After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio, in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2. Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio, in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2.

Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to hear something really funny? Not only are we wrapping up week 5 in the NFL with a Monday night game that should float your boat. It's Raiders at Chiefs and Kansas City trying to keep pace maybe with what the Buffalo Bills are doing in the AFC. Really impressive the way that Buffalo has rebounded from a couple of games in which they didn't play their best. And we may have just seen the best of what Buffalo has to offer.

Well, you know what? I can't even say that. I love what the Buffalo Bills did in the first half against the Steelers on Sunday. However, as I mentioned to you, they also had a couple of turnovers. They had missed opportunities, which is why it was only 31-3 at the break. But right now they are setting the pace in the AFC.

And we've seen flashes. If they put 60 minutes of quality football, no mistakes on the field, I don't know who beats them. Except it's the NFL.

So when you make predictions, they laugh in your face. Kansas City has also played extremely well. Both teams have a blip on their radar, but Kansas City has put together some great football. We just saw what they did on the road at the Buccaneers.

Can they keep pace with the Bills with that Monday night win? Alright, so that will wrap up week five. We're heading into week seven next weekend.

Well, six for the NFL, seven for college football. So I'm thinking about what's happening this week. Wrapping up week five in the NFL and then kicking off week six on Thursday. Week seven in college football. Lots of conference matchups. Also kicks off later in the week. The Baseball Division Series, all four of them, open up on Tuesday. And you know what else Tuesday represents? The start of the NHL season.

OMG. NBA is not that far behind, coming up in a couple of weeks. And so October is the busiest month of the entire calendar year for those of us who work in sports because all four major pro team sports are operating. And then we've got peripheral tournaments and tennis and golf. We don't spend a lot of time talking about them. But how about the fact that the World Cup is in November and it's the last run up for teams?

USA needs to get its act together. And so there's so much happening in the fall. Amazing. And yet I still found time to plant grass seed on Friday for the first time in my life. I've never done it before. And now I'm out there every day with my hose watering my front lawn. I feel like a proud parent over my baby grass seeds. I hope you had a good weekend.

If it's your holiday and if it is a holiday for you and you are taking a three day weekend. Well, we're glad to have you with us when it's your leisure time. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

When you need cash out of your home and a simple way to get it, Rocket can. On Twitter and on Facebook, we've given you four candidates. Four different teams and by proxy their fan bases who will wake up on Monday if they got any sleep at all and will be as miserable and mortified as sports can make you. We just talked about the Bills. Well, their victim was the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's a mess right now, but just as bad. The Detroit Lions.

In fact, Dan Campbell calls it rock bottom. You will hear from the Lions coach after they were shut out in New England. That's coming up this segment. The Carolina Panthers.

We just talked about them as well. Now, none of these teams are win less. In fact, there are no win less teams now that the Houston Texans picked up their first W. They have Jacksonville's number. We could have put Jacksonville in this poll and we don't mind if you write in your own candidates.

For mortified on a Monday, miserable and mortified on a Monday. Why do I sound so gleeful about it? My gosh, my team should be in there, too. I don't know if you gave me a choice between the Broncos offense and the Steelers offense. That'd be a really tough choice right now. I might have to completely jump ship and find a different team. So these are your candidates, including the New York Mets. Speaking of offense, they couldn't generate any on Sunday in their own park where it wasn't a sellout.

What is that about? Why did the Mets fans not pack city field and why didn't the Guardians sell out progressive field either? Is it because you're worried about the midges? I hear the midges are back in town. I went to the midge game a few years ago. Well, more than a few years now, but I went to the midge game with Java Chamberlain. It was really funny because we were up in the upper deck and the midges didn't come up there. And yet we could see all the people down the field and the fans that were down the lower level swatting away and freaking out over the midges. No! No!

Java, of course. He was having a hard time even pitching. He was eating midges.

Maybe that's it. Maybe Guardians fans were worried about the midges invasion. They knew it was coming.

