Sep 16, 2026 · 2h 12m

Baseball’s biggest bets collide with Clippers’ long rebuild

A Clippers Rebrand, an NFL Mini-Mailbag, and Best MLB Story Lines With Rob Mahoney, Anthony Dabbundo, and Billy Gil

The episode connects two kinds of sports dysfunction: a Clippers franchise short on assets and an MLB season testing how teams, rules, and money shape competition.

3 key takeaways

1The Clippers’ damaged reputation and depleted draft control make a conventional rebuild difficult, forcing uncomfortable choices about absorbing contracts and chasing picks.
2Pete Crow-Armstrong’s historic two-way season drives a debate over advanced metrics, MVP standards, and the Mets’ costly decision to trade him.
3Baseball’s playoff field raises larger questions about ownership, financial power, fan loyalty, rule changes, and whether expansion should wait.

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The panel argues that Pete Crow-Armstrong may be producing one of the greatest position-player seasons of the century, while revisiting the Mets’ decision to trade him.

The brief

Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney examine whether a Clippers rebrand can repair a franchise damaged by dysfunction, lost draft assets, and the fallout from its Kawhi Leonard era.

With little draft control and a bleak roster outlook, the Clippers face a choice between absorbing unwanted contracts for picks and accepting a long stretch near the NBA’s bottom.

The NBA conversation widens to Philadelphia, Minnesota, LaMelo Ball, Derrick White, and the recurring fight over whether advanced metrics capture value fans can actually see.

Anthony Dabbundo and Billy Gil make Pete Crow-Armstrong’s historic season the baseball centerpiece, weighing his MVP case against the Mets’ decision to trade him for Javier Báez.

The baseball panel then tests the sport’s larger fault lines: automated ball-strike challenges, Dodgers ownership, Angels dysfunction, fan loyalty, playoff formats, and possible expansion.

World Series predictions close a sprawling sports conversation that treats competitive balance as a question of roster construction, money, rules, and institutional judgment.

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