All right, so we move into hour number two. Good afternoon. What's cracking? I am Jim Rome. I am happy to be here, and I'm happy to have most of you here.
Notice I didn't say all of you; most of you. Show is presented by FanDuel. My thanks to my pals at FanDuel, as always. All right, let me give an example. As we move into hour number two, you have your phone number.
You know where to find me on social. I just want to respond to some of this chat. Jonathan Papelbon is joining me shortly. Cleveland fan, you're really something else. And I'm not going to paint all of you with one broad stroke.
I never, ever, ever, ever, ever do that. But let me address one Cleveland fan and one reaction I got on chat. This is from Adze from Cleveland. "Quote: I'm just saying, Jim. When Deshaun had a bad game, you killed my man.
He's three and one. He looked great last night." Give Munkin credit for rolling with Deshaun. That was a bold move, man. Damn, Zay, where do I even start? "Quote: I'm just saying, Jim.
When Deshaun had a bad game, you killed my man, bro. Here's my opinion: He didn't have a bad game. He had lots of bad games, really bad games, and that's when he was available." He was unavailable for a lot of games. He got hurt. He was a bad dude, a bad dude, who had a lot of bad games, and was hurt badly and unavailable for a long time.
And then, fine. And he had a bad preseason, and he got booed in preseason. Zay, how how soon you forget? How much Cleveland fan hated this guy, booed him in the preseason to the point that he got in front of the media and essentially told all of you to go to hell. Why are you booing me?
You know how hard I've worked. He basically said, "Bleep you," and that didn't bother you at that point in time. I'm like, "There's no way this will ever work." He essentially told the entire fan base, "Go to hell, bleep you." And yet, the Munken incredibly named him the starter the very next day. You forgot that all happens, a. But but you want me to sit here and act like this is Josh Allen?
He's three and one. He looked great last night. Give the Munken credit, bro. Not only is it not just me. Not only did ownership make the worst trade ever.
You gave up all those number ones. You guaranteed all that money to this guy, even though you saw his act off the field, did nothing for you when he was on the field, and was mostly off the field because he got hurt. Have you already forgotten that your ownership owned? What a mistake it was. Let me read you a quote because you clearly forgot this.
Ze, Jimmy Haslam, 2025. Quote: We took. A big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback. We didn't, and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him.
So we've got to dig ourselves out of the hole. It was an entire organization decision, and it ends with D and I.
So hold us accountable. End quote. Zay, your own owner finally admitted it was a huge swing and a miss with your guy, who you seem to think is Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Troy Aikman all rolled into one. And by the way, dude, what do you want from me? How did I open that show by giving him credit?
By giving the monkey credit, by giving the team credit, by telling the fans you should enjoy that—that was a great night. The hell do you want from me? What do you expect me to say? You're three and one. We're gonna need to see more.
But I gave you credit for that start. Yeah, I've been harsh, and understandably so, and rightfully so. The guy's been garbage. Let me tell you something again, Zay. You quote your man.
Give my man some credit. He got blown out in the opener. They got blown out in the opener. This dude was one game away from maybe never seeing the light of day again. He did nothing in the opener to get credit.
And then you won. Then you won. Then you won. And I roll out here on a Friday when you're three and one, and I give quote your dude credit, and I gave the Monken credit, and I gave the defense credit, and I took a run at Pittsburgh. What do you want from me?
You want me to sit here and say this guy's Josh Allen? Come on. You got as much credit as you deserve for a three and one team that beat a Steeler team that's got this weird marriage between a fat guy and an old guy. Fat. By the way, by the way, by the way, you're getting more credit than you deserve.
But it shows how much I like Cleveland and I want you to be happy. I'm not here to hate. I'm here to be real. The hell more credit do you want? You are getting as much as you deserve, if not more.
Man, stop acting like you just won the division. Stop acting like you just won a playoff game. Stop acting like you won the damn Super Bowl. Stop acting like I owe you an apology. I don't.
I gave you credit. I spent twenty five minutes off the top of this freaking show giving you credit. What do you want? A Lombardi Award? You didn't earn it yet, man.