They thought it might happen on Friday or Saturday and just thought, I'll watch this baseball team from the comfort of my own home with no midges. You know who you are. We're in Cleveland.

Nothing is easy here. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So take our poll on Twitter, ALawRadio.

I haven't decided yet. Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, we're going to go back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back and start with the first of the quadruple header in the NFL on Sunday. See, we could have put the Packers in this poll as well. We really could have. But I have this rule against putting more than one team from the same division.

So we're spreading the misery around. Did you see any of the game in London? I think every Packers fan in Wisconsin went to London, except for my family, of course. But holy cannoli, it was almost entirely Packers fans. Holy pedogie.

That's one of the things my grandmother used to make all the time. So the Packers jump out to a 14 point lead. This is what they do. They're efficient. They're methodical.

They get comfortable. But they can only so far put together one good half at a time, it seems like. We haven't yet seen consistency from them over the course of an entire four quarters. And once their offense disappeared. The Giants started working with Saquon Barkley with Daniel Jones, who was playing and actually it looked like the longer this game went on, the more comfortable he got on his ankle. You would see him try to run a little bit more.

So it was a methodical rally. Even in that second quarter as New York ties Green Bay on a 91 yard drive. And they're 20 to 20. Gary Brightwell. Not a name I've heard in a while.

Not a name I've said on the show all season long. But Gary Brightwell, two yard run. Actually, it was not a two yard run. That was Saquon.

But the Giants end up taking the lead because they're relying on that run game and because they are a completely different offense when Saquon Barkley is healthy and moving around the field. With or without the ball. Have you ever noticed how dangerous Steph Curry is because he moves constantly without the ball? Saquon Barkley does that. He moves all over the place. Sometimes he picks up a block. Sometimes he's part of the play action. Sometimes he's selling the fake.

Sometimes he's giving his quarterback a check down option. And sometimes he's the feature. Whatever it is that he's doing, you have to keep track of him. He's strong. He's powerful.

And when he is healthy, he is a game changer. And so the Green Bay Packers, as they're building this early lead and then falling off the map, are watching the Giants control the ball and use their bell cow. 6.23 to go. Game tied at 20. First and goal Giants at the 2. Wildcat. Wildcat formation with Barkley and Brightwell this time. Jones lined up left. Saquon takes the snap. Saquon bounces outside. Barkley's in for the touchdown and the Giants have the lead with 6.08 to go.

That's Bob Papa from London on Giants radio. And yeah, there were some Giants fans there or people who were rooting for the Giants, but the majority of the stadium appeared to be decked out in the green and gold. And Green Bay does get multiple opportunities. They move the ball on the next drive with four first downs. They go nearly 70 yards. And they're in the red zone, right? Because this is what Aaron Rodgers does.

He is cool, under pressure, except he did not have anything easy late in the game. 1.05 to go. Giants up 27 to 20 trying to pull off a huge upset in London. Fourth and two for Green Bay at the Giants' seven-yard line. Rodgers calls out signals. Dillon to his right.

Two receivers left, one to the near side right. Rodgers takes the snap back. Fires it past, batted by the Giants.

Incomplete. The Giants set the blitz and they batted it away. This a huge step forward for Brian Daball, who was lit on the sidelines. For Brian Daball and the entire franchise.

Why? Because they're trying to rebuild a winning culture. Post the two Super Bowl wins, Eli Manning's retirement, obviously the drafting of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. They've changed coaches multiple times. But this is what they can be. They've got a bunch of early round draft picks. So they've brought in a ton of talent.

But can they put it all together? Was it about the leadership? Well, this win featured a comeback from 14 down, a clutch of fourth quarter scoring drive, and a defensive stop as Xavier McKinney bats down that Aaron Rodgers pass attempt to seal the win. And honestly, the ball control game was just as important for the Giants because the Pack only have three drives in the entire second half.

That's it, just three drives. And they go three and out in the middle of two touchdown drives by the Giants. They get away from the run themselves, so as the Giants are controlling the ball, the Packers are doing the opposite. It's amazing the number of times, and I get it, he's Aaron Rodgers, he's got some good receivers, but amazing the number of times.

