THE HERD - Hour 1 - Lakers are contenders, WBC continues to be a hit

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd (Jason McIntyre & Rachel Nichols)

Episode Date: March 16, 2026
Episode Theme: Are the Lakers legitimate contenders? The rising energy around the World Baseball Classic and breakdowns of top sports stories with rich panel discussion.

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Overview

In this energetic episode of The Herd, guest host Jason McIntyre—joined by Rachel Nichols—dives deep into two of the hottest sports stories: the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent surge staking their claim as real playoff contenders in the NBA, and the World Baseball Classic’s breakout popularity and drama. The hour also features Ken Rosenthal for expert baseball insight, college basketball tournament chatter, and quick hits on NFL and NBA headlines.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lakers as NBA Title Contenders

• Lakers’ Statement Wins ([03:35]–[07:00])

  • The Lakers have reeled off impressive, high-profile victories—recently besting the Nuggets in OT, as well as the Knicks and Timberwolves.
  • Jason touts their record vs. elite teams this season: "So all that talk. Lakers can't beat the good teams. Well, they've beaten three in a row now. So are they contenders?" ([05:12])

• Luka’s Impact and First Game-Winner with Lakers ([05:12])

  • Luka leads the league in scoring and notched his first game-winner for LA.
  • “He leads the league in scoring, averaging 32, 8 and 8. He’s having a tremendous season. One of the best scorers we’ve seen in NBA history. Okay? He’s unstoppable.” ([06:20])

• Team Evolution, LeBron’s New Role ([07:17]–[08:47])

  • Early February, LeBron was publicly pessimistic after a key loss:

    “That’s a championship team right there.”
    “We’re Not.” ([07:23])

  • Recent stretch shows a tone shift:

    “We just want to continue to keep building good habits ... That’s what we strive for.” ([08:28])

  • LeBron is shooting less, playing smarter, defending harder, and buying into a secondary role behind Luka and the emergent Austin Reaves.
  • “LeBron has shifted into full on role player ... He seems to have been bought into his new role. He’s taking fewer shots, he’s playing more defense.” ([08:47])

• Are They Actually Contenders?

  • Lakers up to third in the West, now considered legitimate threats with LeBron’s buy-in and team chemistry peaking.

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2. World Baseball Classic: A Must-Watch International Spectacle

• USA’s Run and Judge’s Viral Quote ([11:30]–[12:26])

  • USA defeated the Dominican Republic to reach the final, drawing electric crowds and national pride.
  • Aaron Judge after the win:

    “Representing your country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it. And that’s what you dream of as a kid... it gives me chills right now.” ([12:09])

  • Jason: “For him to say that about the World Baseball Classic, that says a lot.” ([12:31])

• Manager Mark DeRosa’s Reaction ([13:10])

  • “That was high level baseball at its finest ... just a game we’ll remember forever, right?” ([13:21])

• Why Is WBC Suddenly So Massive? ([11:00]–[14:00])

  • Energy mirrors major international soccer competitions.
  • The timing fills a perfect slot on the sports calendar.
  • Exceptional talent and genuine national pride on display.

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3. College Basketball: The Cam Boozer Discussion

• Boozer vs. Jokic Comparison ([19:19]–[25:10])
  • Cam Boozer (Duke), just 18.5, called the “most efficient player in college basketball in the last 25 years” by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy ([19:53]).
  • Not especially flashy or athletic, but astoundingly skilled and productive for his age—draws rare comparison to a young Nikola Jokic.
  • “I don’t know if Cam Boozer could jump over a Yellow Pages phone book. ... But you know who else wasn’t athletic when they came into the NBA? This guy named Nikola Jokic.” ([21:06])
  • Tom Izzo on Boozer:

    “He just kind of takes over a game. Basketball IQ is off the charts. ... I think Cam Boozer does [prioritize winning]. I think whatever team he goes to, he helps them win. And he’s going to be a very good pro, in my humble opinion.” ([24:43]–[25:12])

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4. NBA Quick Hits: Wembanyama, Tatum, and the Celtics

• Victor Wembanyama’s Ceiling ([26:06]–[28:58])

  • “I think he’s going to be a top 5-10 player of all time. ... He could easily make this whole LeBron-MJ discussion a moot point.” ([28:45])
  • Big stats, big praise. Spurs as legit sleepers.

• Jason Tatum’s Return & Celtics’ Status ([29:06]–[31:39])

  • Tatum is back healthy, played big minutes, and makes the Celtics “the favorites in the East.”
  • Panel debates who the real third-best Celtic is and how the Knicks might match up.

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5. NFL Trade: Justin Fields to the Chiefs

• Jets to Chiefs—Jets’ Perspective and Field’s New Opportunity ([32:05]–[34:53])
  • Justin Fields is traded from the Jets to the Chiefs for a 2027 sixth-round pick; the Chiefs pick up only $3M of his salary.
  • Panel sees it as a possible “Sam Darnold Experience”—sit, learn, reboot in elite culture behind Mahomes.
  • “It could be another case, Jason, of your Jets sending away a quarterback and then watching him win the super bowl one day.” ([32:53])

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6. Interview: Ken Rosenthal on the World Baseball Classic

• WBC vs. World Series Atmosphere ([39:33]–[41:05])

  • “This tournament brings out passion we don’t see in the regular season or even in the postseason ... The word is electric.” —Ken Rosenthal ([39:55])
  • The crowd intensity and international pride make it unique but “just a little bit different [from the World Series], maybe a little more intense.” ([40:35])

• Controversial Umpiring and Rule Changes ([42:19]–[44:29])

  • Dominican team was “frustrated” by key missed calls, but “handled it with a lot of class.”
  • Discussion of how auto-challenge systems in baseball could help, but might interrupt excitement: “Would you prefer the game ending...on a call like the one it ended on, or a correct call with a delay ... I would hope that the correct call would win the day.” ([43:41])

• Global Impact of WBC, Especially with Players like Ohtani ([46:09]–[47:30])

  • “That is the entire goal of the tournament: to expand baseball’s international reach.” ([46:33])
  • Italy’s Cinderella run has even made front page news back home.