I'm telling you. One eight hundred six three six eight six eight six. Cleveland, Cleveland. I'm one of the only ones outside of Cleveland on your side. I'm one of the only ones.
On Cleveland, did you not see all the heat that Prime Video took last night for the way the way they handled or didn't handle Deshaun? I'm actually one of the most objective, fair-minded people. Not looking for a hot take. I'm just being real and authentic. Wait, I'm not giving you enough credit.
I'm the only one outside of Cleveland giving you credit. What are we doing here, King Shark Forty Nine? Deshaun Watson may not be the best human being on the planet, but last night he made plays—enough plays to beat Rogers. Call it an inconvenient truth, but it's still a fact. And what?
And what? You mean what I said in the open? And what? Do I do I owe you something too, King Shark Forty Nine? I said as much.
The hell you all hear what you want to hear. It's just a fact, Jim. Yeah, I know a fact that I stated myself. Do any of you have ears, or you all in MMA and you all have cauliflower ears and you can't hear a damn thing? Have all of your ears been rubbed up against that mat for the last twenty-five years and they're all swollen shut?
Do you hear anything I say? I said it. Dude, I said it. I'm not particularly fond of the creep. I made that pretty clear, but I got to give him credit.
He had his best first half since he's been a Brown. Said that. Didn't do anything in the next couple of quarters, but when he had to make plays, he made plays, and he's done it three games in a row. Said that. The hell do you want me to say?
He's the best quarterback in the NFL. He's the best guy in the NFL. That they just won the Lombardi. None of those things are true.
So I'm not saying any of those things. Jamie in Green Bay. I can't wait to see the steakhouse restaurant that Mike McCarthy shows up that he built in Minecraft 12 or 12 years from now.
Sorry, Jamie. Good point.
Sorry that I didn't read it well. This is Chris W. Jimmers, former Brown diehard, bailed when they brought the creep to town, and now actively hate watch. As painful as this month has been, twenty-five years of a trend don't just disappear after a few close games. Mediocrity will persevere in Cleveland.
You know, there's something to that too. But notice, I didn't say that. Notice, I didn't come out and say, "Hey, man, Browns is still the Browns. They're gonna Browns. Here it comes.
Wait for it. I could have done that. I didn't." Zay, I didn't Sea Town fan. I didn't do any of that. I did not say, "Hey, remember back in nineteen ninety five when they started three and one and Modell bruised his scrotum and then moved them undercover." And I, I didn't do that.
I gave you credit. I said, "Damn, Browns fans." That looked like that was fun last night. There was energy back in that house, and I know how much you hate Pittsburgh. I know how good that must have felt, but still not good enough. I even acknowledged.
It might keep going. Look at the schedule. They could be five and two by the time they play Pittsburgh again. This might actually be sustainable. I I said positive things.
I gave you credit. Don't you run up on me with "told you so." Told me what? Told me what? Like you knew, like this is a team that is in the same class as the Bills. No, it's not.
That this team should be mentioned in the same sentences the Chiefs. No, they shouldn't. That this team is better than the Jags. No, they're not. They're three and one.
They're finding ways to get it done. That's a big ass win in prime time over a hated rival. You are on top, and the creep. He's making plays, and the Munken changed the vibe. Defense looking good without Garrett and without Jim Schwartz.
Yeah, I'm fired up. How how is it that I'm not giving you enough credit? Come on, Cleveland. Again, I'm the only one outside of Cleveland giving you this much credit. And and believe me, I'm the only one outside of Cleveland, Cleveland fan that's as happy for you as I am.
But I do find it curious that this same dude told all of you bleep off, and you've already forgotten. Winning will do that, right? Winning will do that. Greg and Green Bay, Rome. You have to like the direction the Browns are going in.
They are winning games, and their coach is a content machine. The Munken is fearless, heartless, and chinless—three qualities that will get them to at least a 500 record. Fair, fair. Jamie and Green Bay back. I'm just saying, Jim.
When Deshaun had a bad massage, you killed my man. Signed Zay. One eight hundred six three six eight six eight six. Get up in here, hit me up, man. I'm telling you, I could not have been more complimentary, and still not good enough for some of you Browns fans.
