Friday Four-Pack 5.30.25

Decisions that are making sports worse. The Red Sox stink and I blame Breslow. Joy Taylor can't admit a mistake. A thank you to...you!

On paper, this should be the Golden Age of Sports Fandom.

Essentially, any game you’d want to watch can be found on some cable channel, app, or streaming service. Like, ANY game.

You can legally bet your own hard-earned money on said games in 38 states, and that number is sure to keep going up until you can lawfully bet on sports across the United States.

Social media delivers instant highlights of all these games and allows you to connect with other fans. Those same platforms deliver your favorite athlete’s message directly to you, without the filter of the big, bad media.

So yeah, things are pretty good. But man, there are still some dumb things happening that future generations of sports fans will happily mock.

Former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is now the President of the NCAA. This week, Baker said the NCAA has had good conversations with its media partners about expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from 68 teams to 72 teams, maybe 76. And it could happen as soon as next season.

“The point behind going from 68 to 72 or 76 is to basically give some of those schools that were probably among the 72, 76, 68, 64 best teams in the country a way into the tournament,” Baker said.

What’s left unsaid is that when they go to 76 teams, there will still be outrage about the 77th team that didn’t get it. And the 78th. That will never end.

Also left unsaid is that this is really about trying to increase the value of the tournament and get more money from CBS and other media partners.

“I believe CBS and TNT will offer them zero—or a minus amount. They’re expanding the earliest round for no apparent reason other than the powers that be think it’s worth more,’ one media executive told Front Office Sports.

To me, this first expansion is just a ‘mini-expansion’ to get us all prepared for a much bigger NCAA Tournament down the road. In 2011, the NCAA proposed expanding to 96 teams from 65. CBS said no thanks, too big a jump. But once you get to 76 teams and still have complaints about teams 77 and 78, a move to 96 does not seem so crazy.

Looming over all of this expansion—which adds six or eight teams to the bracket that have no chance of winning the tournament—is the transfer portal and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money. NIL money is allowing the biggest and best programs to add talented players from small schools, the ones who will be fighting for these extra spots. The 2025 Final Four featured all four No. 1 seeds. As historic basketball programs like UConn and North Carolina refine how to utilize their budgets and brands effectively, the top teams will only get MORE powerful. The rich will continue to get much richer.

No one wants this expansion. No sports fan, anyway. This is an attempt at a money grab from the NCAA and in no way makes the NCAA Tournament better.

As dumb as NCAA Tourney expansion is, what’s going on in professional golf is worse.

This week on the Kirk Minihane Show, avid golf fan and sometimes co-host ‘Freddie’s Birdies’ lamented the state of the PGA Tour. “The PGA Tour sucks now.”

I watch a lot of golf. I bet on a lot of golf. Freddie’s Birdies is not wrong - it’s been a rough watch through the first half of the PGA season. A year after reports that the PGA and LIV were working towards a solution to the fractured golf landscape, there is no resolution in sight.

Massive stars are playing on the LIV Tour. Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka all have major golf value and the Major Championships to back it up. In 2025, Bryson DeChambeau is one of the most popular golfers in the world. There are lots of people watching Bryson hit golf balls on YouTube. The problem is that no one is watching him play on his own tour.

The latest PGA vs. LIV TV numbers this week from Golf.com are staggering.

Through SEVEN head-to-head Sundays, the audience difference between golf’s two main tours is clear. On Sundays in which the two tours have held events in 2025, the PGA Tour is averaging 3.1 million average viewers on CBS/NBC, while LIV is averaging 175,000 on FOX/FS1/FS2.

That means the Tour’s final-round TV audiences on the two major networks (excluding Golf Channel) are, on average, 17.78 times as large as LIV’s final-round TV audiences when the two products are head-to-head.

It gets worse - turns out the PGA’s pregame shows are dominating live LIV golf.

During LIV’s North American events — the closest comparison for the two sides given LIV’s schedule — Golf Channel’s PGA Tour lead-ins are drawing 506,000 average viewers, while LIV is drawing 101,000 average viewers on FS1/FS2. That means the PGA Tour’s cable lead-in draws five times the audience as LIV’s full-length cable (FS1/FS2) telecasts, roughly in line with the Tour’s lead over LIV when comparing broadcast networks.

In the Golden Age of Sports Fandom, where you can watch everything, no one is tuning in to watch LIV Golf.

On the PGA Tour, Sunday TV ratings were down in 10 of the first 13 events to start the season, when compared to 2023 numbers. Ben Griffin seems like a nice guy - he’s leading the Memorial heading into Friday - but he’s not a draw. The PGA could benefit significantly from having the LIV guys back on tour, despite what PGA purists would have you believe.