• MVP Race and Prospect Profiles Elevated ([49:54]–[50:57])

  • The tournament is opening doors for lesser-known prospects to boost their stock.
  • MVP “probably going to go a long way toward determining who is the MVP” in the final two games. ([50:47])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lakers’ Shift:
  “LeBron has shifted into full on role player ... taking fewer shots, playing more defense.” —Jason McIntyre ([08:47])
• WBC Outpaces World Series?
  “It gives me chills right now thinking about how special that was.” —Aaron Judge ([12:23])
• Cam Boozer’s Unathletic Excellence:
  “I don’t know if Cam Boozer could jump over a Yellow Pages phone book. ... But you know who else wasn’t athletic...Nikola Jokic.” —Jason McIntyre ([21:06])
• Wembanyama’s Potential:
  “He could easily make this whole LeBron-MJ discussion a moot point.” —Unidentified Analyst ([28:45])
• On WBC Atmosphere:
  “This tournament brings out passion we don’t see in the regular season or even in the postseason ... The word is electric.” —Ken Rosenthal ([39:55])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Lakers as Contenders – [03:35]–[08:47]
• WBC Energy & Judge Quote – [11:30]–[12:26]
• Mark DeRosa on WBC Win – [13:10]
• Cam Boozer Breakdown – [19:19]–[25:12]
• Wembanyama Ascendant – [26:06]–[28:58]
• Tatum & Celtics Analysis – [29:06]–[31:39]
• Jets/Fields Trade & Chiefs – [32:05]–[34:53]
• Ken Rosenthal Interview/WBC – [39:33]–[51:08]

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Flow & Tone

High-energy, opinionated, often playful debate with occasional deep analytics and expert interviews. McIntyre keeps things lively and bold, with Nichols and guests providing rich perspective and occasional pushback. Lots of candid, “barbershop” sports talk, hot takes, and playful digs between panelists.

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In Summary

This hour covers a wide swath of the sports landscape with verve. It’s a celebration of the Lakers’ resurgence, a love letter to the World Baseball Classic’s new status, and a proving ground for new stars in both college hoops and the NBA. The chemistry among the hosts and guests, plus expert insight from Ken Rosenthal, turn big headlines into must-listen radio.

Transcript

[Jason McIntyre]

This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human

[Rachel Nichols]

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[Ken Rosenthal]

Now let's get this party started.

[Rachel Nichols]

You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

[Jason McIntyre]

Happy Monday, everybody. Welcome to the Herd. It's me, Jason McIntyre, in for, yes, vacationing once again, Colin Cowherd. I'm joined by Rachel Nichols and I'm just gonna say right out the gate, hol. Holy cow, do we have a monster show. It is an incredible week. You need to match my energy, people. There is so much happening. I just learned of a huge NFL trade. Fine, not huge, but involving my jets and the team I dislike the most, the Kansas City Chiefs. We got March Madness starting Thursday. Rachel Nichols, I know you're fired up. I know your Northwestern Wildcats did not make the tournament, but you still love March Madness.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Absolutely. I used to be a silent reporter for March Madness, but cbs, I love that dude.

[Jason McIntyre]

I remember March Madness World Baseball Classic. I mean, folks, folks, we are just so blessed to be sports fans. I'm going to start the show by turning back the clock a couple of days to Saturday night. My family, you know, we had plans, so I couldn't go to the Lakers game. The Lakers Nuggets game. I mean, I'm not embarrassed to say, you know, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Haven't done that in a decade. Took the kids. It was great. But I had to queue up Lakers Nuggets because it was arguably one of the biggest games of the season. And folks, I don't know, two weeks ago, maybe on this show, other shows out there, people were saying Lakers are not a championship team. What are you guys talking about? You can't win a title with Luca. Well, here we go. Lakers in overtime, stunned the Nuggets for their third straight impressive win. They take down the Knicks, they take down the Timberwolves, and they beat the Nuggets and, oh, by the way, they swept the Timberwolves this season.

[Rachel Nichols]

Three.

[Jason McIntyre]

And, oh, and they're two and one against the Nuggets. So all that talk. Lakers can't beat the good teams. Well, they've beaten three in a row now. So are they contenders? And I ask this because the consensus seems to be. Ah, Luca, come on. He's overweight. What are we talking about? Look at that game winning shot, folks. With less than a second left over, Spencer Jones, Luca's first game winner with the Lakers. Okay, and now everybody's back on the Laker bandwagon. A lot of people are hopping off, you know, your boy. I went nowhere. Okay? Now, some things have changed in the last few weeks for the Lakers, but I want to start with the positive. Let's go to J.J. redick after the win. Look at the smile from the Lakers head coach. Is coalesce a word? I think so. Is it the right word for coming together?

[Rachel Nichols]

Yeah, Gelling, coalesce. You've read my work. I don't use words like that.

[Jason McIntyre]

Okay, that's.

[Rachel Nichols]

I would.

[Jason McIntyre]

I think it feels like we're coalescing right now in a. In a. In a really nice way. Still got a long way to go. We still got a long way to

[Rachel Nichols]

go, but certainly optimistic with how we've.

[Jason McIntyre]

We've handled this.

[Rachel Nichols]

This stretch of games.

[Jason McIntyre]

And going 8, 9 over this stretch is. It's. It's. It's big time. Big time is one way to put it. That's for sure. I love this Lakers team. I do think they're going to be dangerous. But what has changed? And, and that's the interesting angle here. We know Luke is the man all this. He's not first team, all NBA. Stop, folks. He leads the league in scoring, averaging 32, 8 and 8. He's having a tremendous season. One of the best scorers we've seen in NBA history. Okay? He's unstoppable. Austin Reaves is starting to become the wingman that we thought he could be. And why is all this happening? It's in part due to LeBron James. So if you guys recall, back on February 9th, after the Lakers lost to the Thunder, LeBron was asked, hey, OKC, they won the championship. That's a championship team. Are you guys a championship team? Here's what LeBron said on February 9th. You want me to compare us to them?

[Rachel Nichols]

No, I want to know where you

[Ken Rosenthal]

think, though, that, like, sort of is this team is on.

[Jason McIntyre]

It's like, that's a championship team right there.

[Rachel Nichols]

We're Not.

[Jason McIntyre]

So what are the biggest things you

[Ken Rosenthal]

think that are keeping this team as this?

[Jason McIntyre]

You can't sustain energy and effort. 48 minutes and they care.

[Rachel Nichols]

That's why they won a championship.