Hey Rome, any chance I can get an invite to the Todd Munkin luncheon? I'd suggest you schedule it soon before the inevitable collapse. Scott in South Carolina, inevitable. This is kind of my point. It would have been very easy for me to come in here and say that, and then you all would have been like hater, hater, hater, hater.
I didn't do that. Believe me, Sea Town fan, Z and Al. There are lots of people all over the rest of the country that are saying that. Settle down, Cleveland fan. You're gonna fall apart like you always do.
I didn't say that because I'm different. I'm better in that sense. I'm objective. I'm fair. I have an open mind.
But, but there are certain things that I'm pretty pragmatic about and pretty dogmatic about, and I'm not going to act. Look, you know what? I'm not going to do. I'm not going to sit here and say the creep man. Given what he went through, what did he go through?
What did the creep endure? He was accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women. What did he go through? It's what they went through. What he went through is the position he put himself in, with the choices he made and the actions he took.
All right, with that in mind, take a break. When we come back, uh oh, chat.
Sorry, chat. We're talking baseball next. Not sorry at all, chat. You go to talk baseball. And eager to talk about this company, I love this company so much.
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You're listening to the Jim Rome Show. Jim Rome takes on sports. I don't think even a Bears fan is going to come up in here and say, "Hey, Rome, come on now. You know we can win it all this year." I know Ben Johnson thinks you can win it all this year.
However, if you want to go out there and you want to hang 59 on fools every single week, I'm here for it. This is not their year to win it all. They're not there yet. I'm a big believer in Ben Johnson, and they'll get better defensively. They're going to have to get better defensively, but they're going to be fun.
They're already a hell of a lot of The Jim Rome Show podcast. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Welcome back, Jim Rome in Southern California. Good to be with you. And as I mentioned, good to have most of you, but not all of you.
But really glad to talk baseball, and really glad to talk baseball with this guy. We are joined right now by a World Series champion, a six-time All Star. He won the 2007 MLB Reliever of the Year award. He played 12 years in the bigs for the Red Sox, the Phillies, and the Nationals. He currently serves as a Red Sox analyst for NESN TV in New England.
He is co-host of Foul Territory, which is a daily digital baseball show with episodes streaming weekdays at 1 p.m. Eastern. I'm talking about Jonathan. Applebaum, Jonathan. Good to have you on, dude.
How you doing? What's up, Jim? How's it going, man? Good, good, good to see you, man. Thanks so much for doing this.
Great to have you. Hey, let me start right in the NL. The Braves needed three games to finish Philadelphia off last night. They had three bombs to advance to the NLDS. Let me ask you this: With Atlanta having such a quick turnaround for Game One against LA tomorrow, how do you think they match up with the two-time defending champs?
Well, it's tough to match up against the Dodgers in any case, in any scenario, Jim. I mean, they're the defending champs, and you know they seem to always, every year, be getting healthy at the right time when it matters most, and that's when the postseason starts, and that's what they're doing. And you know they're going to set out a lineup and a pitching staff that has. A load of veterans and a lot of younger guys, a lot of rookies and and and and role players, and they all mesh well together. When we won the World Series in two thousand seven, that was the complete identity of our team, and we had a great leadership.
Quality and Kurt Schilling, David Ortiz, we had younger players like myself, Elsberry, Dustin Pedroia, and we all meshed well together. And I believe that that was a big reason why we were able to go out there and win. And that reminds me of the Dodgers. But I tell you what, from what I saw from the Braves last night. Pretty impressive.
Now, Chris Sale is going to obviously get pushed back. He's not going to be able to be a game one starter. But I really look at this series, and I see them really matching up pretty evenly. You know, the Braves are are a really good team, and they beat a really good team in the Philadelphia Phillies. And you know the Phillies, my former team, they've got a lot of questions.
They've got a lot of questions that need to be answered because their window is now with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and they just seemed to to fail in their window. And now here's another thing you got to think of, Jim: the Los Angeles Dodgers have been sitting for five days now. In the game of baseball, that's not a good thing.
So they might start off on a little slow foot here, in my opinion, and. The Braves might still a couple games early on in the series, but I'm looking for this series to go all five games for sure. Jonathan, there is so much good stuff to unpack in what you just said. I feel like the five days. I agree with you.
