado, taken away by a leaping Mitchell. Phenomenal. Now, one thing I want to say about yesterday. I do not at all blame those fans in left field. At all. If you have a wall and you have fans sitting in the first row of seats, and the ball is coming at you from 340 feet away, they didn't blatantly reach over. They were trying to make a catch. You mean that they could actually tell that they were going to interfere with the ball? Those guys did nothing wrong. They did what any human being would do. The ball is coming right at them. They reached their hand out.

But it does show you how times they have changed. 30 years ago tomorrow, Jeffrey Mayer reached over in right field, a kid, so he wasn't doing it on purpose, trying to catch the ball. And Derek Jeter got a home run out of it. Tony Tarasco went nuts. Richie Garcia was the right field umpire. And it was clearly fan interference. So you wonder if there was replay back there, would that have been taken away? And I think most certainly it would have. But things went right for the Yankees back then. And yesterday, things went wrong.

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