Rich on the Thrill and Ulcer-Inducing Stress of Watching Your Team in the MLB Playoffs

Rich has waited all year for October baseball. Now that it is here, he would like to make one thing clear: it is terrible for his health.

"Playoff baseball is unlike any other sports playoffs," Rich said. "Hear me out." The NFL is one and done. The NHL and NBA play best of sevens. Baseball opens with best-of-three series all in the same building, and its seeding produces oddities Rich cannot get past. The Cleveland Guardians won their division while barely above .500 and earned a week off. The Yankees did not, because the Rays had a better record in their division. Watching Aaron Judge take live pitching only to not look ready, Rich figured a week off would have helped New York.

The format is only the start. Rich's real theory is that playoff baseball finds every weakness in a way no other sport does. "If you have a left fielder who has a bad arm, that's going to come to the fore," he said. A bullpen problem will surface. So will the great bat you have been hiding at second base. "The ball's going to find it. It's unreal."

And then there is the emotional math. In hockey, the NFL and the NBA, nobody thinks a playoff game is over in the first quarter. The Knicks are a perfect example. In baseball, Rich's brain works differently. A runner gets on in the second inning and the game is over, the season is over, and he might as well click the TV off.

"I know that's totally irrational," Rich said, admitting that if Roman Anthony led off the night by reaching base against Cam Schlittler, he would be ready to declare the season finished. In May, a 1-0 deficit in the second inning is nothing. In October, "every pitch is a towel-waving, nerve-jangling moment." Unless it reaches a Game 7, he joked, and then it gets worse.

It does not help that the Yankees are not healthy. Judge, "when healthy, arguably best hitter in the sport," is not quite there. Boston has its own worries. A Red Sox fan on the crew pointed out that Willson Contreras, who turned into an incredible offseason acquisition and helped a team that has struggled for power, was hit on the hand late in the season and is questionable for the series. In these games, a single two-run homer could decide it.

Rich also had complaints about the Astros getting to host a series. "We got to fix this," the crew agreed, more than once. He was more enthusiastic about Cubs and Padres, which he called an outstanding series, and he cannot wait to see what Pete Crow-Armstrong does in these playoffs after having the year of his life.

Then the segment took a turn toward Vatican City. There is a very interested observer in the White Sox and Astros series, Rich noted: the Pope. That opened a line of questioning nobody on the show could answer. Is the Pope streaming? Does the Pope get Peacock? Is there a papal viewing room? Is there a papal man cave? The crew worked out the time difference (7 p.m. in Vatican City, nine hours ahead, with the late game landing around 11 p.m. there) and concluded the Pope can probably get whatever he wants.

"Papal man cave," by the way, was immediately flagged as a great fantasy team name.

Rich's closing instruction for the people around the Holy Father was simple: "Everybody leave the Pope alone. The White Sox are playing baseball in the playoffs."