[Jason McIntyre]

So that was dispiriting at the time. And I remembered it because I was like, why is LeBron selling here? What's going on now? His, his buddy Rich Paul had been parroting this a week or so before and it was like, huh? What's going on in Laker land? Well, guess what? The Lakers have adjusted and LeBron's been a big adjustment, if you guys have noticed. It's a small sample size, but LeBron's numbers this month are way down. When it comes to shots and three point attempts, his minutes are the same. He's just not the offensive threat he used to be. Now he can still score. We know he makes big plays. He's a smart player. He's the greatest player in basketball history. But he is 41 years old. Okay, now here's where it gets fascinating. Listen to how LeBron's tone has changed from February 9th. This was him after the win over the Nuggets when they were carried by Luka and Austin Reaves.

[Rachel Nichols]

We just want to continue to keep building good habits, continue playing the game the right way. Denver's a championship. You know, ball club. They core with AG and Jamal and Yoke.

[Jason McIntyre]

They won a champion.

[Rachel Nichols]

Christian Braun, they won a championship.

[Jason McIntyre]

So they have that championship DNA. So you know, that's what we trying

[Rachel Nichols]

to, that's what we strive for.

[Jason McIntyre]

So before we're not a championship team. Now we're striving for it. It's all changed, folks. I don't know if you've watched closely. I know a lot of you like, ah, Lakers, I'm so sick of them. They're a great show. You got to pay attention. LeBron has shifted into full on role player. Now J.J. redick, we, we admit he's a great coach. Has he got LeBron to buy in? So I mentioned the stats. There was a moment in the fourth quarter of that Nuggets game where LeBron did the full Superman extension dive, okay, For a loose ball. I leapt out of my, my little. We were in like a little cubicle there. Not a cubicle obviously, but here's the play right there on the screen. LeBron diving for a loose ball. He kind of pulled a groin or whatever. He's old man. That's what happens. But look at this now. Him and Reddick joked about it afterward. I'm telling you, I kind of Laughed about it in the morning meeting. Remember, Luka went to the finals with the Mavs. We've been saying for months, in that Kyrie Irving role can be Austin reaves. That makes LeBron like P.J. washington. Now, don't scoff, okay? Don't scoff. P.J. washington was integral. He had one win over the Thunder in that postseason run by himself with the corner threes and defense. LeBron, he seems to have been bought into his new role. He's taking fewer shots, he's playing more defense. Obviously, there are questions. Can you have him on the. On the court in the final minute of a pivotal game as a defender, given he's. He's 41 years old, people want to attack him? I would say fine. I trust LeBron, one of the smartest players the league has ever seen. We're talking about a guy who memorizes plays from the opponents and calls them out before they happen. I'm just telling you, Lakers have a massive game tonight in Houston, and they play Houston again Wednesday. Okay? Lakers are third in the west for all this, oh, they're not contenders nonsense from some, shall we say, some people that are paid by the league to talk about the league but aren't nice about the league. Lakers are contenders. There's 17 games over.500. Okay, LeBron's bought in Luca's cooking. I can't wait for Lakers Rockets tonight. All right, let's pivot to the World Baseball Classic. And, guys, I'm watching that game last night against the Dominican Republic, and I do not know when the World Baseball Classic became such a huge deal. I had to look this up. It only started 20 years ago, so it doesn't have the length in the history of the Olympics or the World Cup. Side note. Oh, my gosh. How good is this year for sports? You had the Winter Olympics, usa, Canada, hockey. What a. What a game. Now you've got the World Baseball Classic, another USA team that everybody's enjoying the thrill ride. And then we got the World cup this summer here on American turf. This is going to be maybe one of the sports years of the century, folks, when you line all that stuff up, and the growth of the World Baseball classic. So the USA wins 2 to 1 to advance to the final. They will play the winner of Italy, Venezuela tonight. Now, obviously, everybody loves the vibes and the energy. It just jumps off the screen. Look at that play. Just gutting him out at. At third. Just phenomenal stuff. Okay, this is what Aaron Judge said last night after the win, and I will admit I was gobsmacked by this comment. Figure out better than the series. It's just like I said, the fashion that these fans have represent their country,

[Rachel Nichols]

representing some of their favorite players, there's nothing like it. And that's what you dream of as a kid. I was Ben in my backyard playing wiffle ball. This is the moments of dream of big spots, big situations and it just,

[Jason McIntyre]

it gives me chills right now thinking

[Rachel Nichols]

about how special that was.

[Jason McIntyre]

All right, listen, you guys know I love hot take. Happy hour.

[Rachel Nichols]

Come on.

[Jason McIntyre]

Is that a little bit much bigger than the World Series. Now some jokers in our morning meeting this morning to peel back the curtain just a little bit. We're like, well, Aaron Judge is never going to win a World Series. So he's saying this. Oh, he's 34 years old. Lakers, not the Lakers. Yankees are going to be there for sure in the postseason and in the mix, I don't know if they'll pull off a World Series. But for him to say that about the World Baseball Classic, that says a lot. And obviously Wednesdays final is going to be enormous regardless of who we play. Obviously Italy is on quite a run. But here's Mark Derosa after last night's win talking about the thrilling, thrilling victory.

[Rachel Nichols]

That was high level baseball at its finest. I mean for our bullpen to come in and do the job they did. Dominican never stopped. It was like constant traffic, never relaxed.

[Jason McIntyre]

Just,

[Rachel Nichols]

just a game we'll remember forever, right?

[Jason McIntyre]

Boy, that was unforgettable. Now I will admit there, you know, you look in the archives and see who played in previous years in the World Baseball Classic. And obviously the talent this year is off the charts. And I did see that Wembanyama played in the All Star game and was talking about it back in the end February. He wants to compete and you saw it raise the level of everyone else. And I just wonder if so many good players are in it in the World Baseball Classic now that everybody's stoked for it. And obviously the final is the semifinal is tonight and the final is tomorrow night. The USA will play the winner of Italy, Venezuela. It'll be thrilling. It's on FOX tomorrow. Tonight's game is on FS1. I don't know about you guys. I'm extremely fired up for it. And the USA chants will be ringing loudly on Tuesday night. Coming up next here on the Herd NCAA tournament. We'll do our bracket picks later in the show, but I have an interesting comparison for a certain Mr. Boozer on Duke. You're probably not going to like it. He doesn't have the sizzle and the flash of Cooper Flag and Zion Williamson, but there's a certain MVP who he reminds me of. That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod, pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the Sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Rachel Nichols]

All right, two Truths and a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwaine, I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile bill to your local Verizon store today. Get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best overall Mobile Network Performance U.S. 2nd Half 2025 All Rights Reserve must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply. Support for the show comes from public. Huh.