Especially Rahm and Bryson. Bryson feels like he has crossed over from golfer to golf star. Like, my mom knows who he is. She does not know Ben Griffin. Or Aaron Rai. Or about 50 other top PGA players.

DataGolf’s rankings feature three LIV players among the Top 9 in the world: Rahm (2), Bryson (3), and Joaquín Niemann (9). Adding in these guys, plus well-known names like Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, and even Patrick Reed, would add some juice back into the PGA Tour game.

And certainly some competition. I enjoy watching Scottie Scheffler dominate, but it would be fun to have him compete with the LIV guys outside of the Majors.

I did at the start, but I don’t blame the LIV players at this point. I blame the PGA and Commissioner Jay Monahan for not arranging to ensure that the best players are compensated and competing on the same tour. It’s dumb, just like the proposed expansion of the NCAA Tournament.

We can watch it all. We can bet on it all. But the people in charge can still find a way to mess up what should be the Golden Age of Sports Fandom.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are scuffling. Joy Taylor said something dumb. Stefon Diggs on a boat is a big deal. And more evidence that horse racing’s Triple Crown is due for a change.

All ahead in today’s Four-Pack.

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On the Red Sox woeful first two months…

The opportunity was there.

Celtics bounced early. Bruins lottery-bound. Pats are still months away. Coming off an offseason with some actual buzz, the Red Sox were poised to grab the attention of Boston sports fans and run with it for the next few months, maybe even into the fall.

But in an ode to former Patriots running back Laurence Maroney, they appear to have fumbled it away.

The Red Sox are spiraling. The Local Nine is 9-15 over its last 24 games and four games back of an AL Wild Card spot and 9.5 games behind the division-leading Yankees. They’ve lost five in a row and now sit at 27-31. As of very early Friday morning, they have just a 17.1% chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs.

Radio and TV ratings, I’m told, are not excellent. Even the prospects of the team’s talented prospects making an impact are now an issue.

Let’s rewind—this was Red Sox manager Alex Cora at the sparsely attended Fenway Fest back in January, per Mass Live’s Chris Cotillo -

“Rookies come here to contribute, rookies don’t come here to carry teams,” Cora said. “That’s something we have to be very honest, and if they become the players we envision that will be awesome, but whenever they get here we’re not going to ask them to carry the offense or be the savior defensively. We want them to contribute in every aspect of the game and help us win ballgames.”

Now, let’s fast forward to May.

Rookie Kristian Campbell is being asked to play first base this weekend in Atlanta, a position he did not play in 240 or so games in college, rookie ball, or the Red Sox minor league system.

Rookie Marcelo Mayer batted cleanup in his first full week in the majors. Mayer is now just the fourth rookie to hit cleanup for the Red Sox within the first five games of his career. Masataka Yoshida did it in 2023, Mo Vaughn did it in 1991, and Jim Rice did it in 1974.

Uber prospect Roman Anthony is mashing in Worcester. When he is eventually called up, he’ll be expected to be the team’s offensive savior…no pressure!

Oh, and rookie catcher Carlos Narváez is being asked to handle a bulk of the catching duties, thanks both to his strong play and the general garbage hitting of fellow catcher Connor Wong, who has a .157 BA and .403 OPS. Wong, of course, is the last remaining piece of the Mookie Betts trade still with the organization.

“Rookies come here to contribute, rookies don’t come here to carry teams.”

Manager Alex Cora finds himself on the hot seat, as do the players. I get it. But you have to put a considerable chunk of the blame on the President of Baseball Ops, Craig Breslow.

This was supposed to be a massive year for the Red Sox. They finally spent big money in the offseason by signing Alex Bregman. And you traded for a legit ace in Garrett Crochet. When Gerrit Cole went down, the Red Sox went off favored to win the AL East. ESPN.com AND MLB.com picked them to win the AL Pennant.

However, the team was not well-built. Breslow’s plan at first base was shaky at best. Triston Casas showed declines last year, even before his season-ending rib injury. Before another season-ending injury this year, he was batting just .182 with a .580 OPS. There was no safety net if last year’s struggles were this year’s reality, which they were even before his collision with Ty France.

The handling of Rafael Devers - yeah, I put much of that on Breslow, too. Once Bregman is in the fold, he has to work with the agent to get the guy on the same page at some point during spring training. Instead, Devers ripped “the GM” in a press conference. And the whole thing required owner John Henry and used car salesman/CEO Sam Kennedy to fly to Kansas City to try and smooth things out. Two weeks later, Devers is still the DH, and the team is circling the drain.

