The Bill Simmons Podcast (Nov 3, 2025)

Game 7 Baseball Magic, Josh Beats Pat, Seattle’s Rise, Cincy’s Fall, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal

Overview

Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal dissect a whirlwind of recent sports action, anchored by one of the wildest World Series Game 7s in memory, the emotional rollercoaster for Blue Jays and Dodgers fans, magic moments in the NFL (Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes, Seattle’s quietly dominant rise, Cincy’s collapse), and, of course, their signature segment, “Guess the Lines.” Along the way, they deliver insights, relatable fan agony, and lots of classic banter.

Key Segments and Timestamps

• [05:50] NFL Week 9 Initial Hot Takes
• [06:15] World Series Game 7 Deep Dive
• [14:44] Dodgers & Signs of a Baseball Renaissance
• [19:07] Will Smith’s Heroics and Catching Valor
• [21:21] Ohtani’s Odd Week & Mookie’s Defensive Brilliance
• [29:12] NFL: Packers-Lions Blues, Coaching Decisions
• [33:04] Bills-Chiefs: Josh Allen Regular Season Dominance
• [36:01] Brady’s “GOATness” Comparison
• [39:35] AFC Playoff Race Prognostications
• [46:46] Steelers, Colts, and Houston’s Coaching Debacle
• [49:37] Seattle Seahawks’ Emergence
• [55:25] Apology Segment: Overreactions, Players, and… Nerd Clusters?!
• [63:12] Parent Corner: The Saga of Youth Umpires and Puppy Yoga
• [71:07] NFL Guess the Lines Week 10

1. World Series Game 7 & Baseball’s “Magic” (06:13–27:43)

Key Discussion Points

• Baseball Devastation and Ecstasy:
  • Reflecting on Dodgers’ and Blue Jays’ fates in a “top five” all-time Game 7.
  • Blue Jays’ fans’ agony compounded by three consecutive gut-punch losses.
  • Emotional “what ifs” and the multi-inning, multitude-of-mistakes drama.
• Notable Quotes:
  • Bill: “If that had been the Mets, would you be able to do the podcast tonight?” (07:15)
  • Sal: “It’s as bad as it gets… should they have just lost to Seattle in six, would that have been better?” (07:34)
  • Bill: “They blew Game 6, everybody was there… and then game seven when they went up three nothing!” (12:23)
  • Sal: “For the Blue Jays, three together—I don’t remember that in a seven-game series for a baseball team before.” (12:17)
• Legend-making Performances:
  • Yamamoto as “Halloween zombie” (10:28), pitching deep into the series on short rest.
  • Fox’s coverage critiqued for lacking on-available-pitchers graphics (11:00).
• Historical Stakes:
  • Dodgers winning back-to-back in modern MLB stands them in a rarefied tier.
  • Bill: “Anyone can win one title, but you belong to a different kind of stratosphere, I think.” (15:44)
• Impact of the Pitch Clock & Baseball’s Modern Appeal:
  • Both praise the pitch clock and the sport feeling “back” (17:17).
  • Sal: “Greatest invention of our lifetime in sports, I think.” (17:17)
• MLB Labor Worries:
  • Concern that a strike can kill the renaissance baseball is experiencing (18:09).
  • Bill: “If they damage whatever has been rebuilt here over the last five years, that would just be—I don’t know if a lot of people would come back.” (17:43)

Notable Moment

• Will Smith, Dodgers’ catcher, caught every inning of this series and hit the game-winning homer in Game 7 (19:07), leading Sal to joke: “Good to see Will Smith hitting something other than Chris Rock” (20:14).

2. NFL Week 9 – Upsets, Strategy Flubs & Gut Checks (29:12–44:14)

Key Discussion Points

A. Packers, Lions & Deep Coaching Frustrations

• Shocking Carolina upset over Green Bay (13-point favorites): “Biggest swerve of the week…they play three really shitty games a year.” (31:02)
• Overthought fourth-down decisions—Simmons exasperated: “Are we going to start with this game?...Coaches are getting ridiculous.” (29:54)
• Tucker Kraft’s injury possibly altering Packers’ fortunes.

B. Bills vs. Chiefs – Allen’s Regular Season Supremacy

• Bills beat KC, Josh Allen now 5-1 vs Mahomes in regular season but 0-X in playoffs (33:04–36:38).
• Allen more effective than Mahomes in goal-line moments due to KC’s refusal to QB sneak since Mahomes’ injury.
  • Simmons: “Allen is just the best guy in the league [inside the five].” (33:45)
• “Non-title match king” wrestling analogy: “He pins Morocco at the Meadowlands but can’t win on pay-per-view.” (33:44)

C. AFC Playoff Race

• Denver, Jags, Chargers, Steelers shuffle for wild-card spots.
• Doubted legitimacy of some teams’ records: “Are the Broncos the fullest shit champs of the world?” (45:08)

D. Seattle Seahawks’ Emergence (49:37)

• Bill: “There’s a real case now for them to be the one seed.” (49:47)
• Schedule sets up favorably—defense playing well, Darnold’s hot hand.