[Jason McIntyre]

I wonder if this can beat the market. Everyone's talking about the NASDAQ 100, but let's get more specific. Software?

[Rachel Nichols]

Actually, too broad.

[Ken Rosenthal]

How about software that's already profitable?

[Rachel Nichols]

Companies that beat the last five quarters. Oh, and I want founders who are marathon runners.

[Jason McIntyre]

That's discipline. Yeah, let's see what that looks like.

[Rachel Nichols]

With generated assets on public, you can turn any idea into an investable index. Just enter a prompt and watch the AI screen thousands of stocks in seconds. You can then back test your index against the S&P 500. Make adjustments, refine your criteria, and when you're ready, invest in what you've built. Go to public.com and build your own index with generated assets, plus earn a 1% uncapped match when you transfer your portfolio Public Investing for those who take it seriously Ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor. Sample prompts are for illustrative purposes only, not investment advice. All investing involves risk of loss. See complete [e-mail] disclosures hey, this is Levoir Arrington here from up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com every sports season is built on preparation. Studying the trends, making necessary adjustments to reach the ultimate goal. Investing deserves the same approach. With Webull you have access to real time market data, advanced tools and an intuitive app designed to help you make informed decisions, trade stocks, options, ETFs and more, or set up an IRA for the long term all in one platform. Get your financial portfolio game ready by downloading the Webull app today or visiting webull.com Webull Financial Financial LLC member SIPC FINRA Investing involves risk. For more information, visit webull.com disclosures Innovation is what gets your business to the big leagues and Wasabi is designed to give every business a shot at competition. Break free from skyrocketing storage costs, unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys. Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company and the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world. And here's why. Innovation from Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service. With triple protection against cybercriminals, data deletion and ransomware, Wasabi has taken the lead in big league data storage. Remember, Wasabi is up to 80% less than the other guys and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data. Wasabi is another championship story. Check them out [e-mail], wasabi Hot Cloud Storage Proud partner of the Voluum Podcast

[Jason McIntyre]

Network back here on the Herd. If Rachel and I were not enough for you today folks, we have some great guests lined up. Ken Rosenthal to talk World Baseball Classic here shortly. Casey Jacobson Come on Stanford legend. Unbelievable Basketball player, Fox analyst. We got him coming up. My guy, Yovon Buha. We are going to talk Lakers here in a little bit. But first, let me. Let me go to NCAA tournament. Okay? So you guys know I nerd out totally over the NCAA Tournament. I could tell stories for days on this show about how I would fake sickness to get out of work so I could watch Thursday and Friday, the NCAA tournament. I would like to come in on Monday with like a little cough. So I wasn't feeling great. I wouldn't add it on Wednesday. You would build it up. Monday, you're not feeling great. Tuesday. Oh, man, I'm not good. I'm going to power through Wednesday. But then Thursday you're out, right? And you get to watch the games. I've never actually been to an NCAA tournament game in my life. Just don't really. I would rather watch a billion games at the same time. And part of that's because you got teams like Duke led by the immortal Cam Boozer and they are the number one overall seed. I think they're a little vulnerable due to two injuries to starters. One of them just had surgery, the other has foot soreness. So it's now the Cam Boozer Show. And I want to preface this statement by saying Kam Boozer is 18 and a half years old. He should technically be a high school senior. Okay, he's 18 and a half. He is having, according to Ken Pomeroy, which is, you know these analytical models. Ken Pomeroy's stats have Mr. Boozer as the most efficient player in college basketball in the last 25 years. Because that's how far the database goes back. Most efficient. You understand that, right? Yes. That means more efficient than Cooper Flag. Yes, that means more efficient than Zion Williamson. Those guys were dunking machines. And this is where it gets interesting. I know. Come on, J. Mac, how are you going to open with Duke? Arizona is better. Don't tell anyone. I'm picking Arizona to win the title. We'll do bracket picks in 30 minutes. But this is an interesting story because here's what's fascinating about Boozer. Folks, you're not going to believe this. So he's averaging 22, 10 and 4 as a 18 and a half year old freshman. He's shooting 62% on twos, 40% on threes. That's unbelievable. He's not even 19. And this is where I love the comparison. So he doesn't have the. The sizzle of Darren Peterson of Kansas where he's dunking on people. He doesn't have AJ DeBonsa flushing on multiple people through the lane. He does not have that athleticism. He also isn't Darius Acuff, who, yes, we're going to build a segment around later in the show. He doesn't have that crossover flash killer threes from 27ft out. He don't have that. I don't know if Cam Boozer could jump over a Yellow Pages phone book. I don't. He's not athletic. But you know who else wasn't athletic when they came into the NBA? This guy named Nikola Jokic. He was not. Now I like to look this up. He was overseas at 19. Jokic came into the league at 20. He averaged 10, 7 and 2. At 20 years old he was getting adjusted to the league. Cam Boozer is going to walk into the league next year and probably average 18 and 10 at for most of it, 18 years old. He's ahead of Nikola Jokic at this age. Now he's only a teenager. A lot can happen. But I did look this up too. The best estimates were when Jokic came into the league. He was 256, 11, 250. I don't know if that's true because he was doughy. If you guys remember, Boozer listed a little shorter than 611, but also 250. I'm just. I know people are going to dislike this, Jay. He's a two time. He's an mvp. Why are you doing this? Stop. I'm not comparing him to 30 year old Nikola Jokic. Actually Jokic is now 31. I'm comparing him to at that age at 18. He is ahead of Nikola Jokic's pace. That's how good this guy is. And as somebody reminded me this morning, you know, Boozer's dad was a decent NBA player for many years. If you watch Kam Boozer play, his bag is ridiculous. He'll take Biggs off the bounce from the three point line, the spin moves. I mean, he's really, really talented. And I think we're selling him a little short because he doesn't have the sizzle and the flash of a Cooper flag of a Zion Williamson. Folks, you know, I'm not a huge Duke fan. I did love me some Jayson Tatum back in the day. But I love Zion Williamson. I mean, Kim Boozer, I looked this up, has one block in the last five games. He has no vertical to speak of. None. Look at this steal on the breakaway. He barely gets up for the dunk. He's. He's not going to. Wow. You with the athleticism like Zion. When Zion lost to Michigan State in the Elite Eight, your boy didn't cry, but I was definitely down. I obviously had Duke winning the title that year. I needed more Zion in my life. And we see his NBA career is flamed out. Cooper Flagg, another guy, he will flush on you. Boozer's not doing that. But the way he creates, the vision, the skill, I'm telling you, he plays to me like a European and I know people are going to make this huge. Oh, Jake, come on. You're bashing Americans. No, I'm not. Listen to what Tom Izzo said on the show last week about Cam Boozer. I love Camp Boozer.