And because you have one too many outfielders, Anthony is still in AAA, even though he should be in your starting lineup this weekend in Atlanta—that’s on Breslow.

It doesn’t help matters that when Breslow goes on TV or radio to talk about the team, he sounds like a baseball robot. He tried explaining why Anthony was not here yet during a Thursday appearance on WEEI.

“…I think we also need to be mindful of the environment that Roman would be coming into, and the pressure that we could potentially be putting on a 21-year-old, in the midst of a losing streak, to come up and save the team. So Roman’s time is coming, I don't think there's any question about that. And we've got to figure out what is best for the organization, what is best for him.”

So it’s okay to shove Campbell over to first and plug Mayer in as your cleanup hitter, but bringing up Anthony during a losing streak might be a bad idea. Got it. 🙄🙄🙄

“Rookies come here to contribute, rookies don’t come here to carry teams.”

Sounds like an excuse to manipulate service time, something Jeff Passan wrote about this week. Given the team’s lofty expectations, on-field struggles, and the fact that they’ve already put immense pressure on three other rookies, Anthony should 100% be here in Boston. If Breslow in the final voice holding that move back, then shame on him.

Tough spot for the kid? Sure. But the team needs his bat to help get themselves back into the playoff mix. The Sox have a 17.1% chance of making the playoffs. Based on their recent play, the chances are much higher that Breslow is forced to sell off pieces at the deadline as part of a wasted year for the franchise.

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On the state of sports talk TV…

If you follow sports on social media even a little bit, you’re aware of the Joy Taylor story.

No, not the one about her being sidelined by Fox Sports for her involvement as a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit - that was a few months ago. The Joy Taylor story this week involves her getting angry at Aaron Rodgers because he did not show up for the first day of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Organized Team Activities (OTAs).

Of course, if Rodgers HAD shown up in Pittsburgh, he’d be the first NFL player ever to show up to a team’s OTAs without an actual contract. Yes, Rodgers is still unsigned by any team, including the Steelers. From the social media clip shared by the show she hosts, FS1’s Speak, Taylor seems blissfully unaware of that critical fact.

"This is the Pittsburgh Steelers!'' Taylor exclaimed. "They have six Lombardis. They're coached by a first-ballot Hall of Fame Mike Tomlin who has never had a losing season, and we're sitting around talking about Aaron Rodgers is not there on the first day of OTAs. Mandatory or not, where is your pride? Where is your dignity? Where is your respect for the game? Where is your respect for the organization?

It did not stop there.

"He's never played there before. He doesn't know any of his teammates. ... He doesn't know anybody! ... Nothing. Like, why would you not be there? Why am I supposed to take this seriously? It's not about him not being at non-mandatory OTA for a team that he's been with for 22 years. ... The year before that you didn't play because you tore your Achilles. The year before that you missed the playoffs. …What are we talking about?"

Nowhere in the clip does it seem like Taylor is aware that Rodgers is still unsigned. Co-hosts Paul Pierce and Keshawn Johnson don’t bail her out, maybe on purpose, who knows? But it’s a BRUTAL clip.

And if you’ve been on the radio or TV, you probably have a dumb clip like this out there of you, especially in the social media era.

Last week, 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak and Bertrand played a breaking news sounder, before reading the news that the team has extended GM Don Sweeney.

“I thought you were going to say they fired the head coach,” Scott Zolak said.

Trouble is…the Bruins don’t have a head coach.

Zolak forgot, Marc Bertrand made fun of him for it, Zo made an excuse about it not being hockey season, and they moved on. Tough moment for Zo.

Years ago, I asked Celtics forward Brandon Bass why he chose the Celtics in free agency. He politely reminded me, live on the radio, that he was traded to Boston, so he didn’t really have a choice. Like I said, it happens!

Taylor made her comments on Tuesday. I figured on Wednesday, given the tsunami of backlash her way, she’d have fun with her gaffe…I was wrong. Just watch the first minute of this segment as she mocks her audience for rightfully calling her out.

What’s up with her voice there? What is she trying to say about her audience?

Pardon the Interruption first aired in October 2021. It was hosted by two of the most respected sports journalists of this era, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. Their show ended each day by mocking the mistakes they made on that day’s show.

Two decades later, hosts like Taylor are so full of themselves they can’t admit when they screw up. Have some fun with it, be human! Everyone watching knows you’re not an expert, so don’t try to act like one.

