00:00Joel Sherman back with three things. Why don't we open with this, a wrap-up of the Mets, wrap-up of their disaster.
00:07Monday was for falling on swords and promising diligence in the offseason and a non-repeat of 2025.
00:17Steve Cohn put out a tweet apologizing to the Mets fan base for their epic collapse.
00:24David Stearns did a press conference at Citi Field, took responsibility for everything that happened as the architect of the team.
00:34Look, this is very modern. This is the beginning of a PR campaign, and I want to give the Mets credit.
00:40Most owners never make themselves public in any way. Steve Cohn does. He put a voice to himself again yesterday.
00:48A lot of heads of baseball operations now hide at the worst times. David Stearns, the day after this disaster, sat in front of reporters, took questions for a half an hour.
00:58But this is about PR. This is about humanizing this to see if they could begin to change the page.
01:05But I think the thing that you have to remember here is that the people involved, there's some loss in faith in all this.
01:11We just have to think where the Mets were 12 months ago. They made a shocking run to the NLCS.
01:19And at that time, I want to read the quote. Steve Cohn, after the Mets eliminate the Phillies to get to the NLCS to get on a plane to go to the Dodgers,
01:31he says in the winning clubhouse, he was soaked in champagne. He said, I want to slay the negative Mets fan perceptions.
01:36And we're on the way to doing it. Well, they were supposed to get on a plane from Miami to Los Angeles on Sunday night.
01:44And they didn't ever get on that plane. There was no champagne, just pain this time.
01:49And, you know, 12 months later, like they gave CPR to that, to the negative fans.
01:55And it's hard to believe from where they were last year, getting Soto from the Yankees, you know, taking them away from the Yankees,
02:03bringing back Alonso, getting off 45 and 24 through June 12th, that this is where they are.
02:10And yet it's all feels like old Mets stuff again.
02:14This is a team that's only made the playoffs 11 times in 64 seasons.
02:18It's only won its division six times. It's only gone back to back to the playoffs still now twice.
02:23They didn't go this time back to back. They have never gone three times in a row.
02:28When he signed Juan Soto and there was a press conference at Citi Field, another triumphant moment for the Mets in December,
02:37Steve Cohn revealed, he said, he, meaning Soto, asked me, how many championships would you like to win over the next 10 years?
02:44I said two to four. Well, they got nine years now left to do the two to four.
02:48Remember, Cohn said he wanted to win a championship in his first five years of ownership.
02:53This was year five. They didn't even get back to the playoffs.
02:56So, you know, this offseason comes with lots and lots of questions.
03:01One of them got answered right away. David Stern says Carlos Mendoza is coming back.
03:07But what do you fans think?
03:09A year ago, I think Sterns and Cohn and Mendoza could have strolled up the Canyon of Heroes without a championship
03:16and be cheered by their fans. Now there's going to be real questions about them putting this back together.
03:22It felt like a step back towards the Wilpons instead of to the future, which is where they were 12 months ago.
03:29And that makes what happened this year even worse.
03:33So really important offseason coming on. And I promise we'll get to that offseason.
03:37We'll talk about all that stuff. But the Yankees are playing tonight, opening a division series.
03:42So why don't we deal with this? The Alexes versus the Aarons.
03:46The Alexes are Bregman and Cora.
03:49And in some combination since 2017 with the Astros as a bench coach for Cora
03:54or a manager with the Red Sox for Cora or Bregman as a player with Houston.
03:59That duo has either by itself or in combination been part of eliminating the Yankees five times in five tries.
04:06That's the Aarons. Aaron Judge all five times.
04:08Boone came along in 2018. That's four times.
04:11And look, the Yankees have to change this narrative that they can't beat teams like this.
04:18Since Judge joined the Yankees full-time as Rookie of the Year in 2017,
04:23they faced seven AL Central teams in the postseason.
04:27They're seven for seven against them. Seven and O.
04:29Against everyone else, they're seven and one.
04:31The one is a weak Oakland team. They beat in a one-game wildcard.
04:35The O and seven against the other more powerful teams.
04:38And so the Yankees, the Aarons, Boone, and Judge are going to have to show that they could beat the Alexes
04:45and that the curse isn't now Red Sox over the Yankees.
04:49The Red Sox saved their season this year.
04:51They were four games under .500 in June when they played the Yankees for the first time.
04:56And then they took six out of seven in ten days.
04:58And they saved their season as the Yankees went into a tailspin and fell out of first place.
05:02And that's why two wildcard teams are beginning a series tonight.
05:06Lots of pressure on the Yankees to prove that they could beat another heavyweight-type team.
05:12But let's do number three because the pressure is on greatest on Aaron Judge.
05:17Look, he's going to the Hall of Fame. He's probably going to win his third MVP.
05:21He's arguably one of the 10, 15, 20 best hitters in history at this point.
05:27But that's all regular season.
05:30In the postseason, it just hasn't been the same for Judge.
05:35There's no signature moments.
05:36He's hitting .205 in 58 postseason games, 86 strikeouts.
05:41You remember the boombox incident in 2018.
05:47The Yankees tied the series 1-1 at Fenway Park.
05:51Judge left Fenway Park, blasting a boombox, playing New York, New York.
05:56His offense has gotten even worse since then.
05:58181 average, 657 OPS in 42 games since that gesture.
06:04Runners in scoring position in the postseason, 7 for 44 with 20 strikeouts.
06:08That's a 159 average.
06:10With two strikes, he's almost totally useless.
06:1315 for 138, that's 109, 86 strikeouts.
06:16Look, he goes into the postseason as hot as you could be.
06:20You know, he had a .370 average and a nearly 1,300 OPS in September.
06:23But he's had big Septembers before, and they haven't translated into October.
06:28The two starters he's going to face to open this series, Garrett Crochet and Brian Baio.
06:35He's 4 for 36 combined, two homers both off of Crochet and 22 strikeouts.
06:42So, look, the Yankee offense without Soda this year was really good.
06:47It was longer.
06:48It was more diverse.
06:50It was very left-handed.
06:52Lots of homers, second most in the team history.
06:56Bellinger proved to be a clutch player.
06:58We know Stanton rises at this time of year, usually.
07:02Ben Rice finished hot.
07:04This is about Judge.
07:05It's going to be hard for the Yankees to beat the Red Sox.
07:07It's going to be hard for the Yankees to get 14 wins and get a championship.
07:11He has to change the narrative that he's just a great regular season player.
07:15Again, one of the best ever.
07:18These are the Yankees.
07:19The Yankees have 27 championships.
07:22Their greatest players ever have had big moments at this time of year.
07:26For the Yankees to win, Aaron Judge has to join that club.
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