They just go for broke. Second down, third down, and then they're off the field just like that. Have run no time off the clock instead of using Aaron Jones and using AJ Dillon because that's their best option. Well, the Giants did that. The Packers didn't. And Daniel Jones is really efficient, 21 of 27, 217 yards.

Saquon Barkley able to do what they drafted him for, and I love it when he gets excited too. And the Giants are now four and one. To be completely honest, what I believe has changed is we're finding a way to win games. There's been a lot of times throughout my career that we've been in this situation in the past, in the first couple of games, and we always end up on the wrong side of it, and we find a way to end up on the right side of it, and that's just all because of the process. A good, hard-fought win.

Again, it came down to the end. Our guys competed for 60 minutes, made a few more plays in Green Bay. They're a good football team. We've got things to work on.

Obviously, some nicks and bumps and bruises, a long trip back, so get at it. Go next week. Of course, as much as he can be calm there, Brian Dable has got to be giddy over the fact that his defense, his team, just beat the Packers with a big rally. Aaron Rodgers, you know.

Aaron Rodgers is an exceptional quarterback, but again, it's a team game. We have to play well to put ourselves in position. I thought the coordinators did a fantastic job. Wink Kafka and TMAC all week leading up to it, being prepared, getting their stuff done ahead of time, coming out here, adjustments at halftime. Those three guys did a great job, and the players followed their lead. We executed on defense. That was the main goal. We stuck together, and we played as a team, man.

That's how we get things done. Xavier McKinney with that big play at the end to seal it. So no last-second heroics from one Aaron Rodgers. Instead, the offense essentially falls off the map in the second half, and the only points they come up with are a safety that the Giants give them.

No, not really. Maybe just a couple more plays of pressure. It was just, you know, those two drives hurt us.

We had a decent drive to get down there on the first drive of the second half and then sack on third down, and then three-and-out with two opportunities to make plays on the next drive. By the time we knew it, we were down seven. Something interesting that caught my attention as I was looking at headlines and listening to audio. In the locker room, Jair Alexander was asked about whether or not he was worried. And he said, no, I won't worry unless we lose next week, unless we lose in week six. And of course, the reporters trot back to Aaron Rodgers and ask him what he thinks about the talk of losing, or if we lose in week six. Frankly, I don't like all this conversation about losing next week. I'm a firm believer in the power of words and manifestation, and we've got to check ourselves on that because talking about that, that's not winning football. There was conversation about it in the locker room, and I don't like it. And Jaa's my guy, but we don't need to be talking like that. I would agree, and not so much because of the positive power thinking, all that jazz, just because why are you talking about losing next week? Why are you even bringing that into the equation?

That should not be part of your vernacular at all. You've got to believe you're going to win every game, period. And they're still fighting to find consistency. Meanwhile, the Giants are four-and-one. Oh, by the way, this game was turnover-free.

Can we give London the best game of the day? Eagles are five-and-oh. Giants and Cowboys are four-and-one.

Sorry, commanders. Is it possible the NFC East is morphing into the best division in football? It is worth pondering. Lots of you responded to me when I tweeted that earlier on Sunday, on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page, too. The Packers are definitely a candidate for Monday mortification, Monday misery and mortification, especially now that they're not even in first place in their own division. We had the Vikings hosting the Bears on Sunday. Minnesota, break up the Vikings, Minnesota. Oh, my gosh.

It's definitely a sunny night in October. Minnie, let's go with Minnie, or maybe we just go with Vikes. The Vikes score touchdowns on their first three drives of this game. Now, Chicago manages to kind of fight and scratch and claw back into it. They start hitting the ball to David Montgomery a little bit more and actually comes back to take the lead. So the Vikings' defense is hit or miss, and we've seen that.

