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Jon Heyman | Baseball Columnist Joins S&FIM to Preview the 2026 World Series · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you guys this all the time. No
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: disrespect to the sports guys I have on weekly. Guys
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: like Joe Benningo and Craig Carton, even Christopher Maddog Russo,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the best baseball guy in the nation.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: In the nation.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Whether it's the New York Post, MLB, it doesn't matter,
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  Speaker 1: is my friend John Heyman. John is great, and what
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: a guy to have on the day before we start
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the 2026 World Series. John Heyman, welcome back, good buddy.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for the introduction. Big day in baseball, big
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: day for you, Sid, going right to the Hall of Fame. Well-deserved,
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: my friend, and no controversy about this Hall of Fame induction.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: You are the best.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you for saying that. That's right.
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  Speaker 1: I never would have thought 20 years ago that I'd
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: be in the Hall of Fame and Bonds and Alex
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Rodriguez would not.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: But, of course, it's not the same Hall of Fame.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: You know what's funny?
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You and I have talked about this, John, is this
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: inevitable work stoppage in baseball. And maybe it'll be a month.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe it'll be two months. Maybe the whole season. I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: think we all agree there'll be some stoppage of work.
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  Speaker 1: And it all comes down to the big market teams, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, baseball needs... a salary cap, the big market
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  Speaker 1: teams are spending all this money, and yet, what do
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  Speaker 1: we have tomorrow? Tampa, small market team. Milwaukee, ranked 19th
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  Speaker 1: in payroll, small market team. The irony, as we get
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  Speaker 1: ready for a word stoppage, the World Series is Tampa
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  Speaker 1: Bay and Milwaukee.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, this is going to be shocking to
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: a lot of people. Baseball aficionados, we love it. Neither
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: of these teams has won a World Series. They're two
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  Speaker 3: of the five teams never to win, so we're going
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  Speaker 3: to get a First time World Series winner. It is great.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: They've done a great job in Tampa and Milwaukee building
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  Speaker 3: a team. And certainly the owners are going to certainly
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  Speaker 3: stick to their argument that it's very difficult to win
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  Speaker 3: as a small market team. And they're going to look
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  Speaker 3: at the history of it. And there is some merit
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: to that. But this is a little bit of a
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  Speaker 3: dent in their argument, I think, that we have Tampa
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: and Milwaukee, not just the two teams, World Series teams,
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  Speaker 3: the two teams with the best records and the two
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  Speaker 3: teams that eliminated the Dodgers and the Yankees both by sweep.
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  Speaker 2: Good point.
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  Speaker 1: Milwaukee, 103 wins, the most in the NL. Tampa Bay,
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  Speaker 1: 98 wins, most in the AL. They've been the two
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  Speaker 1: best teams. By the way, only time ever talking about
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: five teams that haven't won where neither team has won
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the World Series. This is the second time ever, I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: should say. Back in 1980, the Phillies beat the Royals
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in six. And again, one of these two teams will
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: win their first World Series. And I got to say this,
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  Speaker 1: you know, all the great managers that I've met over
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the years working at WFAN, I sat down, John, with
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: people like Joe Torre and even Lasorda and, you know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: La Russa. I sat down with all these people, even
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Earl Weaver. The job that Kevin Cash does year in
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and year out, they don't win World Series, but 90-plus wins,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: first or second place finishes.
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  Speaker 2: With that payroll, Kevin Cash, to me, is a miracle worker.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Both of them, Pat Murphy of Milwaukee too. Murphy is
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  Speaker 3: one of the manager of the year, the nationally two
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  Speaker 3: straight years. Uh, he might be deserving that this year,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: although it's probably hard to give it to him a
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: third straight year, but I'm with you. Kevin cash is
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: a miracle worker. What a great hire. That was, uh,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: by Tampa. They must've known something right away. They give
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  Speaker 3: a five-year deal. Uh, he had been with the Cleveland, uh,
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  Speaker 3: which seems to, uh, really, uh, do a great job,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: but with executives and coaches and whatever, but, uh, He's
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  Speaker 3: been amazing. He had a five-year, $ 1 million-a-year contract at
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  Speaker 3: the beginning. Now he makes probably five times that or four.
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  Speaker 3: So he deserves it. He's amazing. The front offices are amazing.
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  Speaker 3: They've all done an incredible job to get here. Milwaukee,
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  Speaker 3: 19th in payroll, and Tampa in the bottom five. So
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: it's pretty amazing that both of these teams are here,
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  Speaker 3: but they're proven. It's not a fluke. They are the
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  Speaker 3: winningest teams in their league, as you said.
