Le Batard & Friends Network

We’ve got Boog Sciambi with us! We’re talking all things Cubs today! Kyle Tucker has been amazing addition in Chicago, but can they sign him? What do the Cubs need to be real contenders this season? (30:30) The All-Star Game starters were announced for baseball! What were the snubs? How good has Javy Baez been!? Lindor finally gets his nod! (38:00) WNBA expansion is here! Is it a good thing? (45:00) Wimbledon is upon us and Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff are both gone. Wow. Let’s talk about Coco Gauff and the pressure she has on herself to be great all the time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘dogfight’ as in the AL East as in the Blue Jays as in the Yankees as in the Rays. What a division race this has become. For the first time since April 14 the Yankees do not have sole possession of the division lead! (12:00) Clayton Kershaw picked up his 3,000 K as a member of the Dodgers. He’s only the 20th pitcher to ever do it and just the 4th lefty to do it! But that’s not the biggest story in Dodger Land. A conservative group is suing the Dodgers and Mark Walter over DEI practices. Why? We all know why. (23:30) The Bucks have broken up. After just 2 seasons Giannis and Dame are done. The Bucks waived Damian Lillard and will stretch his deal over the next 5 years. Why? (33:30) Review: The Social Network. (38:00) The Knicks are set to hire Mike Brown as head coach. Was this the plan all along? Will this work out? (45:00) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may think you know how the Patriots landed the greatest quarterback of all time: with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. How they got to make that pick in the first place, however, involves an arcane formula... and a mystery man who changed sports history forever. (This episode originally aired September 12, 2024.) -Pablo Torre Finds Out Substack www.pablo.show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’ve got Stan Van Gundy with us! Let’s play a game called Stan Van IN or Stan Van OUT! Is Kevin Durant going to win a title with the Houston Rockets!? Did the Knicks make a mistake firing Thibs? Is LeBron going to have a better chance to win a title if he leaves the Lakers? Is expansion going to happen? Are dynasties dead? (30:00) Malik Beasley is under investigation for gambling. Uh oh! (41:00) Luis Severino is having some fun. He got a huge payday from the Athletics and now he’s bashing the club. Love it. (48:30) The Florida Panthers are bringing everyone back, and now all the fans are mad. Bill Zito is getting it done! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘halfway’ as in MLB season as in June as in predictions as in recap as in The Good as in The Bad. Let’s start things off with my June predictions. How did I do? (7:00) The Good from MLB in June: The Houston Astros. This team just wins and wins and wins! The Rays win too! Can you believe it?(15:00) What’s the Bad from the month of June? It’s gotta be the Mets! Horrible pitching right now. Just bad! And what about the AL Central? It’s the Tigers and who? (26:00) Here are my predictions for July! (33:07) Review: TrainWreck: Poop Cruise. (38:15) Rob Manfred keeps going after the MLBPA in a way we haven’t seen before. It’s been incredible to see. (49:35) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The "TRL" countdown was America's high-school cafeteria — a daily election of cool. Until one fateful day, when a chain letter set off a movement to hack the vote. Correspondent Yourgo Artsitas helps us investigate whether MTV's shadow government was protecting the sanctity of our culture... with a lie. (This episode originally aired on March 12, 2024.) • TR(ol)L: New Kids on the Block, Total Request Live and The Chain Letter That Changed the Internet https://trolldoc.com/ • Pablo Torre Finds Out Substack www.pablo.show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's time for another Coca Friday! We get things started with how his morning went before the show then kick off the sports talk with his thoughts on the NBA Draft. Where will the Rays play postseason baseball? Are the Marlins going to want to host those games? Does every MLB try to win? Not the players, but the front office? Public money will never end. We've now seen 3 teams in the past week get hundreds of millions! And fake news is out there so please be safe folks! You can follow Coca on social media @matthewcoca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘unjust’ as in Wander Franco as in the Dominican Republic as in MLB. Wander Franco was found guilty of a heinous crime, but he will see no jail time. Is that justice? The mother of the girl in the case was sentenced to 10 years! (10:30) Former Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has now been suspended for 10 games. Will he ever kick again in the NFL? Should he ever be allowed to? (18:23) The Blue Jays and the Guardians exchanged hit by pitches yesterday between the two best players in the game. Both left hurt. Vlad Guerrero Jr. Jose Ramirez. (32:00) Review: Fight or Flight. (36:20) We have another update to the bombshell report from PTFO. (46:22) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tony brings sports to Mystery Crate as he shares why he is upset at the Miami Heat’s draft behavior. The crew discusses the most attractive family in Hollywood before trying to figure out which actor would upset the British the most as the new James Bond. Later, Meadowlark’s social media queen Kirsten explains the Labubu hype train, Fuentes shares his thoughts on this season’s Love Island and Jessica shares her top 10 movies of the 21st century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does Pablo's release of the secret NFL collusion report say about labor rights in America? Can workers ever trust the humans of the management class? And what are the nuclear buttons available to both sides? Plus: priority stacks, a plethora of panoplies, the case for a somethingburger... and The Menudo Effect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Draft is over and we have a lot to recap on Oddball. Amin and Izzy discuss their favorite non-Cooper Flagg picks, VJ Edgecombe and Khaman Malucach. The Phonenix Suns traded for Mark Williams, and now have three centers from North Carolina. The Pelicans traded an unprotected first pick for Derick Queen. Is he just a worse version of Zion Williamson?. Plus, The Houston Rockets, The Utah Jazz and Jordan Poole all make this weeks edition of Headlines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Public financing is not going to end. Everyone said that Kansas City was the end when they voted down those new stadium proposals. Nope. Here we go again! The Cleveland Browns are about to get $600 million to build a new stadium! And this is a good one! (8:30) The Washington Commanders are still trying to get a new stadium. And now we have lawmakers in DC that want to talk and talk and talk! (12:20) Logan Morrison joins the show! We talk baseball, heckling and more! (39:25) Premiere Lacrosse League signed a new deal with ESPN. This one is an interesting one because ESPN has taken a small stake in the league. (44:33) Jacob deGrom almost pitched a perfect game yesterday. Would the team ever have taken him out? Should they have protected him if it came to it or just let him fire it off? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘Boras’d’ as in Boras Corp. as in Scott Boras as in Jeremy Pena as in Alex Bregman. It’s that time again. Pena wants a new deal. Bregman wants a new deal. And now Boras will have his moment again. (16:15) A White Sox fan has been ban from all MLB ballparks after taunting Ketel Marte. Was this the right reaction from the league? Too much? (24:00) The NBA Draft round 1 happened last night! Cooper Flagg could be the billion dollar man? Ace Bailey got draft by the Jazz after saying no to the Jazz? The Nets used all 5 picks! (35:00) Review: Animal House. (38:45) The All-Star Game is headed to Atlanta and Ronald Acuna is in the Home Run Derby! (44:30) Young stars are making a lot of mistakes in baseball. Why is that? (50:00) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He's a 41-year-old investment banker with a dad bod. He's also a sh*t-talking, drop-kicking, tooth-spitting caricature of himself, as one of the hottest minor-league pro wrestlers in America. Is Hub Orr's real-life heel turn an act of bravery, stupidity or the inspiring in-between? And can we all still find in ourselves... what the WWE saw in him? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NBA Draft is here! Shams Charania predicts this will be the craziest offseason, so we're breaking out another gradient grid. We rank the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Philadelphia Sixers, and the OKC Thunder in terms of inactive or active and care or don’t care. What will Cooper Flagg's instant impact be in Dallas? Will the Spurs speed up their timeline with De'Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama, or slow it down with Dylan Harper? The Sixers are a tire fire, but we're locked in to watch! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Call us at 631-377-4869 and leave a voicemail to get heard on the show! It’s So You Wanna Talk to Samson Wednesday! We kick things off with the Minnesota Timberwolves! What’s the first few days of being an owner going to look like for Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore. (9:30) Someone asked me if there’s any evidence that it’s better for stadiums to sell cheaper hot dogs and beer. Interesting. (15:00) Billboards of other players over my players? Yes I would! (23:30) Pablo Torre has joined us to discuss collusion in the NFL. Was it actually happening? (50:00) Where is Corbin Day from? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘apron’ as in luxury tax as in salary cap as in penalties as in the NBA as in MLB. What are we talking about!? The Boston Celtics have been blowing it all up… kinda. Jrue Holiday is gone. Kristaps Porzingis is gone. Hundreds of millions have been saved in penalties. (17:40) The NBA Draft is here! The first round is on Wednesday. Second round on Thursday. Cooper Flagg is an easy number one. Then things get interesting! The Brooklyn Nets have the most first round picks ever! (24:30) Aaron Rodgers says he’s only there for one year. That’s it. Then he will disappear. (34:30) Review: Dean Spanley. (39:30) NPPOD. Everyone needs to watch the Pirates and Brewers game today. Trust me! (43:15) The Arizona Diamondbacks are getting $500 million from the state. Yup, remember public financing was over. Ha! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have a lot of young guys, so if they do not win in this window, at least the window to win will be bigger. Jalen Green is not that guy right now, trading him was the right decision. The Miami Heat were finalists in the KD trade, but with Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jovic declared untouchables, was Miami really serious about this trade or were they appeasing their fan base? Plus, which teams in the East are going to see this season as a chance to go all in? Will Pistons be able to replicate OKC's success with Cade Cunningham instead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? The Hawks have Trae Young, but will he stay in Atlanta? The Milwaukee Bucks need a co-star for Giannis Antetokounmpo... should they go after Jalen Green? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Berland joins the show! He’s an author and political pollster! He has worked with the Dixie Chicks, he’s worked with Michael Bloomberg, he’s worked with Hilary Clinton. You can get his new book TODAY! It's called Not About Golf: The Life Changing Joy of Playing the Game! (25:45) The Mets are in a bad place right now. Losing games. Losing division leads. Pitchers can’t pitch. Hitters can’t hit. All around bad. (34:20) The WNBA players are trying to make a statement. The CBA is ending. Negotiations are here. (44:50) The Reds DFA’d a player they just gave big money to. Not ideal. But what the team’s president said is interesting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘predatory’ as in loans as in money as in Fernando Tatis Jr as in Big League Advance. What are we talking here? Well a company is being sued by Tatis Jr because of a contract he signed when he was a teen. Why is he doing this now? (21:02) Wander Franco update. The disgraced Rays star is in court in the Dominican Republic facing charges of sexual abuse against a minor. Just a very gross case. And on Thursday we’ll get a ruling. (31:00) Review: Deep Cover. (35:30) The Athletics held the groundbreaking ceremony in Las Vegas yesterday. What a special day. (47:00) NPPOD. (49:30) The NBA ratings came out for Game 7. Monster numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices