Miller and Moulton

April 13, 2026 Hour 1

41 min
Apr 13, 20265 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Miller and Moulton discuss Rory McElroy's historic back-to-back Masters victory, becoming just the fourth golfer to win consecutive Masters titles and the sixth to win six majors. The hosts critique the underwhelming final round despite McElroy's dominant play, analyzing course difficulty changes and CBS's broadcast bias. The episode also covers NBA playoff seeding implications, NHL playoff positioning, and baseball/NASCAR updates.

Insights
  • Augusta National's course lengthening on par-5s (holes 13 and 15) has reduced risk-reward dynamics and eagle opportunities, making the tournament less exciting despite higher difficulty
  • Broadcast networks prioritize star power and narrative over tournament drama, with CBS showing clear preference for Rory McElroy over other contenders like Scotty Scheffler
  • Caddy decision-making in high-pressure moments (driver vs. 3-wood selection) can significantly impact outcomes, even for elite players like McElroy
  • NBA play-in seeding implications show how single games dramatically alter playoff matchups and travel logistics for teams
  • Veteran athletes like Alexander Ovechkin and Mark Jones are making deliberate career decisions about retirement/transition on their own terms
Trends
Major golf tournaments increasingly prioritizing difficulty over spectacle, potentially reducing fan engagementSports broadcasting networks showing measurable bias toward marquee players over competitive narrativeNBA play-in tournament creating high-stakes final regular season games with significant playoff implicationsNHL veteran players extending careers longer, delaying retirement decisions into offseasonMLB teams experiencing mid-season momentum shifts with hot/cold streaks determining playoff positioningNASCAR driver relevance declining when disconnected from media engagement and fan interactionGolf course design philosophy shifting from risk-reward to pure difficulty, changing strategic gameplay
Companies
CBS Sports
Broadcast partner for Masters coverage; criticized for showing bias toward Rory McElroy and prioritizing star power o...
Amazon Prime Video
Provided bonus coverage of Masters with same broadcast crew as CBS during noon-to-2pm window on Sunday
Paramount+
Referenced as platform where hosts joked about doing alternate broadcast commentary during Masters coverage
ESPN
Mark Jones announced departure after 36 years to become play-by-play voice for Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
NBA team hiring Mark Jones as new play-by-play broadcaster after his 36-year tenure at ESPN
People
Rory McElroy
Won back-to-back Masters titles, becoming fourth golfer to achieve this; now has six major championships
Scotty Scheffler
Finished second at Masters, one shot behind McElroy; played bogey-free weekend, first in 84+ years
Justin Rose
Had lead at Masters but lost confidence on back nine, three-putted 13th hole, finished tied for third
Cameron Young
Finished tied for third at Masters; made creative chip shot on hole 8; attempted aggressive shots under pressure
Mark Jones
Announced departure from ESPN after 36 years to become Sacramento Kings play-by-play broadcaster
Trevor Immelman
Masters broadcast analyst criticized for providing historical trivia instead of golf analysis and strategy insights
Phil Mickelson
Posted social media criticism about Augusta's course lengthening on holes 13 and 15, reducing excitement
Alexander Ovechkin
Declined to shake hands with Pittsburgh Penguins, indicating undecided retirement status; will decide in offseason
Mark Miller
Co-host of Miller and Moulton podcast; provides golf analysis and sports commentary
David Moulton
Co-host of Miller and Moulton podcast; provides golf analysis and sports commentary
Chris Easterling
Covers Cleveland Browns; scheduled as guest to discuss team's draft strategy with two first-round picks
Phil Garner
Passed away at age 76; was instrumental in 1979 Pirates and managed Astros to 2005 World Series appearance
Ty Gibbs
Won Bristol NASCAR race; led by Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson in lap counts
Quotes
"I'm standing in the middle of 11, I got the perfect yardage. He goes, and I just didn't trust my swing. I just didn't trust it."
Justin Rose (quoted by David Moulton)~15 minutes into episode
"If I was Rory's caddy, never would have let him hit driver on 18."
David Moulton~20 minutes into episode
"I haven't made up my mind yet. I really don't know what I'm going to do."
Alexander Ovechkin (quoted by David Moulton)~35 minutes into episode
"That's golf stuff. That's what I want to know."
Mark Miller (regarding broadcast analysis)~18 minutes into episode
"He got too big for us. And you know what's happened? He's really a nothing now."
Mark Miller (regarding Ross Justein)~42 minutes into episode
Full Transcript
Coming at you from the Floor Meisters Studios Floor Meisters keeping it real and now here's Mark Miller and David Moulton. Top of the morning to you on this Monday after the Masters and after the end of the NBA regular season. How many of you paid any attention to it? Oh, the heck are you Miller and Moulton? Millerandmoulton.com Miller underscore Moulton on X. Top of the morning to you, Mark. How are you? Good morning, David. I am doing well as long as Rick can hear us at this point. We had a little confusion setting up our studios and we have no idea where the gremlins came from. So let's just hope. I see the lines on the microphone moving. I see the lines on your microphone moving. That encourages me, but I'm yet to hear from our producer that says he can hear us. So if we're on the air, that's great. If not, I'll be in a bigger panic mode than what I was a moment ago. I believe we're on the air, which is always a good thing. Millerandmoulton, Millerandmoulton.com Miller underscore Moulton on X. How was your weekend? My weekend was good. My weekend was good. Unfortunately, Rick cannot hear us. So I don't know what to do. I'll let you talk for a second and try to figure this out because I have no idea what the hell is going on. Hmm. Oh, that is very interesting. Okay. For some reason, we had trouble connecting this morning. We connected right before when we normally go on the air and, you know, we're finding out in our chat room that some folks can hear us and some folks can't, which is very interesting. They can get us on YouTube and Twitch, but not on the radio. And that's kind of the important thing being, you know, a radio show. Right. I get it. So I, this is, this is unusual. So weeks off to a interesting, hopefully not ominous start. But as I mentioned, the Monday after the Masters and a historic Masters, we don't normally get repeat winners of majors. And in the Masters case, we had only had it done three times before, but Rory makes number four and Rory is making quite the case, quite the case to be remembered as a top 10 golfer of all time. Because now we're up to six majors and now we're up to not one, but two historic accomplishments. Just the sixth golfer to win the career grand slam and now just the fourth golfer to go back to back at Augusta. So Rory McElroy, who was clearly one of the 20 greatest golfers of all time is making a big push to be remembered as one of the 10 greatest golfers of all time. Six majors puts us in the Fowl though, Trevino Mickelson category. That's pretty impressive. No doubt. And you know, David, there were many people that after the NCAA tournament said that it was a boring final four and to a large degree it was. And yesterday, here we go, we get to the back nine and it looks like we're going to have an unbelievable Masters. And it was very, to me, maybe not to you, I'll just speak on my own behalf here. To me, it was incredibly underwhelming. No one made any big shots. Rory took care of business. All credit goes to Rory McElroy. This is not a knock on him. I had no problem with Rory Winnie. He wasn't the guy I was rooting for, but I had no problem with Rory Winnie. But it was a, it was as boring of a back nine at Augusta as I've seen in a while. Well, I think it was because people were not birdying and threatening the eagle the 13th and the 15th, the way that they had done in the past. Phil posted something on social media on Saturday in which he said, you know, I get that they've had to lengthen the course. I get it. But I think they may have added a little too much yardage to 13 and 15. He goes, I'm not feeling the excitement watching 13 and 15. And he said, now normally I'm not watching. Okay. He goes, but I'm, I'm not feeling it. And I think he was right. Now I got to admit, if I was Phil, I never would have said it and posted it publicly. I mean, Augusta does not handle saying something only above average about their tournament and the course conditions and the course, etc. So the fact that he is, you know, with a minor criticism of, hey, I think we've added too much length to 13 and 15, it's taken the risk reward, you know, out of play. It did seem harder to get to 