[Ken Rosenthal]

They beat us here. We had a lead with about two or three minutes left.

[Jason McIntyre]

He just kind of takes over a game. Basketball IQ is off the charts.

[Ken Rosenthal]

That's number one.

[Rachel Nichols]

And I think winning is extremely important to him.

[Jason McIntyre]

Give credit to his coach down there,

[Ken Rosenthal]

give credit to his dad. But not everybody puts winning on the top.

[Jason McIntyre]

I think Cam Boozer does. I think whatever team he goes to, he helps them win. And he's going to be a very

[Ken Rosenthal]

good pro, in my humble opinion.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, it's interesting. Dell Curry was a solid NBA player, very good for many years. I don't. He was never all NBA guy. His son watching NBA locker rooms, watching NBA games forever became the immortal Steph Curry. Carlos Boozer was a really good NBA player. I don't think he was all NBA. Maybe made an all star game or two. I think his son has the chance to be one of these all time greats. He's just a special player. Look at that. That's a great move. I like me some Kam Boozer and Duke and I know you're not going to like the YIC comparisons, but keep an eye on him again, not to the 30 year old MVP, but to young Jokic. Will Boozer continue to improve his skill set? We shall see. Let's go to Rachel Nichols with the news. No, no, no, no.

[Rachel Nichols]

Turn on the news.

[Jason McIntyre]

This is the herd line news.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I don't know how to follow that take.

[Jason McIntyre]

Not everybody was sold on that, believe it or not. Rachel. I know, I know. I'm gonna get some hate online. Bring it on. I want all the smoke.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

All right, let's talk about my favorite NBA player these days. Victor Webanyama, dropping 32 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, four blocks and two steals. And San Antonio's win over Charlotte. It was Wemby's second career outing with at least 3010 rebounds, five assists, multiple blocks it ties him for the third most in franchise history. The spurs are A league best 172 since February 1, including 51 during this recent six game homestand. So what do you think, Jason? What's the ceiling for the spurs here? Do you think they can win a title? Go against all NBA regular common sense. You can't win a title your first way through the playoffs. You got to have that playoff experience first.

[Jason McIntyre]

Those highlights, defensively we didn't show any, but did you see what he was doing? A guy guys were scared to shoot against him.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

It's ridiculous. Jaylen Brown, did you see what he said the other day? Jaylen Brown came out and said, I'm the best two way player in the league. Non wemby division. Right. So guys around the league are saying like, it's like wilt, right? Like I can't even get in that category. So we're going to have a competition for second. I don't know, man. You can look at the numbers here, right? Look at that.

[Jason McIntyre]

19 blocks in five. Yeah. I think the sports.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Second, first, second.

[Jason McIntyre]

I think they're going to win the title.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

You do?

[Jason McIntyre]

I think they're better. I mean, they proved head to head they're better than okc. Who's stopping them in the West.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I mean, look, there is that experience factor, right? So, and Wemby, it's interesting, you know, we'll see what he does in these next, you know, month of games. He sat out one of these games in this home, stand hurt, he warmed up, couldn't go, that kind of thing. And Mitch Johnson came out last night and he said, he's like, look, Wemby has the longest list of career goals of anyone in NBA history. And this is a franchise that had, you know, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Greg Popovich, right? And Wemby does, he says he wants to win mvp, he wants to win defensive player of the year this year. And so he wants to play, but he's only got like a few games to play with to be even in the postseason awards. It's just gonna be interesting to see how they treat him the next month of the season in terms of his health.

[Jason McIntyre]

So. So those comments, if a lot of players make them, oh gosh, that guy's so cocky and arrogant. It doesn't sound that way with women. He's just being honest. He's brutally honest.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Yeah. He also has this way of talking, right? He's just sort of, you know, so intelligent and kind of common sense. The way he talks that if, you know, someone came out and was like brash and bold and said all those things, you'd be like, okay, yeah, but he's, it just, you're right. It just sounds like I, there's a

[Jason McIntyre]

lot to like about him. He's just a, seems like a good dude.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

You know where I am. I, I, I think he's going to be a top 510 player of all time. I, he could easily make this whole LeBron MJ discussion a moot point. I think that's how good he is. And it's just obviously an injury, you know, change that.

[Jason McIntyre]

But spicy. I thought the Y boozer was Spicy. Could make LeBron MJ move. Woo. Kobe fans are upset with you.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Oh, I know.

[Rachel Nichols]

Okay.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

All right. Kobe fans, Kareem fans. Anyway. All right. You just mentioned Jason Tatum. Right. Let's talk about him. Passed another milestone in his recovery over the weekend. He played the full third quarter and Celtics win over Washington. And after the game he said that wasn't the initial plan to play the whole quarter, but he feels more comfortable in game four of his comeback than he did in game one. Jason, I think that Tatum being back like this, they are the favorites in the East. What do you think?

[Jason McIntyre]

What happened to the Pistons, huh? I'm just telling you, Cunningham, sinking like a ship.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

You don't gotta, you don't rip out other teams.

[Jason McIntyre]

Come on. I just, the Detroit fans were a little insufferable when they were smashing my Knicks. I still listen. The Knicks were up on them last year.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Yeah. Before the Tatum injury. But this is a different Celtics team than last year.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, that's a good point. Are they better than last year?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

It's interesting. They cut a bunch of salary.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

And everyone was like, yeah, it's a gap year, that kind of thing. Joe Missoula doesn't do gap years.

[Jason McIntyre]

No. No.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Jaylen Brown doesn't do gap years. And then to get Tatum back for this stretch run is, is pretty incredible. You know, obviously it's going to depend on their center play a little bit and like whether it holds up during the postseason. But I don't know. I feel like for you guys, the Knicks fans, it's hard. You watch that window open and then maybe close again in six month period.

[Jason McIntyre]

I mean, so it's a small sample size. How many games he played? Like 6?

[Rachel Nichols]

4. 4.

