Don, Hahn & Rosenberg — Hour 3: Baseball Realignment?

Date: August 18, 2025
Hosts: Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Theme: A spirited takedown of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s proposed realignment and expansion, plus state-of-the-teams debates on the Mets and Yankees, and a comedic digression on athlete physiques.

Main Episode Overview

This episode pivots around baseball’s timeless identity clashing with proposed radical change: MLB’s possible geographic realignment post-expansion, as suggested by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Alan Hahn and Peter Rosenberg debate what such a shakeup means for tradition, rivalries, and the soul of the sport. Along the way, they dissect the Mets and Yankees’ woes, field passionate calls from fans, and even launch into a hilarious side-discussion on whether they’d rather look like super-athletes but fall apart physically, or be unathletic but durable.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mets Talk: Young Arms and Franchise Direction

• Noah McLean’s Debut Breathes Hope:

  • Peter Rosenberg asks if fans should feel positive post-McLean debut ([00:56]).
  • Alan Hahn acknowledges:

    “You feel good about that, because this is your next generation of aces, right? ... You can make a mistake by rushing a prospect... But for the Mets, they need a lot more than what he brought.” ([01:28–02:23])

  • McLean’s performance was the first Mets debut shutout since Zack Wheeler in 2013. Critique: some control issues (walks, chasing the count), but electric energy and poise.

• Bullpen Reliability Still Lacking:

  • Hahn: “I just keep waiting for that bullpen to live up to what the hell they're supposed to be.” ([02:53])
  • Issues with closers and setup men. Relievers acquired at the deadline haven’t gelled.

• Franchise Philosophy Shift:

  • Hahn observes David Stearns moving away from the Mets’ historical pitching focus ([04:12]):

    “They're not emphasizing starting pitching... The stronger bullpen and arms that we're not going to spend a ton of money on because guys get hurt.”

  • The team’s identity crisis: Past Mets were built on dominant starters, now it’s an attempted bullpen-centric model, with mixed results.

• Leadership & Trust Issues:

  • Hahn: “The Mets are not going anywhere if that bullpen is as rickety as it’s been... I don’t trust their pitching and I don’t think there’s a fan out there that trusts their pitching.” ([08:39–10:47])
  • Doubt about managerial presence (Carlos Mendoza) and star power/leadership (Lindor and Alonso).
  • On leadership: “Do the Mets have the type of leadership you need or is it they just kind of are front runners?” ([08:39])

Callers Weigh In:

• Ralph in Brooklyn (Yankee fan):
  Blames the Scherzer-Verlander mega-spending bust for making the Mets gun-shy on starters ([11:04–12:05]).

  • Rosenberg: “That's such a weird example... they knew when they went to Scherzer and Verlander they were combined almost 80 years old.”

• Alan Hahn reminds, “That was [owner] Cohen... Stearns came in and said this is NOT the way to do it.” ([11:39])

2. Yankees’ Decisions & Player Physiques

• Giancarlo Stanton Fielding Experiment:

  • Will in North Plainfield recounts seeing Stanton in right field, describes him as a liability despite his hot bat: “He barely got to the ball. It looked like he was going to get hurt...” ([13:53–14:25])

• Stanton as DH and the Athlete Physique Debate:

  • Alan Hahn: “We know this about Stanton... he's a professional designated hitter. That's what he is. He can never play the outfield.” ([15:42])

• Who Should be Catching?

  • Will advocates for Ben Rice over Austin Wells behind the plate due to offensive impact ([15:54–16:24]).
  • Hahn notes pitcher-catcher rapport is vital, but is sympathetic to lineup shuffle frustrations.

• Comedic Detour: Would You Rather...?

  • Entertaining discussion, “Would you rather look chiseled and athletic but be fragile, or look slovenly but be able to move and never get hurt?” ([14:56–21:21])
  • Hahn: “Would you rather be the guy that's completely like chiseled, jacked, but can't be athletic whatsoever? Or would you rather be athletic but just have, that, that Josh Naylor type physique?” ([14:56])
  • Rosenberg: “I'm taking the looks... how often am I going to be challenged to do something based on how I look?” ([20:44])
  • Memorable, light-hearted—you can sense the camaraderie.

3. Manfred’s Realignment Proposal: A Take-Down

Segment starts at approximately [25:41]

• Bob Manfred’s Expansion & Realignment Pitch ([25:56]):

  • Manfred: “If we expand ... we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players ... our postseason format would be even more appealing ... you'd be playing up out of the east, out of the west ... that 10 o'clock slot ... becomes a real opportunity for our west coast audience.”

