SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Strike up the band. It's time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: Major League Baseball playoffs and remembering Iron Mike, Da Coach. Michele Steele joins us. She writes the Steele Cut Substack on sports and economics. Hi there, Michele.
MICHELE STEELE: Great to be on da show.
SIMON: Ah, da show - great to have da Michele with us. To baseball in the American League - Tampa is already in the league championship series. The Rays await the winner of the divisional series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox. Tonight's the decisive Game 5. Let me put it this way. Do the Guardians really want to cross Pope Leo by defeating his favorite team?
STEELE: Ah. How dare they? You know, the Cleveland diocese has gotten ahead of it a little bit by saying, you know, we love that Pope Leo has a favorite team, but it's OK to root for the Guardians. Here's the thing.
SIMON: I want a liturgical ruling on that, but go ahead.
STEELE: Yeah. Right.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: We have to actually look up some canon law here, but I don't think we have enough time in this segment, at least. The only team that Pope Leo really cares about, Scott, is the White Sox.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: He's an absolute die-hard. He sent the owner of the White Sox a letter wishing him and his loved ones abundant blessings the day the playoffs started. A media research company, Apex Marketing, tallied up what all the papal excitement was worth in media mentions for the White Sox. It's over $22 million in just the postseason.
SIMON: Oh, my word.
STEELE: It feels like the White Sox are kind of turning into America's team, perhaps, especially...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...After three 100-plus loss seasons. I will admit, the magic seems to be running out. They dropped the last two at home. But they've got Sean Burke...
SIMON: Hey...
STEELE: ...On the mound.
SIMON: Cleveland's a great team. Yeah.
STEELE: Cleveland's a great team. They've got Burke. He's the closest thing that the Sox have to an ace on the mound tonight. Anything can happen. Let's see if this Sox team can pull another rabbit out of their hat.
SIMON: LA Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers are going to have a rematch in the National League Championship Series. Dodgers swept them last year. Brewers have the best record in baseball this year. Brewers have more hops this year.
STEELE: (Laughter) I like the beer reference.
SIMON: Thank you for laughing at that. Yeah.
STEELE: Yes. I know a lot of Cubs fans who feel like they're choosing between the lesser of two evils in this series (laughter) - rooting for the Brewers, a rival, or the big, bad Dodgers and their world-leading payroll. But I think, Scott, that the Dodgers do have weaknesses.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: The Brewers draw a ton of walks. They're kind of uniquely equipped to drive up pitch counts and stress. Even a rotation like the Dodgers have, Milwaukee actually outscored them, as well, during the regular season. I'm not calling a sweep in this series. I think it's actually going to be really exciting - might come down to the wire. And I'll be watching.
SIMON: Major League Baseball considering a shorter season - 154 games - starting in 2029 - all of which sounds interesting, but there might not be any baseball in 2027.
STEELE: Yeah. It's not too often that a league puts forth a proposal, especially during the postseason, to cut the regular season...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...From 162 to 154 games. But that's a historic number. That was the length of the regular season before 1960. You know, it'll give players more rest, and they like that. But this does nothing to solve the key labor issue on the table for this offseason, and that's a salary cap. The owners want one. Players don't. They successfully and famously fought off an attempt to have one in 1994, when they went on strike, and we lost the postseason and the World Series. And baseball never really recovered until the Home Run Derby in 1998. The Baltimore Orioles are getting ready...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...For this lockout. They laid off a dozen people, including the Oriole Bird mascot. It's a rough business.
SIMON: What do we say about Mike Ditka, Chicago's biggest shoulders?
STEELE: Oh, my goodness.
SIMON: Rough, tough Bearness.
STEELE: Yeah. He was the biggest draw on a team - chock-full of personality on that '85 Bears. I love that it was George "Papa Bear" Halas himself who made the hire, and it was a good thing he did because he gave the Bears an identity.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: They were tough. They were determined. Players played up to that standard. You know, he was from Western PA, steel mill country. He was made a metal, Scott. He became Iron Mike. But, boy, was he all Chicago.
SIMON: Ah. So beautiful.
STEELE: Wasn't he?
SIMON: Yeah. So beautifully said. So beautifully said. Meant a lot to us. Michele Steele, thanks so much.
STEELE: See you next time.
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