It feels like 15 days for one thing. And you mentioned the window. I was going to say Philadelphia. I feel like that window may have already slammed shut. Maybe not slammed shut, but it's closing, right, dude?
It's closing. Let me ask you this: There was a report this morning, Jonathan, that Don Mattingly, despite taking Over that job when they were ten games under five hundred and leading them to a seventy nine and fifty five mark, that he's not going to be brought back. What is your reaction to that report? Do you think that he's done enough to get that job full time, or should they go after somebody else?
Well, you you look at it, you know, and and a manager in the big leagues are hired to be fired, just like an NFL coach, just like any. Any sport, you're hired to be fired if you're a manager or a coach. Number one, number two, they're going to weigh their options, man. They're going to—that's what they're going to do because they're going to have options. You look at my old former teammate Alex Cora.
He's going to probably be back and putting his name out there to be a manager again this year. And bring back his staff with Jason Veritek, another former teammate of mine. And you just never know. Dave Dombrowski is is going to pick the best coach he thinks is is available. And you know, Alex Cora and Dave Dombrowski have had a World Series championship together and are very very tight.
So. And look, I think I think Don Mattingly made a mistake last night in starting Aaron Nola. Should have started Wheeler. In my opinion, he should have started him. He's your horse.
He's the guy that you've been going to all year long. Let Aaron Nola be the long guy. Start get get the game started off on a good foot because Aaron Nola wasn't able to go out there and command the strike zone and fell behind a lot of hitters, and the Braves hitters took advantage. By the way, that could cost him. I mean, you you don't want to say that one game could cost you, but if it's that game and that decision, that could cost you.
And Jonathan, to your point, man, I love Alex Cora. I'm an enormous Alex Cora dude. I love the guy, love the guy, loved him as a player, loved him as a manager. And if I'm Philadelphia and I'm looking at Alex Cora is out there and he wants that job, he take that job. You got to hire that guy.
You know, you mentioned that championship team and that clubhouse. The guys that you mentioned in that clubhouse, Jonathan, like obviously there's great chemistry and there's great leadership. Who who ran that clubhouse? Whose clubhouse was that when you guys won it all? Because those are some enormous personalities.
Yeah, we had enormous personalities. You know, David Ortiz usually babysat Manny Ramirez, and Curt Schilling ran the pitching staff, and and most of the pitchers, and Jason Verdet. Was the guy that ran the lineup and commanded the pitching staff every day, and did our scouting reports. And you know, you have to have good chemistry. And you know, you look at the Phillies, and you ask yourselves, like the way they were kind of playing when they were down, they just didn't fight and scratch and claw back like you would expect a playoff team to do.
And you got to ask yourself what kind of chemistry did they have in that clubhouse, and you know it basically boils down to this: when you have good chemistry, you can win games because. You're going out there and you're protecting each other. When you don't have good chemistry, you're not protecting each other as players. You're not going out there playing for each other, so you lose games a whole lot more. But it just didn't seem like the Phillies had good chemistry going on.
Right. Hey, look. If you're playing for yourself, it would stand a reason you're going to lose a lot more games than you ordinarily might. The one guy you mentioned before, but not that time. How about my guy Dustin Pedroia?
How did he fit into all that? Like, if if Jason Verrettac Ran that, and she'll ran the staff, and Big Poppy handled man ram. Like, where did Dustin Pedroia fit in in terms of leadership?
Well, he was the guy that was getting pumped up for everybody every day, making sure everybody was ready. This guy would go and look at you in your face, and he'd say, "You're not ready. You're not ready," or he'd say, "You're ready to go. Let's go, Pat." And he just would get in your face. I mean, he's five foot four on a good day, and you know this this kid would just really get the team amped up every day for 162 games plus playoffs, and he's got three World Series to show for it.
And the man is an all time competitor. And I I assume we'll see him back in the game sometime soon when his kids are getting out of school here shortly. I think I've been trying to run him down. He's one of my favorites, but I think part of the reason I haven't been able to find him is he's he's about family, man. He's about family.