We've definitely seen the misses. So the Bears have three consecutive drives with points to start the second half, and they go up 22-21 in Minnesota on a long field goal by Cairo Santos. But then you see the ability of the Vikings to control the clock. Seven minutes with the football. You know how much that wears out of defense when they're on the field for seven minutes? Seventeen plays to eat up clock, and they get into the late stages of the fourth quarter. Bears lead 22-21, two and a half minutes to go.

Cousins on a sneak. Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio, in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2. Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio, in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2.

Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You don't see that very often. Cousins with the one-yard touchdown run, 2.26 to go in the game. And then even as the Bears are going through their last-ditch attempt, Cam Dantzler rips the ball away from the wide receiver and recovers the fumble to seal it. So the defense showed up when it had to. And actually Justin Jefferson, too.

How about this? Career high, 12 catches for him with 154 yards. Dalvin Cook, nearly to the 100-yard mark and a couple of touchdowns.

That is the formula. Not so much giving up the lead after you go up 21-0, but that's the formula that the Vikings need to stick to. And so it's not the Packers in first place in the NFC North. It's the Vikings at 4-1. Along with the Cowboys and Giants and the Eagles, those are your best records in the NFC. Bears fall to 2-3. Well, the Lions are in our poll.

We'll explain coming up. There's plenty of misery to go around, let's be honest. The Browns probably have some as well.

Chargers fans may have angst, though at least they got the win. And then coming up after the update, we'll get to the baseball. So three of the wildcard series end on Saturday. The Mets and Padres go into Sunday. And the Winter go home game. It's all happening! It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

It's time to pull on the pads and hit somebody. On After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Bob Socey and Scott Zolack, who is an acquired taste, if you ever acquire it, on the Patriots Radio Network. New England faces the top team offensively in the entire NFL. Did you know, maybe you did, maybe you didn't, that the Lions were averaging 35 points per game to kick off week five? Now, we had told you they were averaging more points than any other team in the NFL, but they were also giving up more points than any other team in the NFL.

Thus, the one win. Thus, the consternation for Lions fans. Patriots make quick work of them because of their mistakes. Jared Goff has an interception and a fumble in the first half.

Kyle Duggar recovers, goes 59 yards for a touchdown. Even though the New England offense was relying on rookie Bailey Zappi, and their kicker, there's really only field goals for the Patriots offense until late in the third quarter, when Zappi connects with Jacoby Myers for a 24 yard strike. It was more about the ball control.

This was deliberate. Bill Belichick wants to use his defense, use his special teams, to try to get those takeaways, maybe score points with those two units, but don't give the ball back to Jared Goff and his weapons. And again, an offense that had been scoring 35 points per game. So they played keep away, 176 yards rushing for the Patriots. Ramondre Stevenson, second year back, 161 of those yards.

And they don't ask Bailey Zappi to do a whole lot. He only attempts 21 passes. He has a score. He has an interception. The defense got to Jared Goff a couple times with a couple of sacks. And even though I'm not sure I was expecting a win for the Lions, I certainly wasn't expecting a shutout. But man, that Patriots defense was locked in and looked really comfortable. I'm taking us over anybody. So all respects to the offensive line and through offensive lines throughout the league.

But we kind of really don't care. And so we're going to go out there and do our job. That's the great linebacker, Matthew Judon of the Patriots.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. How about this nerd alert? Nerd alert. I'll do it the right way. The Patriots and Lions were a combined.

Are you ready? 0 for 7 in the red zone. Combined. 0 for 7 in the red zone. Meaning neither offense was anything special. But the fact that Jared Goff and the Lions were able to give the Patriots extra opportunities. And again, they were able to use their defensive special teams. We said it about San Francisco.

We said it about Dallas today. These are the opportunistic defenses and special teams around the league. We didn't finish drives. We didn't convert on third or fourth down. We didn't finish the ball in the end zone. We didn't score any points. So it's as bad as it can get, for sure, offensively. I know you all want to hear Bill Belichick talk about his rookie quarterback, Bailey Zappi. Who, remember, is starting because Brian Hoyer is in concussion protocol.

