The MLB playoffs are heating up, or should I say, have heated up, since the divisional series have ended and four teams remain. The Los Angeles Dodgers will play the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS and the Toronto Blue Jays will play the Cleveland Indians over on the ALCS side.
Before we get into that and the rest of Episode 41, as a reminder, The Bridge is now broadcast as a one hour radio show every Wednesday night on Sports Radio America, starting at 7 ET. Once the dust settles from that live broadcast, the show is released as a podcast on iTunes and this website on Friday night. You can listen to the live show every Wednesday on Sports Radio America here or through the TuneIn app.
- Sports News Read Like Real News was a two-fer this week and looked into a steakhouse in Ann Arbor owing its patrons a half-off steak after Michigan’s 78-0 drubbing of Rutgers, and the NFL prohibiting its teams from posting stadium highlights on social media, perhaps putting the use of memes in doubt (2:20).
- “Wait, Who?!” tells the story of San Francisco Giants Wild Card game hero and New York Mets foe, Conor f’in Gillaspie (9:06).
- The Bridge Question of the Week is: If you had to root for one team for the rest of your life from the teams in major sports (including college) that have won championships in the last two years, which team would you pick and why? Call or text in your answer to 929-BRIDGE7, that’s 929-274-3437, and you’ll make it on the next show (13:07).
- This week’s guest is Zachary D. Rymer, an MLB writer for Bleacher Report. Zach was kind enough to share some wisdom and break down the MLB playoffs, including the wild card games and each divisional series, before telling us his pick to win the World Series.
- You can follow Zach on Twitter @zachrymer and read his work on Bleacher Report here. The interview starts at the 19:30 mark.
- In the interview, we discuss:
- How he decided to get into sports writing (19:52), what he writes about in the baseball world for Bleacher Report (21:48), some of his favorite projects (23:32), if he’s a proponent of bat-flipping and Making Baseball Fun Again (26:37), if Madison Bumgarner is the best clutch playoff pitcher we have going right now (27:54), his thoughts about Buck Showalter going home without using his closer (30:27), if there should be any surprise for the Toronto Blue Jays having their way with the Texas Rangers and if we should be scared of their hot lineup (32:28), how the Cleveland Indians were able to cool off the bats of the Boston Red Sox for the sweep (34:32), who will win Game 5 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals (37:54), the Chicago Cubs being his pick to win the World Series (39:23), if anything can be done regarding the late ending times of playoff games (41:19), the biggest keys for the Jays or Indians in advancing to the Fall Classic (43:54), sticking with the Cubs to beat the Nationals or the Dodgers (44:56), if the Cubs have any Achilles heel to beat them (45:57), how great it will be for baseball no matter who ends up winning the World Series because of the droughts each team has (47:00), how younger teams like the Cubs could bring excitement back to baseball (48:38) and what he’s working on next for Bleacher Report (50:41).
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Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.
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