He gave so much to the game. He's with his kids. To me, he's the ultimate. I can't use the word, but you know the phrase. He's the ultimate D in the dirt, man.
This dude is the he is the best. Yeah, I love I love Pedroia. Manram is one of my favorite human beings. Ever, dude. If Manny Ramirez is one of my favorite players ever, can you share your best PG Manny Ramirez story?
I mean, where do you even start with Manram? He was so awesome and so funny and so weird and so everything, man. Like, what was Manram like? Yeah, my my best story is is um he he he used to come back in the dugout a lot, and if he struck out on one pitch. He'd always say, "If that pitcher throws me that pitch again, I'm gonna take him deep." And in the ALDS, K.
Rod was on the mound, great closer, and he struck him out the first at bat with a curveball. And then the very end of the game to win it, he takes him deep because he threw that pitch again to him when he made the mistake. And he used to call his shot all the time. He would say, "I'm going deep." Sure enough, get up to the plate, go deep, and that was the most amazing thing to me. To me, Manny Ramirez is the greatest right-handed hitter of all time.
I mean, Jonathan, he like you look at Manny, you're like, dude, this is no rocket scientist. But in reality, he was kind of a genius, right? Yes. Yes, this guy. Let me tell you something.
He studied pitchers more than that anybody would ever realize. And the guy's work ethic. Let me tell you about this guy's work ethic. This guy worked. There we go.
That's what I'm talking about. Right? Bam over the Coke bottles onto the Mass Avenue. Great.
So let me tell you something. This guy's work ethic. Was bar none. Nobody worked harder than this guy, really and truthfully.
Now he wanted to come across like you know I'm happy-go-lucky. I'm just another one of the idiots in the clubhouse. I just ran into one lucky, right? I just ran into one somehow, someway. Yeah, yeah.
But this guy really studied and he really worked hitters. And had a tremendous talent to go along with it. Jonathan Palpable joining us, breaking it all down. This is so great, Jonathan. You played in two of the toughest towns ever: New England or Boston and Philadelphia.
Two totally different towns. Which one? And of course, you won your ring. Where you won your ring? But which one was tougher?
Which one was tougher on its athletes? Which one had tougher media? I mean, dude, you're a tough guy. You never back down, anyway. But man, those are two towns to play some ball with.
It's tough. Yeah, I tell you what, Jim. I got to go with Philadelphia, man, because I had this was in 2013. I had 27 saves in a row, and I blew one. My first one, and it wasn't until like after the All Star break.
An entire stadium booed me off the field, so you know I grabbed myself. I gave the fans a little gesture, grabbed myself, and Joe West ended up kicking me out of the game. It was a big spectacle, but yeah, they were pretty tough on me, man. But and then another another thing is, is a guy came on the field. Straight into the bullpen, wanted to fight me.
Jumped into the bullpen, had to put him in a headlock. And then security came.
So yeah, the Philly fans are a little bit tougher than the Red Sox fans. I will say that. That is wild. That is wild. But then again, they did boo Mike Schmidt, and of course, Jonathan, as you know, they were just trying to make him quote a better player.
Maybe they were trying to make you a better reliever because you only saved twenty-seven straight games. Maybe that guy wanted to fight you. Only wanted to make you a better reliever. I mean, that is wild, wild, wild, wild, dude. Before.
You go because I know we have a lot of viewers and listeners that are in Wisconsin and in Milwaukee, and they want to know about the Brewers' best record in baseball.
Now they've got to deal with the hottest team in baseball in San Diego, who's won twenty of twenty-six. Considering San Diego took four out of six from Milwaukee during the regular season, do you give them any kind of shot at beating the top seed? Yeah, I do, and you know, for me. You know, Pat Murphy's a great coach, and he gets his players to play for him, and that's that's a sign of a great manager. But I just look at the the Padres; they match up better against the Brewers than any other team, I believe.
And in my bracket, I've got the Padres beating the Dodgers. In the NLCS, yes, I've got them beating the Dodgers. They are just getting hot at the right time. And man, you know, playoffs—that's what it's all about, getting hot at the right time. And Manny Machado is going to lead them.