Mac Jones is dealing with a severe ankle sprain. I mean, I thought it was better than definitely being able to get in the huddle every day. Call play. See it. Execute it versus watching somebody else do it. That's always more beneficial. But he learns well whether he's in there or not. But yeah, it was good. There was definitely an element of that.

I couldn't put a percentage on it or anything, but certainly it helped. The fact that he's getting reps in practice. That he's actually taking the snaps and not just watching. Of course, he's getting better.

That says all you need to know. It's a little bit like last week when Matt Ruhl said, I think Baker's our quarterback. I think Baker's our quarterback. I think Baker's our quarterback. He should have finished it up with, I think Baker's our quarterback because we don't have any other options. My apologies to PJ Walker, but that's obviously not who they wanted to be starting. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone out to trade for Baker. Dan Campbell, he is emotionally invested, shall we say.

I love this guy. I can imagine that this is just torture for him while we're talking about teams and fan bases being mortified on Monday. When you see your players give all that they have and you lose that way, it's tough.

You don't want that for them. But we'll be better for it. There again, credit Minnesota, but we made the one mistake that cost us. He's sniffling.

We didn't do enough to win. But I was proud of him and I love the fight they have in them and I love the grit. Unless he has a cold, Dan Campbell is crying. We've had other coaches in the NFL who were known for their tears. It's way too early in the season to be crying. I mean, I would admit that there is crying in sports. We know real men cry and a lot of them cry in sports. In fact, I would say men cry more over sports than pretty much anything else.

I know, such a stereotype. But it was so much fun to say, he's crying. Okay, once he got himself together a little bit, I mean, he's pretty frank about the state of the Lions right now. To me, it's about as bad as it gets. I mean, this is the worst. This is where we're at. Sometimes it's going to get bad before it gets better. I believe we hit rock bottom. So now the only place to go is back up. Look, we're going to get some guys back. I've got to look at everything top to bottom, which I have time to do for the bye.

Look, I've seen it too many times. I've been in this league too long as a player and a coach. I've seen teams that started out rocky and it's doom and gloom. And all of a sudden they win one and then they win the next one and then they win the next one. So it's what I told them. And I said, all you got to do is win the first one. We just, when we come back, everybody's got to look in the mirror over the break.

How do you get better individually? Just like I'm going to do. And we find a way to win the next one. Just win the next one out of the bye and then take the next one as it comes. That's all you can do. He's right.

There is no choice but to continue moving forward. However, because we're mean around here, we've put them in the poll. In fact, they were the reason why the Packers weren't in the poll. Which team should be the most mortified on what we call a miserable and mortification Monday?

You know, misery loves company. So let's figure it out. Is it the Lions? Is it the Panthers? Who says we can't get flexed? Oh, you might get flexed out of any nighttime games.

But I think that the whole point was that they were not in any primetime games. Who says we can't get flexed? Are you crying? There's no crying.

I can hear Tom Hanks in my head. So the Lions, the Panthers, the Steelers, all now at one and four. And then the Mets, who are done.

I guess I'd rather be one and four than be done. Gosh, that wild card round, it came fast and furious and boom. Producer Jay can't even look at me right now. I'm sorry, I have to talk about it. I know. I know.

I mean, we need to talk about my team sucking so badly after spending billions of dollars on a quarterback in the offseason. But like you said, would you rather be still in the fight or out? We're out. I mean, could you say the Broncos are still in the fight because I'm not sure you could. Well, good point. Good point. However, your New York Giants are four and one.

Yeah, that's the silver lining on the day. And yet you're wearing a Nets hat. I do not understand you. Well, I actually just brought out my new Met hat that I wore to the stadium the other night.

So I was ready to wear that, but it didn't really go as planned. Were you touching the money? I guess so.

Maybe. No, you had nothing to do with it. You have zero to do with the Mets only having one hit in a closeout game.

As in a single hit, like one hit. Yeah, I went to the one win, so it wasn't my fault. Again, you have zero to do with it. Absolutely nothing. Coming up, wait until you hear how Max Scherzer puts this wild card exit.