3. Apologies, Overreactions & Nerd Clusters (55:25–65:08)

A. Quick “Sorry” Tour

• Admitting premature takes on J.J. McCarthy (Lions QB), Colston Loveland (Bears TE)—Sal: “These are temporary apologies” (55:51)
• Not apologizing for a bad-beat Bears cover: “It’s like saying a guy born without any limbs wins a trip on the Price is Right…” (61:13)
• Nerd Clusters, oversized Kit Kats, and YouTube TV multibox setups: “Game changer!” (63:46)

B. Notable Quotes

• Bill (on Mike Tomlin): “He’s just…this is who he is. He’s going to be this guy until he’s 70, just winning games. They're always going to go 9-8 or 10-7.” (65:00)

4. NFL Guess the Lines Week 10 (71:07+)

A. Breaking Down the Slate

• Highlines: Patriots return to “marquee game” status vs. Bucs, Rams-Niners for the NFC West, Chargers-Steelers get the “Steelers-vacationing-in-L.A.” narrative.
• Line-setting debates reveal doubts about teams like the Packers: “Let’s not do that again…They burned our trust too many times.” (97:30)
• Seattle favored big over Arizona; Lions over Washington; Bills over Dolphins.
• “Poop factor” games: Bears-Giants, Jets-Browns, Panthers-Saints.
• Injuries’ impact (CJ Stroud’s concussion, Jaden Daniels’ elbow, others) already moving lines.

B. Sportsbook Market Watch

• Simmons and Sal exchange strategies and bemoan/laugh about who will “screw up” their teaser legs.
• Bill: “Is it wrong that I'm still scared of Miami after that Falcons game?” (90:25)

5. Parent Corner: Ump Showdowns & Puppy Yoga (99:20–107:52)

A. Sal’s Parent Corner (99:20)

• Sal’s 12-year-old umpires at a fundraiser; parent blames his son for 8-year-old league calls.
• “Who the hell is going off on a 12-year-old umpire in an 8-year-old game?...This was me four years ago.” (101:47)
• Reflection: “It’s all come full circle.”

B. Bill’s Parent Corner (104:41)

• Son Ben turns 18, skips home chores for “puppy yoga” with girlfriend.
• “He’s more like a roommate now…that we’re renting out a studio apartment to on the second floor of our house.” (104:30)
• College applications—stress, essays (including one on puppy yoga), and nostalgia.
• Shout-out to his daughter’s D3 college soccer playoff run: “The commitment these kids show is amazing.” (106:44)

6. Notable Quotes & Moments

• Bill, on Blue Jays’ agony:

  “They were up 3-0 in Game 7...I can't come up with another loss like this” (07:15)

• Sal, on Wizardry of MLB Catchers:

  “He should have shot up the MVP rankings after that game. And I mean, just the idea that just—it was just a few years ago he was banned from the Academy…” (20:14, jokingly referring to Will Smith)

• Bill, on Brady’s Greatness:

  "Everybody can take a big heaping sip of settle down juice in the GOAT discussion. Tom Brady is...we're still good. We're still fine." (36:01)

• Sal, on Bears cover luck:

  “It’s like saying a guy born without any limbs wins a trip to Puerto Vallarta on the Price is Right. Like, oh, you're so lucky.” (61:13)

• Bill, on trusting the Packers:

  "Let's not do that again. Let's all agree not to do that again. They burned our trust too many times." (97:30)

7. Closing Thoughts & Tone

• Full of relatable misery, “Can you believe this?!” laughter, and sports fan camaraderie.
• A sense of the season’s emotional shifts—highs for baseball (but dread for MLB labor), intensified NFL playoff watch, and evolving beliefs about upstart teams (Seattle, Carolina) and collapsing ones (Cincy).
• The episode is direct but good-natured, with tangents into candy, technology, and family life that remain in-step with classic Simmons & Sal humor.

Episode Verdict

An electric sports week gets the full Simmons/Sal treatment: analytical, hilarious, grounded in fan obsession. Game 7 hangs over the whole show like a sports full moon, and their NFL “guess the lines” escapades remain a unique Sunday ritual. All the while, they sprinkle in humility, nostalgia, and that unmistakable tone of “we love this stuff—even when it drives us crazy.”

For New Listeners

This episode is a quintessential Bill and Sal ride: rapid-fire, packed with lived-in sports wisdom, references that will have diehard fans nodding, and parent-fan crossover moments that are unmistakably real. Even if you haven’t seen the games, you’ll walk away knowing not just what happened, but what it felt like.