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  Speaker 1: And they do have superstars both offensively, pitching. The Peralta
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  Speaker 1: pickup turned out to be very big, leaving the Mets
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  Speaker 1: and going to Tampa Bay. And usually when we get
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to the World Series, I got a pretty good feel. Well,
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  Speaker 1: the last couple of years was easy. It was the Dodgers.
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  Speaker 1: I don't have a feel here. You know, I know
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  Speaker 1: Milwaukee won more regular season games, five more. And like
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: you said, Milwaukee had to beat the Dodgers and Tampa
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Bay had to beat the Yankees. I don't have a
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  Speaker 1: real good feel here because they're both so good. They
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: both pitch. They both get timely hitting. They both catch
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  Speaker 1: the baseball. So I don't know. You, John, you got
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  Speaker 1: a feel about which one of these teams is going
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  Speaker 1: to win this World Series?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't know about a feel, but I am
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: saying my in-laws in Milwaukee. So if I say I
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: don't know that Tampa's going to win, I could be
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: in trouble. Milwaukee has been a little bit better. They're
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  Speaker 3: in the better league at this point. They did win
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: more games. They did win any sweep in the LCS.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I can see them as a slight favorite, but I mean,
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  Speaker 3: there's a good case to be made for Tampa. It
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: feels like they're starting pitching is in better shape right now.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Nobody's pitching better than Rasmussen. Peralta was the LCS MVP.
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  Speaker 3: It's hard to even imagine that after what we saw
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  Speaker 3: him do with the Mets. But I mean, he's a
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: great pitcher. He's just had really basically one bad half
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: year in his career in nine years. And that happened
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  Speaker 3: to be that half year that he was with the Mets. So,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: I do see a case for Tampa, but I'm going
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: to go with a favorite here. I say that knowing
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: that the favorite often does not win in the World Series.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: It does seem to be a crapshoot, and oftentimes a
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  Speaker 3: team that is– A big underdog wins. So in this case,
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  Speaker 3: I think Tampa's a slight underdog, although I think their
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: starting pitching is in slightly better shape right now.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Although this guy, Mazeroski, for the Brewers, what do you
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: hear this guy had?
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: The Miz, amazing. He's incredible. I mean, 1,000 pitches over
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  Speaker 3: 100 miles an hour. I mean, pitches over 104 miles
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  Speaker 3: an hour. It's an event when he pitches in Milwaukee.
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  Speaker 3: The Miz is something else. Third-round pick. And really, Milwaukee,
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  Speaker 3: they do a great job drafting, developing. And this guy
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  Speaker 3: obviously has a gift from God with that arm. It's
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  Speaker 3: just incredible. It really is. And it's something to see.
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  Speaker 3: But I got to say, on Tampa's side, Rasmussen, the
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  Speaker 3: Yankee killer, he was a Guardian killer as well. And
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: he is a terrific pitcher. And right now, he's giving
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  Speaker 3: more length than Mizorowski. Mizorowski is not good, given the six,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: seven innings that we've seen him give throughout the season.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: One thing about baseball, I always have this conversation with you, John,
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  Speaker 1: and others, is it's a regional sport.
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  Speaker 2: What do I mean by that? You know, in the NFL,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I'm a Giant fan, okay?
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  Speaker 1: So I watch the Giants play Dallas at 1 o'clock,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: but then, you know, 4 o'clock, I'm watching the Raiders
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: play the Chargers, you know, or the Niners play the Chiefs. Now,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of that is because of the gambling. Everybody
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  Speaker 1: knows it. The NFL doesn't like to admit it, but
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  Speaker 1: that's a fact. You're either playing fantasy football or you're
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: betting on the games. So people watch Monday Night Football
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  Speaker 1: when their team is not even playing. Baseball, that's not
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  Speaker 1: the case. When the Mets aren't playing, most baseball guys,
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  Speaker 1: not you, I love you, John, but most baseball guys
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  Speaker 1: are not staying up to watch the Padres play the Giants.
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  Speaker 1: So when you get a regional sport and you get
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  Speaker 1: two small market teams like Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, even
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  Speaker 1: though it should be very, very competitive and they both
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  Speaker 1: deserve it, they're both number one seeds, inside their respective leagues,
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  Speaker 1: is it fair to assume the TV ratings.
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  Speaker 2: May be awful?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm worried about the ratings. They could be terrible.
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  Speaker 3: They were a couple of years ago when the Rangers
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  Speaker 3: and the Diamondbacks somehow made it to the World Series.
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  Speaker 3: They were not good. Now we have even smaller markets.