He always has a unique way with words. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Find our poll on Miserable Monday. Find our poll on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on our Facebook page. There's misery to go around. Oh man, the Dolphins have plenty of misery. By the way, how did the Jets score 40 points over the weekend? The NFL makes no sense right now, and yet I love it.

But baseball is coming up next and back to football at the top of the hour because it's October. You are listening to the After... Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2. Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2.

Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. ...here in the second inning. The 1-1 pitch is lined into center field. That's a base hit.

Kim rounding third. He's going to come in and score. Nimmo's throw is cut off by Alonso, and Trent Grisham strikes again. An RBI single to increase the lead. 3-0 Padres in the fourth.

It's coming. Manny with a hard hit. Line drive into right field and a base hit.

It'll be backhanded by Marte in the gap. Profar will round third and come home, and they manufacture another run here in the fifth inning. Manny Machado, an RBI single and a 4-0. Padre lead in the fifth. Here's the pitch to Marte. Swung on granted.

Slowly to third. Manny charges is. Now plays the hop. Throw to first is in time. And the Padres have not only captured the moment, they have captured the Wild Card Series, and it's on to Los Angeles for Game 1 of the NLDS Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. There will be playoff baseball at Petco Park in 2022.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. This is kind of neat for the Padres and their fans. A home playoff game in front of fans for the first time in 16 years, because the last time it happened was 2020, and there were no fans. And boy, did they earn this date with the Dodgers. San Diego native Jeb Musgrove grew up a Padres fan, said he was so nervous that he felt sick leading into this Game 3 against the Mets at Citi Field. But he allows a single hit over seven scoreless innings.

Strikes out five. Even survived a glove and hand and ear check. I have no idea why Buckshow Walter and the umpires decided to check his ears.

Buckshow Walter wanted to check for a foreign substance, an illegal substance, and somebody said his ears were shiny. Oh, my gosh. He kept pitching after that, and he had the Mets figured out. When you think about it as a kid, everything that you imagine or that you recreate in your backyard is big moments like this in the playoffs. So to get the opportunity to go out there and for the team to trust me enough to give me the ball in a do-or-die game means the world to me.

It feels awesome. We get to play in front of our home crowd. That's what we wanted all along, and we're able to overcome that.

It's been a long time, and it's been coming. We couldn't have done it with a better guy on the mound tonight. He went out there, gave us the opportunity to go out there and give it our all.

What a hell of a job he did today. So Manny Machado, a big catalyst for the Padres' late-season run that got them into the NL postseason as a wild card. Yeah, they finished 20 games and change behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, but did you hear the stat from Bob Nightingale last hour? I didn't realize this. In their last 28 games against L.A., they're 5-23.

So they're going to have to figure it out. But the way they pitched, not Blake Snell. He didn't pitch well in Game 2. But the way that Hugh Darvish and Joe Musgrove pitched in Games 1 and 3 gives them a fighting chance against the Dodgers, to be sure.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As for the Mets, this is more stunning, I think, than any of the other losses. Sure, the Cardinals failing to win a game on their own field, that's a big deal. Toronto got smacked in the mouth by a Mariners rally from, what was it, seven runs down in the sixth inning of Game 2, and we'll get to those. But the Mets won over 100 games. They had the same record as the Atlanta Braves. And yet, in that last weekend series with the Braves, both Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom get hit hard by Atlanta, so they don't win either one of those games. They end up getting swept. And then Max Scherzer. Was it four home runs on Friday night? They paid him a lot of money for his experience, especially on the game's biggest stages.

And it did not work out. 101 wins, and they are done. Buck Scholter has been the voice of reason all season. So many great things happen. It's just cruel, too, at times like this, because I feel for the players, because they put so much into it, and we're such a special group. You know, it's like I just told them, you know, it's not always fair. Hopefully we can gain something from the pain. It was, you know, it's one of those things, you can't do anything but say it was self-inflicted. It's not like, you know, you get, you know, you seek your level, and we're not going to be able to continue to play. I'm beyond grateful and beyond proud to be a Met.