Fernando Tatis is going to lead them, and they're and they got a great squad. And they got—they've got to stay healthy, obviously. And and that's a big key, but to me, they're hot. They're the hottest team right now, and I see them beating the Brewers. I'm not pushing back on you because sometimes it is the hottest team, not the best team.
Sometimes the hottest team is the best team. But if you get hot at the right time, and nobody's hotter than the Padres, Manny is swinging it. Tatis has been incredible for the last few months, and I'm just kind of chuckling because I grew up in L.A., I worked in San Diego, I live right between the two. I know that rivalry. It's a Great underrated rivalry.
Like I'm not saying it's Red Sox and Yankees, but man, San Diego hates LA.
Well, everybody hates LA, but the Padres really hate LA.
So that'd be great. Great rivalry. San Diego is a great city, man. Used to love going to San Diego Gaslamp District and all. Man, great town.
Preach, preach. And that and that joint, yeah, man. And that ballpark is popping right now, isn't it? It is electric. And it's a hard place to play right now.
I mean, and their fans have given them a home field advantage, which they used to not have. When I was playing, Petco was not a home field advantage, and now it is. And to me, that's a big key. When you go into these playoffs, you've got to win at home. Your games at home, you have got to win.
That's how you keep going on to the next round. But man, yeah, man, my my Red Sox. They they they sucked ass, man, and and and there's no other way to put it. I didn't see them. You know, I didn't really see them getting past the Yankees very easily, but I didn't see them getting their butts whooped the way they got their butts whooped.
My man, I give you so much credit for saying that.
So, leave me on this note. They got you're right. They sucked ass. You can say that on this show. It's one thing to lose.
It's another to lose the way they did. And then, what about the major talking point again? Did Sonny Gray get the hook too soon, and was that totally mishandled? Yes, he did. He he got the hook too soon.
He's the best. He is the best pitcher in the big leagues. The third time around the order in the lineup. Yes. And so you got to let him.
Your backs are against the wall. He's one of your studs. He's one of your horses. Should have been an all star this year.
So to me, you got to let him go. Payton told he did a good job as well, but. The bullpen ended up caving in, and they ran into a hot hitter and Ben Rice. And I mean, look, if the Yankees get back Judge. Which I'm not sure they've made a call on quite yet.
I think they're going to make that today. Do you know if they made that call yet? I don't think they have yet. I don't think they have yet. There's a whole whole lot of drama.
How weird is that whole thing with Aaron Boone saying, "Hey man, it's it's a moderate calf sprain, sprain," and and Judge going out of his way to say, "Oh, so it's moderate." Like, what the hell are these two guys doing? That's kind of weird. That's New York for you, baby. That's New York for you. That's that's Boone in New York for you, man.
That's the sour goes. Kind of reminds me of Roman Anthony and his hand all year. Nobody really knew what was wrong with his hand. Then he gets pulled out of the game the other night, and you know it's really nobody knew all year long what was going on. He saw every specialist they could all year long, and he.
Truthfully and honestly, he was not healthy enough to come back and play in the postseason. In my opinion.
So okay, to your point, and he the guy wanted to be out there. He probably heard everybody saying, "Why are you not out there?" And then he comes back, and he's not right.
So, do you think he did the right thing, or did he hurt them by coming back? No, he hurt them by coming back, Joe. Yeah. When you're a player, you know what your capabilities are, right? And and and the worst part about it is, is he's a young kid playing in a big big city, and sometimes the pressure of getting back on the field is too much.
That's what I'm saying. It was for him, and so he says, "You know what? Like I'm good to go." Just because he's hitting balls off a tee and hitting live batting practice, well, that's not big league pitching. When you face big league pitching, your check swings are harder. Your swings are harder.
There's adrenaline flowing. There's so many extra things that are going on.
So he really wasn't ready to play. And you put the team. You could use that spot for somebody else. And he put the team in a position that they didn't need to be. You know what?
To your point, to your point, he said that he said I jacked it up again on a check swing.
So, like, then who makes the call? Do you do need to have management protect the young player from himself, or do you assume that well, that guy knows his body better than anybody else? He's going to make that call. Who makes that call?