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  Speaker 3: My TV friends tell me that Tampa, for whatever reason,
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  Speaker 3: now that's not such a small market like Milwaukee. Milwaukee
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  Speaker 3: is the smallest market in baseball tied with Cincinnati. depending
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  Speaker 3: on how you look at it, but Tampa is not
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  Speaker 3: that small a market. They're a low revenue team, but
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  Speaker 3: they are Tampa for whatever reason in any sport is
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  Speaker 3: the death for rating. So I, I am worried, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the baseball aficionados are going to be tuned in because
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  Speaker 3: these are two great teams. It's very interesting to see
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  Speaker 3: how they built their teams and see how they do win.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, they, They both use bunts. They both put
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  Speaker 3: both the ball in play. It's a more interesting game
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  Speaker 3: than the three true outcomes of the home run walk
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  Speaker 3: and strikeout. It should be a fun series, but the
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  Speaker 3: ratings are, I'm going to be shocked if the ratings
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  Speaker 3: aren't terrible. I really am.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: One local question for you, John. I know the Steinbrenners
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  Speaker 1: and catchmen love them. Yankees have decided to bring back
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Aaron Boone for his 10th season.
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  Speaker 2: I was talking to, oh, it was Belingo yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: I said, when I was a kid, it was World
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  Speaker 1: Series win, not even get in, because Steinbrenner was so
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: embarrassed that his team got their answers kicked by the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Reds in 76, that he went out and got Reggie.
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  Speaker 2: Jackson for 77.
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  Speaker 1: It was World Series win or bust. Now with the Yanks,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: with the kid Hal, it seems like, 95 wins. Let
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: me sell out the Bronx every night. Just make it
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to the playoffs. We don't got to get to the
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: World Series. We don't got to win. It seems like
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: it's different. And I guess we haven't gone to one
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: of the World Series, I should say, in 19 years.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: That would change the way your fan base thinks. But
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: it does seem different, yes?
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't only seem different. It is different. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: there's no way that Hal Steinbrenner can claim it's World
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Series or buzz. We've had nine straight years now. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: grant you that Aaron Boone is a solid manager. He's
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: got a 58% winning percentage in the regular season. which
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: is excellent. He gets along with ownership. He gets along
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: with players. And if they care, he does get along
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: with media. But, I mean, it's clear. It doesn't just
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: seem clear. It's clear that they are not adamant about
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: winning the World Series, getting to the World Series, or
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: anything like that. I mean, you wonder how many years
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: it would take to actually make a change. I do
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: kind of think that the lockout even though they won't
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: admit it, probably made it clear to them, why do
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: it now? Why hire somebody now? We're going into a
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: lockout for sure, and we're going to pay another guy,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: and he's not going to be able to talk to
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the players, and it's, you know, Boone's got a year
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: to go. So, you know, perhaps if the circumstances were different,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: maybe they would have made that change now. But, I mean, yeah,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's not just Steinbrenner. Anybody in
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: old-time baseball with a big market team, you're going nine years,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: You know, even if you are deemed good, and I
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: think he is a pretty good manager, usually the time
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: is up at this point.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Final 30 seconds, whenever the lockout is over, if you're
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a Met fan, a New York Met fan, any reason
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: some of these young guys and Ewing and the other
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: kid came up big last year, any reason to be
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: optimistic about next season?
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Oh, certainly. I mean, they had... perhaps the best collection
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: of rookies in baseball, still counting McLean. He was a
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: rookie technically. Benj, obviously, Ewing, you mentioned. I would say
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: the Mets and the Guardians are the two teams that
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: had the best collection of rookies. Obviously, they have the
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: wherewithal with Steve Cohen there. And they did underachieve last year.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: They did play better in the second half. So, You know,
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't give up on the Mets completely. I would
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: think that their future is not as dim as probably
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: some Mets fans even think that it is.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Well, how about that?
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And there was Steve Cohen sitting courtside for the Knicks
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: for the ceremony, the first night's loss against Philadelphia. John Heyman,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I love you. You really are great.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I mean this.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: You're the best baseball guy in the country. Keep up
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the great work, and please keep coming on, even if
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: there's a lockout. We'll talk about, like, 20 years ago, baseball.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: You're the best, and a Hall of Famer. Oh, man,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: let's not forget that.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you so much. You're great.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: John Heyman right there, for what it's worth.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: His in-laws are in Milwaukee, so he's picking the Brewers
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: to win the World Series. What a super guy and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: a great baseball guy. We'll take a short break. It
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: is Hall of Fame Thursday. Sit and friends in the morning,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: and I'll be back after these words.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: You can hear Sit and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 12:26
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• 12:30
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• 12:36
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• 12:45
  Speaker 4: you next time for a new episode so you never
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: have to wonder.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: What the heck is going on here?