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On a sincere thank you to the loyal MutStack subs…

A major milestone? No. But at some point on Preakness Saturday, MutStack.com went past the 5K subscriber mark.

And I’m proud of that number. I’m thankful to the people who have heard me yap about this newsletter on KMS or X.com and decided to subscribe. And the horse racing fans who are here for the Triple Crown and Saratoga coverage. And to the readers who have shared it with others, and they’ve subscribed. And to the other Substack publications that recommend this one.

The fact that those people have hit that blue ‘Subscribe’ button means a lot. And the fact that you read (or skim) and comment on this weekly Four-Pack means as much.

Because I don’t have paid subscriptions enabled, MutStack will never be listed in the best-seller lists or rising lists that Substack promotes to its readers. Free newsletters like this are not included, which is dumb, but that’s for another day.

I believe this is the 122nd consecutive week of The Friday Four-Pack, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

A sincere thank you to all of you. And this week, that thank you is in the form of not writing about a former football coach and his much younger fiancée.

You’re welcome. 🤣

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On your MutStack Notebook…

🏇🏻 There will be thousands of New England racing fans who make their way to Saratoga for next weekend’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. If you’re not making the 300-mile drive north from Boston, I hope you’ll join us in the FanDuel Sportsbook at Mohegan Sun for a Belmont Stakes Watch Party. Advance wagering opens on Friday, and one player will win up to a $1000 free voucher by placing a $20 wager on the Belmont Stakes. Plus, you get me and ‘The Big A’ Anthony Stabile handicapping the races all day on Saturday. You can reserve seating and check out the details right here. Come say hello!

🏈 Those stat lines above are for Bills QB Josh Allen. The MASSIVE jump from 2019 to 2020 coincides with the arrival of WR Stefon Diggs. And that's why, despite what Pats fans and Pats aggregation accounts on X.com would have you believe, Diggs showing up on a boat and allegedly handling drugs instead of being at team OTAs is a huge deal. Drake Maye desperately needs a No. 1 target. A healthy and motivated Diggs could be that for a season, even at age 31. An unmotivated and non-productive Diggs leaves the team again, looking for answers at receiver.

🏈 Based on Mike Vrabel’s non-comments on Diggs this week, I don’t think the chances he gets cut before the season are 0%.

📻 Last week, I wrote about the concerning four-month ratings trend for 98.5 The Sports Hub. A radio person I respect reached out to me this week and said I was on to something by pointing to the Bruins’ struggles as being part of the equation. Another told me that the power demo, Men25-54, still showed big numbers for The Sports Hub over Sports Radio WEEI. Still unsure what to make of the numbers, but they are worth monitoring.

⚾ The more I hear 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Matt McCarthy passionately talk about baseball, the more I wonder why WEEI didn’t try very hard to bring him over and give him a baseball-centric role. He cares about baseball and can be critical of the Red Sox, without the hysterics of Tony Mazz. As a listener, I don’t get the sense that WEEI hosts like baseball. I’m not counting Lou Merloni or Will Flemming on the broadcast. Or my friend and Mr. ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring,’ Rob Bradford. Seems like it would have been a fit for a station that has the Red Sox radio rights.

🏇🏻 We were never going to see this year’s Kentucky Derby winner run back in the Preakness. Trainer Bill Mott and Sovereignty’s owner, Godolphin Racing, “opted to skip the Preakness because, quite simply, they were never that interested in running the horse back in two weeks.” From DRF.com

“If there ever would have been a horse you could have tried the Triple Crown with, he might have been it – big, sturdy, came out good,” Mott said. “There was no reason physically why we couldn’t have run in the Preakness. We had no excuse other than we didn’t feel like it. The word Preakness I don’t think ever came up into our conversation. When you have a horse like that, you talk about a lot of things. Preakness was not one of them.”

WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO HEAR?????????

Mott is one of the most respected trainers in the sport. His approach will embolden other trainers and owners to follow suit and never consider the Preakness while it’s run two weeks after the Derby.

Move the Preakness. Move the Belmont. It’s 2025. Different does not have to be worse.

And with that, we have said it all.

Happy Birthday this weekend to one of the very first MutStack subscribers, my mom. She still points out my grammatical errors each week, of which there are many.

Next week? Oh, it's a busy week here next week. MutStack Podcast - Handicapping the Belmont Stakes drops Thursday. The usual Four-Pack nonsense on Friday, and then a special Belmont Stakes - Final Thoughts newsletter on Saturday.

Thanks for reading. And subscribing. Feedback is not just welcome but encouraged. Talk next week.