[Jason McIntyre]

Okay.

[Rachel Nichols]

Yeah.

[Jason McIntyre]

I don't. We'll see who's their third best player, by the way. So it's Brown, Tatum and is it Pritchard or White?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I think it's probably. Well, it's Ty. Maybe. I was going to say Pritchard, but it's probably Ty.

[Jason McIntyre]

I think the Knicks match up good with them. Rachel. They do an og.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I'm not saying it's like, oh my God, runaway favorite Michael Jordan and the Bulls, I just, I think they're the favorite now.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah. I mean Hart Brunson, if Mitchell Robinson can ever get his make, a free throw would say like 40% this year. But it's Celtics. That's going to be a great series. So what is. What's the order now? Is it's who's number one?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I think, I think they're. Yeah. And Celtics are two. I think so the.

[Jason McIntyre]

And the Knicks are three because the Cavs are fading. Damn, that would not be good. I don't want to face the Celtics second round if I'm the Knicks.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

No, I mean, exactly. I don't know. By the way, also, what a testament to modern medicine, right? Think about when Kobe injured his Achilles, right. 10 years ago. Obviously he was older, but there was no way treatment was this good. And now they've made some significant changes in the way they treat Achilles injury.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Look at this guy. I mean, he's incredible.

[Jason McIntyre]

Looks pretty damn good.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

The shot is a little off, which is 100% what you expect. And will 100% be fine by mid season for him in the playoffs. But like everything else looks.

[Jason McIntyre]

Looks good. So regarding Nick Celtics, real quick. Rough night for Timothy Chalamet last night. I got snubbed. And if the Knicks don't make the finals, he's gonna be. Well, it's not his year. I thought.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Will you blame him? Will you blame him if the Knicks

[Jason McIntyre]

is there gonna be a curse of.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I didn't see Kardashian curse, baby. You know how I feel. Don't bring the Kardashians to your basketball game. It's not gonna go well. There you go. All right, let's talk about your New York Jets.

[Jason McIntyre]

Oh, yeah, here we go.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

There you go. Finalizing a deal that will send quarterback Justin Fields to Kansas City. Chiefs are going to send back their 2027 sixth round pick. Chiefs, interestingly, are only going to be on the hook for 3 million of his 10 million guaranteed contract. You, on the other hand, your team is going to be on the hook for 7 million. But I. This is super fascinating to me because our producer Martin was talking about the comparisons with Sam Darnold. Do you feel like this could be kind of a Sam Darnold experience for Justin Field? Because I love that take, right?

[Jason McIntyre]

Whoa.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Sit for a Year.

[Jason McIntyre]

Okay.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

The way Darnold sat behind Purdy, be in a winning organization. Just get to work on your game because no one's gonna. Is he gonna be the starter over Mahomes?

[Jason McIntyre]

No.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I mean, as soon as Mahomes is healthy, he's the starter.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

And then, you know, it could be another case, Jason, of your jets sending away a quarterback and then watching him win the super bowl one day.

[Jason McIntyre]

That would bash the jets session. All right, so wait, so Fields was drafted by, was it. It was Chicago.

[Rachel Nichols]

Right?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Chicago, yeah.

[Jason McIntyre]

And then he went Pittsburgh and then Jets. So by far the worst culture he was in was with the Jets. Right. Going to the Chiefs.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

You said it out loud.

[Jason McIntyre]

I mean it's fine to say that. Woody Johnson, clean it up. I thought we could get more than a six round pick. Goodness gracious. But yeah, listen, I feels had a great opener last year against Pittsburgh. That game right there. I think they lost 34, 32. Yeah, it was like, oh, and then it went downhill quickly. I don't. Is he going to start week one?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Well, that's the question. So Mahomes has said the whole time he's like, I'm going to start week one. I'm going to start week one. I'm going to start week one. They play the early game. It's not like they play on Monday Night Football. They play, I think Thursday. Right. So. So even that's like, you know, pushes the calendar back. He says he's going to start. I'm watching Jayson Tatum doing what he does. It's not the same injury. I know, but still, you know, I don't know. But if he did, if Fields did have to start game one, I feel fine about that. Because here's the thing. Fields is going to get almost all the reps in training camp. Right. I mean Mahomes will work his way back in there eventually. But this is such an unusual case where he is going to have starter reps with all of these players that, you know, normally a backup quarterback just popping in wouldn't have had chemistry with these guys. He's going to build it over a month more.

[Jason McIntyre]

$3 million for your backup quarterback is not terrible. This Mahomes. So the Mahomes injury, I haven't looked at the timetable lately. Do you think it's realistic he'll be back?

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I do. I don't think. I can't guarantee it. Yeah, it depends on how he responds and how he feels. But I, I don't think it's crazy for him to keep saying this. I get it.

[Jason McIntyre]

You know, one of us is hoping the Chiefs miss the playoffs.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I was going to say. Well, look, you were right. I, I made fun of you in our preseason picks.

[Jason McIntyre]

You know, it's. And you were, you were, you were right.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

But I, I do think this will work out. I'm actually pretty excited about this for the Chiefs.

[Rachel Nichols]

Yeah.

[Jason McIntyre]

All right. Rachel Nichols with the news. Well, that's the news.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

And thanks for stopping by.

[Jason McIntyre]

The Herd Lie news. All right, we got Ken Rosenthal stopping by to talk. Is the World Baseball Classic actually more exciting than the World Series? We'll talk about that next. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

[Rachel Nichols]

All right, two truths and a Lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile, build to your local Verizon store today, get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best overall Mobile Network Performance US Second Half 2025 all rights reserve must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply. Support for the show comes from public. So it kind of feels like there's two types of investing platforms. You got the old school brokerages that look like they were designed in like 1995. Then you have those other platforms, the ones that feel less like investing and more like a casino. Public is neither. It's the investing platform for people who actually take this stuff seriously. You know, people who are serious about building their wealth. Because on public, you can build a portfolio of stocks and options and bonds and crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts. Yep. High yield cash. Of course. They even have direct indexing. Honestly, this is what investing platform should look like. Modern design, simple to use, and customer support that actually cares. Go to public.comcowherd and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.comcowherd ad paid for by Public

[Jason McIntyre]

holdings brokerage Services by Public Investing member Finra SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor crypto services by ZeroHash all investing involves risk of loss. See complete [e-mail] disclosures hey, this is

[Rachel Nichols]