That's all I can really say. Like we said years in a row, the goal is to win a World Series and, you know, to be in playoffs and lose in the first round is definitely disappointing. This is a kick in the balls. Short and sweet.

Short and succinct. Not so sweet to get a kick in the you-know-whats. But that's Max Scherzer's assessment. Before that, Jacob deGrom and Chris Bassett. These are the three starting pitchers.

And deGrom was brilliant. Scherzer, Bassett, not so much. Although Bassett only allows three runs, the problem is the Mets get a single hit, one hit in a closeout game at their own stadium. So that's why they're part of our Monday mortification poll on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on our Facebook page.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. How about the Phillies? Now, you may remember going back to Friday night, they rally against St. Louis. They have six runs in the ninth inning to stun the Cardinals. The Cardinals had a three-run lead in the ninth inning. They come all the way back to win the opener and then do about the same thing the Padres did to the Mets. They just never allowed that Cardinals offense to get off the mat Saturday. Two and two to count.

Eflin ready. The pitch. Swing and a pop-up. Foul. Third base side. Sosa racing over. Foul ground. He's under it.

He's got it. And the game is over. And the Phillies jubilant pile out of the dugout as they celebrate a win here in St. Louis. They hang on to the ninth, and it's a 2-0 shutout over the Cardinals. And they will advance to the division series to take on the Atlanta Braves. The vaunted middle of the order for the Cardinals? Over. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado. Just, it was rough. It was rough for them. Brennan Donovan, same thing.

Over. Now, in their closeout game, Albert Pujols had two hits. Yachty or Molina had one. Both were eventually removed for pinch runners. But this is the end for Albert Pujols.

This is the end for Yachty. I'm glad it happened at home, but obviously the guys felt terrible. In fact, Bob Nightingale was there at that series, and he said it wasn't Pujols and Yachty who were crying. It was their teammates who felt so terrible, like Nolan. We felt we were going to come out of the series winning. We felt confident coming into today.

Obviously, we ran into Nolan. He pitched a great game, but it sucks to lose like that, especially when you have opportunities to get guys in. Nolan references Aaron Nola, who was exceptional, goes into the seventh inning, allows no runs on four hits. Yeah, in that game alone, the Cardinals were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and they left nine guys on base.

This is crazy how this weekend worked out. Albert Pujols has been classy, obviously hit 700, a couple of major milestones this season. So what will he miss about the day-to-day of baseball? Being around the guys, I think I won't miss you guys for sure.

So I guarantee 100% on that, 110% on that. But I think, you know, the memories being around my teammates, the fans, the spring training, the crack of the bat every day, I think those are things that you miss. I am so, so grateful that we got to watch Albert Pujols and Yadi or Molina play baseball as long as they did. What a gift they have been to the game. And so thank you to both Albert and Yadi, who don't get the send-off the Cardinals wanted for them, but did see their reunion with a lot of electricity in the 700 home runs.

Let's squeeze in one more. 15th inning, no score between the Rays and the Guardians in Cleveland on Saturday. There ain't Anders' pitch. A swing and a high fly! Deep left center field! It is gone!

It is gone! Hello, New York! The great Tom Hamilton on Guardians Radio. Oscar Gonzalez, 15th inning walk-off. Do I dare tell you how many strikeouts there were in that game? Oh, there were so many.

And yet it was brilliant in the end. It was a great series of the team still alive. Phillies haven't been there in 10 years. They take out the Cardinals. The last two World Series champs are still alive. The Seattle Mariners' first appearance in 21 years. They take out Toronto. Cleveland, youngest team in Major League Baseball on the road at the Yankees.

This is going to be fun. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2. Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Humanity has been shaped by moments in which one person approached a crowd with something important to say. I'm Jon Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Season 2, a creation and production of C-13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio in association with the History Channel. It Was Said, Season 2. Listen and subscribe for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.