A Sox-Yanks Nail-Biter, Intriguing NBA Story Lines, and Five Biggest Fantasy Football Story Lines With Bill’s Dad, Michael Pina, and Craig Horlbeck
Episode
106 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Health & Wellness, Investing
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Red Sox Playoff Strategy: Boston won game one despite losing Casas, Devers, Anthony, Crawford, and Giolito, relying on Garrett Crochet's 117-pitch performance and unconventional lineup featuring Romy Gonzales batting fourth. Chapman's unusual eighth-inning entry disrupted his rhythm before recovering to throw 100-101 mph fastballs with bases loaded in the ninth.
- ✓Garrett Crochet Trade Value: The White Sox trade delivered one of Boston's best pitching seasons since Pedro Martinez, with Crochet posting career-high 200-plus innings and 16 consecutive outs in the playoff opener. His performance ranks alongside Clemens, Lester, Beckett, and Schilling for crucial game-one starts in Red Sox playoff history.
- ✓Denver Nuggets Championship Build: Adding Bruce Brown, Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., and trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson transforms Denver into a 61-62 win team. The roster depth addresses their previous one-arm-tied-behind-back offense, with Johnson providing ball-handling and health reliability Porter lacked at 40 million annually.
- ✓Victor Wembanyama Development Path: San Antonio's seven-foot-six center enters year three with improved roster support including Dearon Fox and Dylan Harper. The Spurs' 54.5 win total undervalues their potential top-five defense and Wembanyama's 12-to-1 MVP odds, fourth-best behind SGA, Jokic, and Doncic, with realistic 25-10-3 plus five blocks projection.
- ✓Fantasy Football Rookie Reality: Travis Hunter ranks as the 77th-highest scoring wide receiver through four weeks, playing only 58 percent of snaps for Jacksonville after they traded up to second overall. Tyler Warren immediately becomes a top-five fantasy tight end, while Emeka Ibuka's wide receiver seven ranking validates college production over combine metrics.
What It Covers
Bill Simmons discusses Red Sox playoff victory over Yankees with his dad, explores five NBA preseason storylines with Michael Pina including Denver's championship potential, and analyzes fantasy football's biggest stories through four weeks with Craig Horlbeck.
Key Questions Answered
- •Red Sox Playoff Strategy: Boston won game one despite losing Casas, Devers, Anthony, Crawford, and Giolito, relying on Garrett Crochet's 117-pitch performance and unconventional lineup featuring Romy Gonzales batting fourth. Chapman's unusual eighth-inning entry disrupted his rhythm before recovering to throw 100-101 mph fastballs with bases loaded in the ninth.
- •Garrett Crochet Trade Value: The White Sox trade delivered one of Boston's best pitching seasons since Pedro Martinez, with Crochet posting career-high 200-plus innings and 16 consecutive outs in the playoff opener. His performance ranks alongside Clemens, Lester, Beckett, and Schilling for crucial game-one starts in Red Sox playoff history.
- •Denver Nuggets Championship Build: Adding Bruce Brown, Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., and trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson transforms Denver into a 61-62 win team. The roster depth addresses their previous one-arm-tied-behind-back offense, with Johnson providing ball-handling and health reliability Porter lacked at 40 million annually.
- •Victor Wembanyama Development Path: San Antonio's seven-foot-six center enters year three with improved roster support including Dearon Fox and Dylan Harper. The Spurs' 54.5 win total undervalues their potential top-five defense and Wembanyama's 12-to-1 MVP odds, fourth-best behind SGA, Jokic, and Doncic, with realistic 25-10-3 plus five blocks projection.
- •Fantasy Football Rookie Reality: Travis Hunter ranks as the 77th-highest scoring wide receiver through four weeks, playing only 58 percent of snaps for Jacksonville after they traded up to second overall. Tyler Warren immediately becomes a top-five fantasy tight end, while Emeka Ibuka's wide receiver seven ranking validates college production over combine metrics.
Notable Moment
Bill's dad describes sweating in air conditioning during the ninth inning as Chapman's fastball dropped to 95 mph before bases loaded, then suddenly jumped to 100-101 mph. The tension of every pitch mattering in Yankee Stadium created a Super Bowl atmosphere they hadn't experienced in six years.
Episode Transcript
This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra, the official beer partner of the NBA. While the NBA season is heating up, the best moments are served cold, just like a refreshing Michelob Ultra superior light beer with only 95 calories. Nothing better than enjoying the games with a crisp, cold beard in your hand and even better to see them in person. Luckily for you, that's where Michelob Ultra comes in, getting you closer than ever with the chance to see all the action in person with courtside tickets to NBA games and more Michelob Ultra superiors worth playing for Enter now at michelobultra.com/courtside. Michelob Ultra courtside twenty five to twenty six. No purchase necessary. Open to US residents '21 plus begins on 10/01/2025 ends on 06/30/2026. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at miglowbutcher.com/courtside for free entry, entry details, prizes, and details. The bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel sports book. We're also brought to you by the ringer podcast network, where I put up a new rewatchables last night. It is Robert Redford month on the rewatchables, and we did the sting. It was me and Sean Fennessy and Chris Ryan. So you can check that out. You can watch it on YouTube. You can watch it as a video podcast on Spotify. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're also recapping every episode of task on, the prestige TV podcast on Sunday nights. And episode five is a hold on to your seats episode. So that's coming, on Sunday. The next episode of Robert Redford month, just so you have it now. You have a bunch of days to watch it. Jeremiah Johnson. It's it's it came out a long time ago. It is an incredible, incredible, incredible movie, big movie in my family. And, and it's you can find it. It's on some of the streaming services, including Tubi Tubi. I don't know why I promote them because they don't listen to us. They don't put movies on that that we we, we want them to put on, but you can watch movies for free on there. So Jeremiah Johnson is over there. Coming up on this podcast, Red Sox Yankees had to lead with that at the top because the Red Sox won an incredible game in Yankee Stadium. So I called my dad. We talked about it as we head into, Tuesday night here. Who knows? Maybe that would be the only playoff game the red sox win. But we talked about, a crazy game, bizarre season, and, what it's like to beat the yankees in Yankee Stadium. So if you wanna skip that, that's about, I don't know, twenty two, twenty three minutes. You can go right to the rest of the podcast, which is Michael Pena talking about, five NBA preseason storylines that he's watching over the next three weeks. And then I had Craig Corlbeck on to talk about, what it's like to …
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