Lavar Arrington here from up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and [e-mail] the March tournament brings volatility upsets and momentum shifts. With Webull predictions, you can trade strategic positions on college basketball outcomes, react to matchups and assess probabilities as the tournament unfolds. Whether your bracket is busted or you're on the way to the top of your leaderboard, bring your strategy to your trades in real time. Get started by downloading the Webull app today or visiting webull.com event Contract trading is speculative and may not be suitable for all investors. Customers should carefully consider the associated risk before investing. Visit webull.com disclosures Innovation is what gets your business to the big leagues and Wasabi is designed to give every business a shot at competition break free from skyrocketing storage costs, unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys. Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company and the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world. And here's why. Innovation from Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cybercriminals, data deletion and ransomware, Wasabi has taken the lead in big league data storage. Remember, Wasabi is up to 80% less than the other guys and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data. Wasabi is another championship story. Check them out [e-mail], wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, proud partner of the Volume Podcast Network.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Tonight, after knocking off depending champion Japan, Ronald Acuna Jr. And Venezuela look to end Italy's Cinderella run in the semifinal of the World Baseball Classic. Can they beat the Espresso team? That's my question. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern right here on FS1.

[Jason McIntyre]

Espresso tea all right, world Baseball Classic. Let's bring in Ken Rosenthal, one of the, obviously the most plugged in folks in baseball. Sideline reporter, writer extraordinaire. Ken, let's get us started. I mean, the vibes and energy are just off the charts for the World Baseball Classic. Just tell us what it's like, what you feel being. Being there.

[Ken Rosenthal]

It's electric, there's no question about it. And this tournament brings out passion that we don't see in the regular season or even in the post season because players are playing for their countries and the Latin American players in particular have incredible pride in what they're doing. And we've seen it at times. We saw it last night from the Americans as well. So it's a different kind of vibe than we're used to seeing. And it is absolutely. The word is electric. That's the only word I can use.

[Jason McIntyre]

So Aaron Judge kind of went off and made a World Series reference, obviously. Can it match the energy of the World Series? Like, are you feeling that kind of excitement? I mean, the crowd clearly is into it.

[Ken Rosenthal]

The crowd is one thing, and certainly in Miami, when you have a large Dominican population, a large Venezuelan population, a large Puerto Rican population, it adds to the energy in the building. Compared to a World Series, it's just a little bit different. It's a little bit more intense, perhaps. But my goodness, last year's Toronto LA Series was incredible. The fans were incredible in both cities. I don't know that I would say this tops that.

[Jason McIntyre]

It's.

[Ken Rosenthal]

It's kind of different. I think that's the best way to put it.

[Jason McIntyre]

Different. Yeah. Yeah, agreed. So Paul Skeens was just tremendous last night. Obviously, he's becoming one of the great pitchers in the sport. I guess just talk about what he showed last night to you.

[Ken Rosenthal]

He showed that he could handle a lineup that we all thought could not be stopped. The Dominican Republic had scored 51 runs in its first five games. They hit a home run off skiings last night, Junior Caminero did, and that made it 15 for the tournament. That's the most ever in a single WBC. The tournament dates back 20 years. This was seen the Dominican Republic offense as something of an unstoppable force. And Keatskeen stopped them. So among his many achievements, Rookie of the Year, National League Cy Young Award winner last year, this, to me, stood at the top. He is yet to pitch in the postseason. This was the closest thing to it outside of the Mexico game. He pitched earlier in the tournament and he, for the most part, was magnificent, even though he said afterward on our broadcast that it Wasn't his prettiest or cleanest. That's true. But he still got it done.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah. Let's talk about the end of the game, the final strike. Obviously, Dominican Republic not happy. What were they saying after the game? I mean, you could see the. Just annoyance, maybe, is the right word. Frustration. Tell me about it.

[Ken Rosenthal]

Both of those words and a few more. And certainly they had every right to be upset. There was a call on Soto that should have been ball four leading off the eighth. The call on Perdomo, of course, in the ninth, that was with a runner on third. And it became the final out of the game. It would have been first and third, two out for Tatis. So that's a world of difference. And we have coming into the sport this year, in the regular season, an automatic ball strike system, and players and teams will be allowed to challenge calls. And in these cases, you could clearly see from the statcast imaging that both these calls would have been overturned. And who knows where the game goes from there. So, yes, the Dominican players were frustrated, but Albert Pools, their manager, and Geraldo Perdomo, the guy who struck out to end the game, handled it with a lot of class. And they said that's not what the game was decided on. We had a great tournament. There were a lot of things that happened. And I thought, frankly, that their reaction was incredibly professional, maybe even more professional than it deserved to be, if you know what I mean.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah. Now, it's interesting, the whole challenge system you mentioned, you know, the energy and the excitement of these games has been thrilling in basketball. I know people are annoyed with all these constant challenges and stoppages at the end. Who touched the ball last? It takes forever, takes the excitement out. Do you think, you know, challenging some of that stuff might do the same in baseball?

[Ken Rosenthal]

That's a great question. And the answer is yes, just as instant replay has done that to an extent in baseball. At the same time, I guess I would come back to this. Which would you prefer? The game ending last night on a call like the one that it ended on, or a correct call with a delay and a little bit of excitement zapped in that moment? I would hope that the correct call would win the day, and that is what is going to happen in the future. So it's a tough question, and certainly the entertainment aspect is part of this. But as with instant replay, when that was introduced, the idea was to get the egregious calls right. Now, some other things have happened, some unintended consequences as a result of that, but they mostly get the egregious calls.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

Right.

[Ken Rosenthal]

And that is what is most important.

[Jason McIntyre]

I can't believe we talked baseball for five minutes and haven't mentioned Shohei Ohtani. I personally thought his home run and telling his dugout to settle down was one of the cooler things I've seen in the Tour. Just, I guess, talk to a little bit about what, what you thought of Japan getting bounced. Ohtani was tremendous, though.

[Ken Rosenthal]

Ohtani was tremendous as he always is. He did not pitch as he did in the last Classic, which they won. I did not see the Japan team as being quite as strong as that team in 23. And certainly they played a team from Venezuela that is very good, stocked with major leaguers. And not just fringe major leaguers, quality major leaguers, all stars. In one case, Sal Perez, a potential hall of Famer. In another case, Ronald Acuna Jr. A likely hall of Famer if he continues to perform at the level he has in his career. So I was not necessarily surprised to see them lose, but it's always shocking to see Ohtani walk off a baseball field, not in triumph. You know, it doesn't happen all that often.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, it is interesting. I mean, did you. I'm assuming you had a pick before the world baseball class. You thought Japan would be there? Everybody did, Right.

[Ken Rosenthal]

Well, my picks are always terrible, so they're not even worth discussing. But the three best teams were considered to be the Dominican Republic, the U.S. and Japan. Those were the three. Only one of them is going to be in the final, and that's the US and it will be against Venezuela or Italy. And by saying those were the three best teams going in, in the estimation of many, that probably sold Venezuela short. Now, Italy came out of nowhere. That's a whole different story. But Venezuela, as we will see tonight, I am sure it's an impressive group of players, and that's why they're where they are.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, it's interesting. On the screen, I'm sure you could see, you know, a question about Ohtani being the biggest baseball star ever. But there is a global. This is a global event. And it's weird because we don't have this in football. We have it in basketball. Basketball's become international. This feels like it's expanding baseball's reach globally to kind of blow up and I don't know, I guess just talk a little bit about Ohtani and helping the sport glow globally. Globally.

[Ken Rosenthal]

That is the entire goal of the tournament, to expand baseball's international reach. Now, I don't know that it needed much help in Japan. Where it already is the most popular sport, but certainly Ohtani has elevated that even to another level. Then you have European countries like Italy, and that, to me, is where maybe the greatest mark will be felt. I don't know if Italy's run here will have a dramatic impact on the growth of baseball in that country. It's hard to know. Soccer, obviously, is king, but at the same time, John Morosi of MIE Network pointed out that it was on the front page of the leading Italian sports section yesterday when they made it to the semifinals. That's a big deal. That's something. And maybe if there are, I don't know, 20, 25, 50, 100 kids in Italy who decide to play baseball because of this, and if that happens in Great Britain and other countries and you get some of those athletes, that only helps the sport.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, interesting. All right, so Italy, Venezuela tonight, I guess a quick breakdown. It's on FS1. Breakdown of the game. Who do you like in this one? And then to piggyback off that, who's a better matchup for the US I

[Ken Rosenthal]

like Venezuela, but I've said that every time Italy has played in this tournament just about, and they keep winning. And not only do they keep winning, they keep scoring in a big way. Three straight games with eight or more runs. So it's hard to go against them right now. As hot as they are, they're going to start Aaron Nola, the great Philadelphia Phillies pitcher who has had a great career and pitched really well in the Classic so far. So, again, it's hard to go against them, but I just believe Venezuela is the stronger team and ultimately they will win. Said that when Italy played the U.S. italy won. I said that when Italy played Mexico, Italy won. So let's not count out Italy now. As for the stronger matchup for the US it seems to me that because they lost to Italy, getting them again and having that particular motivation to kind of bring this thing full circle for them, that would be good. And again, I see Venezuela as the stronger team, so Italy probably is the better matchup.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, it's interesting because Italy, you know, they're the whole espresso jokes are flying, but they're an underdog. This is like not quite a 16 seed in March Madness or something, but this is a serious underdog making a monster run here. Do we know how they're doing it, or are they just getting hot at the right time?

[Ken Rosenthal]

It is pretty close to a 16 seed actually making this kind of run, and they're doing it in a couple of different ways. But the main thing that has stood out to me, besides Vinny Pasquintino, who is one of the game's better sluggers, and Jack Caglion, who is an emerging slugger, they have four or five young position players who are fast, who play really hard, who just have kind of a good way about them. And those guys have brought Italy energy. They've made Italy much more of a force than any of us thought they could be. And they've also gotten good pitching from Nola and Michael Lorenzen and Sam Aldegieri. So it's been a nice combination, and it's been great to see them play this game at such a high level when it was unexpected. But it's not a fluke, either. The guys that they have, these young guys, they're not considered top 100 prospects in the sport, but they're top 10 prospects in their own organizations, and they've proven to be really good players.

[Jason McIntyre]

Do you think this is the kind of stage that could elevate some of these prospects to be like, hey, we got to give this guy a look. Our fans now want to see him because he popped in the World Baseball Classic?

[Ken Rosenthal]

Yes. And I don't know that it's for the fans, but what it has done for these players is kind of open the eyes of their organizations, maybe in a greater way than before. Maybe they'll be looked at a little bit differently to play like this on this stage. And I know I talked to the Chicago White Sox about Sam Antonacci. He's one of those young guys. And they said, oh, no, no, no. We have him highly ranked. It's everybody else who does it. Right. Of course. But certainly it's changed the perceptions of, I don't know, the organizations themselves, but maybe in the industry.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah. And finally, do you have an MVP lean so far for the tournament? I mean, assuming the US get, you know, wins it all tomorrow.

[Ken Rosenthal]

I don't believe that has been decided yet. And what I mean by that is what happens on the field the next two nights is probably going to go a long way toward determining who is the mvp.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, that's fair. All right. Ken Rosenthal, obviously a great insider reporter, writes for the Athletic. He's written three sports books. Ken, congrats on all your success. Enjoy the games.

[Ken Rosenthal]

Thanks a lot.

[Jason McIntyre]

World Baseball Classic. Rachel, it's.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I have been riveted.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

I mean, and just the talent. I mean, you guys, we were talking about this morning. It's crazy. Did you see the list? So There's. Of the two teams just in last night's game. 56 all star appearances between the two teams. I have some of the other numbers here. You've got 31 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves, five MVPs and one Cy Young winner just in that game. So if the players are telling us this is a big deal and they're so competitive, it's a big deal.

[Jason McIntyre]

I think the timing of the sport, the event is perfect. It's in that window after the super bowl before March Madness starts where the NBA games don't really matter as much. Right. And spring training, people don't pay as close attention to. So this is like getting all the attention. I mean, it's really been perfect by

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

plus you're coming off a seven game World Series.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Sports Analyst or Co-host)]

You know, I hate to say it, but it's true. A big market wins, right. I'm a Dodger fan, but whatever. But you know what I mean. Like, like the interest in the sport and this is take, you know, it's here and then spring training usually puts it here and instead we're just keeping up here. So I think it's great for baseball.

[Jason McIntyre]

Exciting stuff. Italy, Venezuela tonight. All right, coming up next, final four picks. We got the brackets well like 15 hours ago. Obviously three are locks, one kind of up in the air.

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