• Host Reactions:

  • Hahn, seething:

    “This is a guy that brought the Ghost Runner. This is a guy that has openly discussed the idea of the golden at-bat. ... He wants to take the only tradition left in the sport and just put it in a rocket and shoot it into space... This is what we're doing? If anybody thinks this is a good idea, then you really aren't a baseball fan.” ([26:37–27:18])

  • Rosenberg: “At first you're talking about, primarily, a name change... but this is swapping everything... this is smashing the traditional. This is worse.” ([28:45–29:01])

• Reading Out Proposed New Divisions (from Jim Bowden):

  • Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, Phillies in “The East”
  • Odd Mid-Atlantic/pseudo-Northern mash-ups
  • Cards and Royals lumped with Texas teams
  • Cubs and White Sox together; Rockies in a “Pacific” division
  • Hahn: Outrage over senseless allocations:

    “Pirates who are Western Pennsylvania... Pittsburgh is how close to the Atlantic?” ([29:59])

  • Both hosts view it as an illogical, ham-fisted Americanization, with Hahn stressing that baseball’s long history and unique rivalries will be irreparably damaged.

• Motivation = Distraction from Real Issues?:

  • Hahn theorizes that the “travel” argument is a ploy for labor concessions:

    “Could this be like an ownership way of using something to distract the players ... cut down all this travel?” ([31:06–32:27])

• Lost Traditions and Slippery Slope:

  • Universal DH as the “portal” to this kind of change.
  • Hahn: “This would be the dumbest thing the sport has ever done. Ever.” ([32:27])
  • Both hosts see the proposal as the destruction of baseball’s last true tradition, with interleague play and the DH already eroding the AL-NL distinction.

4. Callers React: “It’s Disrespectful Garbage”

• Stomatis in Astoria: Wants the Mets to promote more prospects but agrees realignment is overkill ([40:48]).
• Lou in Monalapan:
  • Delivers a passionate, almost poetic monologue against realignment:

    “This baseball realignment thing is absolute garbage... They keep trying to change and manipulate the game for the fan that they don't even have, instead of looking inward at people like me... Grandfather saw it, your dad might have saw it... Baseball doesn't identify with those fans...” ([43:04])

  • Argues that true fans thrive on the history and oddities of the current system, and that “travel’s the checklist”—dedicated fans want to see all 30 ballparks.
• Both Hahn and Rosenberg agree with Lou, though Rosenberg calls out the travel argument as unrealistic:

  “You are talking about a tiny, tiny percentage of super fans that do that. ... But let's just tighten it up, okay, everyone?” ([46:29])

Memorable Quotes

• “If you're a Mets fan, does the debut of Noah McLean ... actually have you feeling decently on a Monday?”
  —Peter Rosenberg, [00:56]

• “This is a guy that brought the Ghost Runner... That has openly discussed the idea of the golden at-bat... now wants to take the only tradition left in the sport and just put it in a rocket and shoot it into space.”
  —Alan Hahn, [26:37]

• “That [realignment] would be the dumbest thing the sport has ever done. Ever.”
  —Alan Hahn, [32:27]

• “Would you rather be the guy that's completely like chiseled, jacked, but can't be athletic whatsoever? Or would you rather be athletic but just have, that, that Josh Naylor type physique?”
  —Alan Hahn, [14:56]

• “They keep trying to change and manipulate the game for the fan that they don't even have.”
  —Lou in Monalapan (caller), [43:04]

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Key Moment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:56 | Mets fan morale and Noah McLean’s debut | | 02:19 | Discussion: Mets pitching approach, bullpen woes | | 04:12 | Mets’ shifting philosophy on pitching – Stearns’ vision | | 11:04 | Caller Ralph: Scherzer/Verlander experiment’s effect | | 13:53 | Caller Will: Yankees’ Stanton as fielder and uncertainty at catcher | | 14:56 | Hilarious debate: chiseled but fragile vs. unathletic but durable | | 25:41 | Manfred’s realignment argument plays | | 26:37 | Alan Hahn’s impassioned takedown of the realignment vision | | 29:23 | Bowden’s proposed new divisions cause confusion/offense | | 31:06 | Hahn theorizes about realignment as bargaining chip | | 34:57 | End of deep-dive; hosts reflect on lost baseball traditions | | 40:48 | Calls: Stomatis in Astoria, Lou in Monalapan | | 43:04 | Lou’s poetic anti-realignment call |

Tone & Style

• The hosts bring a deeply New York, deeply sports-nerd sensibility: passionate, sardonic, unforgiving of nonsense, but quick to laugh at themselves and the world.
• Alan Hahn goes into full baseball purist mode, bordering on nostalgic and incensed. Peter Rosenberg alternates between bemusement, agreement, and comic relief.
• The episode features brisk, lively back-and-forth, punctuated by caller passions and outrageous hypotheticals.

Conclusion

This episode is a must-listen for baseball traditionalists, offering a cathartic, articulate rant against what the hosts see as MLB’s latest, most dangerous flirtation with abandoning tradition for the sake of TV ratings and manufactured rivalries. Even non-baseball fans will enjoy the humor, energy, and old-school New York sports radio flavor—especially the debate about “the curse of looking like Stanton but moving like Josh Naylor.”

If you miss the days of the NL vs. AL and can’t believe Manfred’s latest “innovation,” this episode is your rallying cry.