Well, I'll tell you who makes that call is Craig Breslow. Yeah, Craig Breslow, the GM, makes that call, right? And don't don't get me wrong with any of this. Chad Tracy, interim manager this year, by far, Breslow made every decision and gave Chad Tracy the red light or the green light on every decision made since he became manager. And that was one of the big reasons why he got hired to be his manager because Craig Breslow knew.
I can make these shots and call these shots because he he Craig Breslow wants to make those calls because that's the whole reason why he fired Alex Cora, okay? Alex Cora was pushing back on Breslow on some of the decisions he was making, and Alex Cora said, "Well, if you don't like it, you're going to have to fire me." Well, that's exactly what happened.
So, bro, so. This is why you're so good at what you do.
Now, normally, I'll say, "Hey, hey, guest, you have a platform. How are you approaching your content?" Everybody has content. No, no. See, you and AJ, you guys do what you do because you guys are so different. It's like I don't want to make any this about me, but when I came up, I did what I did because I was different.
You guys are so good because you do things like this. Leave me with this thought, Jonathan. How much fun are you and AJ having? AJ is co-founder of Fal Territory. I had him on recently.
You guys are doing the digital show. How much fun are you having chopping it up with him? And especially during the postseason, where there's so many games every single day. Yeah, man, we have a blast. Fal Territory is taking off, man.
It's a great show. We love doing it, and you know, me and AJ, we go way back. Competed against each other for the last, you know. The entire 13 years of my career, I faced him.
So, and and for me, I love the fact that it's all former players on foul territory. Man, that's what I really love. We we bet on games. We we take games and we have fun with it. And we also have the ability to kind of know where.
Managers are coming from. General managers are coming from. Players are coming from. Because we've been there, done that before. You know, so that's what makes it great.
So when you went up against AJ back in the day, when you guys were competitors, did you always have that mutual respect? And you like that dude, or did you want to knock him out? No, AJ didn't want none of me. AJ didn't want none of me, man. AJ, I don't even think AJ got a hit off of me.
So only people that guy hits off of me on his team were Jermaine Die. Jermaine Die was the only dude who could hit you. Yeah, that's it. Why the White Sox? Why?
Why was that? Why? Why could you not figure him out? I couldn't figure him out because every time I threw my split, he hit it deep. I don't know, Jim.
So, bro.
So, you just so you just so you just kept throwing it to him, right? Like, I'm gonna get him, man. He, I'm just gonna keep throwing it. Yeah, right. Oh, yeah.
That ego, that ego got in the way big time, Jim. John did palpable on joining us, dude. You're the best. That was an awesome. I, I never, ever, ever on this show keep people that long.
So sorry for that, but you were that good, dude. I appreciate you, man. That was so much fun. No worries, man. I enjoyed it.
Happy postseason to you, brother. You got it. You too, dude. You too. And they have a great show, foul territory.
Make sure you check it out. He's co-host Jonathan Papelbon coming up huge. Happy postseason to you, brother. Hey, chat. I'm sorry, brother.
I'm sorry for absolutely nothing for talking all that baseball. That was a great guest. Foul territory. That's a good platform now because you get guys like that and AJ. They're just gonna let it rip.
I even have no problem with Jonathan saying to me at the very end, "You know, you know what's good about us? We talk to only guys who played the game, not guys like you, Rome. Just guys who played the game, GMs and players, and we get their insight. And we even bet on the games. And he kept it real." HJ didn't want a part of me.
He said none of those guys could hit me except for Jermaine Die. Jermaine Die could swing it. He's a good hitter. All right. Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
That was a blast. My thanks to Jonathan Papelbon. NordVPN now comes with a next-gen antivirus. Can you dig it? Stop digital threats before they reach your device with proactive protection that works in the background.
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And get NordVPN with a next-gen antivirus. NordVPN, connect and protect. You are listening to the Jim Rome Show. My dough never sees a freezer. Fay Hollis makes the biscuits at Hardee's.
I'm up at 5 a.m. every day making biscuits from scratch. Easy there, biscuit lady. Ought to create the Hardee's two for five dollar breakfast menu. Try the new Oscar Mayer Bologna Biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, smoked sausage biscuit, biscuit and gravy, or a cinnamon roll.
The two for five dollar breakfast for a limited time only at participating Hardee's. I got up early. The least. You can do is show up hungry. Jim Rome takes on sports.
I don't think even a Bears fan is going to come up in here and say, "Hey, Rome, come on now. You know we can win it all this year." I know Ben Johnson thinks you can win it all this year.
However, if you want to go out there and you want to hang fifty nine on fools every single week, I'm here for it. This is not their year to win it all. They're not there yet. I'm a big believer in Ben Johnson, and they'll get better defensively. They're going to have to get better defensively, but they're going to be fun.
They're already a hell of a lot of fun. The Jim Rome Show podcast. Follow and listen. Your favorite platform. All right, so it's gonna be a short segment because the interview was so long, and the interview was so long because the interview was so awesome.
I'm gonna say something incredible about Jonathan Papelbon. I've never spoken to him before that, and he shows up like that. That was an incredible conversation, man. That was awesome. I'm so happy with that.
So my thanks to him for showing up the way he did and staying as long as he did. I want your reaction to it, like, like I know you had an opinion of him before that interview. Has your opinion of him changed? And either way, whether it has or hasn't, there is no denying he kicked ass in that interview. That was a great interview.
ATP on a Friday. Time to ask the pros. You get to ask Miriam, but also on the crew a question. It's always sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Post your question at Jim Rome.
Use the hashtag Ask the Pros on X. Listen later on, and one of us will answer one or more of your questions. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts. For all of your car care needs, get the parts and service you need fast from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. All right, let's go to the phones quickly.
Marshall in Orlando, good to have you on. Marshall, what's up? Yeah, dude, I'm a transplant from LA, so just a Dodgers fan. Grew up just hating everything Red Sox. I'm like, nah, Papelbon's on.
I hate that guy, dude. Like after that interview, I think you need to start doing an after-hour segment with Papelbon, like daily. I mean, I don't know. Usually, when you say we don't know these guys, it's because we think they're great and they're really d bags. But in this case, I'm like, ah, this guy's a d bag.
And dude, after 20 minutes of you spending time with them, what a great guy! What a great interview. Props out. All right, Marshall, appreciate that. See, the thing is, I I disagree with one part of that.
I know your point about I grew up in L.A. I hate all things Red Sox. I hated that guy, but then I heard the interview.
Now I love that guy, and I want you to put him on every single day. And this is the part I disagree with. Hey, Rome, you know how you always say we don't know any of these guys? Quite the contrary. I think he showed up exactly the way that I expect him to show up, or the way he is.
He he still sounded like he played. That sounded like an interview. I mean, it was more expansive and more elaborate, but it sounded to me like he still played the game. Like, no, they don't want any part of me. He he did not say he sounded exactly the way I would expect.
Like, I'm not backing down. I'm not taking any bleep from anybody at all. I'm not hard to find. You know where to find me. And when he said, "Man, I just could not get Jermaine die out," I kept throwing him that split, and he kept hitting it over the fence.
I'm like, "Why, man? Were you just stubborn?" He's like, "Yes, yes." It was pride. It was ego. I kept throwing him the same pitch, and he kept depositing it into the seats. No, I thought Jonathan Papelbon was incredible.
Much like his. Co-host AJ Przinsky showed up. I hadn't talked AJ in years, and I'll be honest with you, I kind of wondered. I wonder if AJ and I went sideways somehow because we just haven't talked in years. And then AJ shows up like we've been talking the whole time, and he was incredible.
That's why we're talking baseball chat. Those are two of the best interviews we've had in weeks. Stay tuned. My dough never sees a freezer. Fay Hollis makes the biscuits at Hardee's.
I'm up at 5 a.m. every day making biscuits from scratch. Easy there, biscuit lady. Aught to create the Hardee's two for five dollar breakfast menu. Try the new Oscar Mayer Bologna Biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, smoked sausage biscuit, biscuit and gravy, or a cinnamon roll.
The two for five dollar breakfast for a limited time only at participating Hardee's. I got up early. The lead You can do is show up hungry.