13 and 15 and two, genuinely harder, many more layups, many more layups on those two par fives than Mark, I don't know about you, but that I've remembered in the recent past. Well, there's no doubt that that's true, David. You know, at least with the groups down the stretch. Now we didn't even see some guys because if they didn't want to show them and they were close, we didn't, we didn't get it. But a lot of the guys that were in contention, David, on 13 didn't put their drives in a spot where they could get there. But I think part of that is they've added so much length, the guys really got to grip it and rip it to have a shot. I mean, you know, not everybody's Rory in which seemingly every drive is between 330 and 360. And boy, did he drive the ball and from seven on, yeah, he had a bad drive on 18. There's no doubt he hit one other bad one on the backside what on 14, I believe, or no, 15, 14 he piped 15, sorry, 15. But he he drove the ball incredibly well from seven on yesterday. He really did. He was just piping it down the fairway. Yeah, finally. I mean, that's the amazing thing. You know, Rory, you know, Mark, they say the three best drivers of their generation was Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Rory McElroy. And Rory was winning this tournament, not from the fairway. The first three days. I mean, what was he second to last in the field and fairways hit when he was when he was leading by six after two rounds, and he was second to last in fairways. And Saturday, by the way, was terrific. I mean, guys were making numbers, guys were going nuts. And I guess my only counter because there's nothing you're saying about the non Eagles happening. But you got and you know, Havlin kind of spit the bit coming in a little bit. But I mean, Havlin at one point was seven under on Sunday, you know, in an early, you know, Hatton put together a hell of a round yesterday. The problem was is that, you know, Rose three putts there on what 15 what no 13 on 13 he three putts on 13 he's got a good look at Eagle and three putts. After young was able to, to, you know, start with the lead, he never did anything. You know, Rose had the lead spitted up. There was just I would I should have probably wrote down what all the back nine scores were of the contenders, because I mean, wasn't it remarkable? Scotty Schaeffler finishes second by one and he played 13 and 15 for the week one under seven bars and that ridiculous birdie on 15 on Sunday. Oh my goodness, up and down from the rough under a tree from 189 unreal. And that's the birdie he makes on 13 or 15 for the tournament. Oh, real. But we didn't, we didn't have enough greatness on the back nine yesterday, although that tee shot Rory hit on 12, the onions to hit that tee shot, the onions to attempt the tee shot, never mind pull it off. I mean, definitely won the tournament there. There's no doubt. And you have to give young credit because after Rory hits the shot, then young, you know, get it not as well, but still that forces him to attack the pin and he pulled the shot off. He didn't make the butt, mind you. But man, oh man, he pulled that shot off. I was that impressed the hell out of me. Yes. And I will say, I thought it was the highlight of the CBS announcing team. And I think it was Imelman, I have to admit, I'm having trouble telling the voices apart between Imelman and Colt Nost. I honestly, I don't know who's talking when. But I thought it was Imelman who then said, I wonder if that tee shot by Rory puts the pressure on young to try to go for something here. And sure enough, he did and he made it. Thank goodness. But yeah, nobody made a putt. And, you know, Justin Rose has a two shot lead and he's standing in the middle of the 11th fairway. And he admitted afterwards, he just whether he didn't say these words, he didn't say he got tight. He said he lost confidence. He said, I'm standing in the middle of 11, I got the perfect yardage. He goes, and I just didn't trust my swing. I just didn't trust it. And so I kind of fanned it out to the right. I make bogey. He goes, you know, 12, I got the perfect yardage and didn't trust it. And then when he three putt at 13, he said, yeah, amen corner. He said amen corner deflated me. I can see 38 for Rose on the back side. Shephler's got 30, what he should 34. I think that's the best score on the back nine. You know, I mean, Henley shots 36. You know, I mean, guys like Morikawa and and Hatton shot really good scores, but they were right. Even, you know, even with what they did yesterday, anybody that wasn't seven under or better going into the round, I didn't think had a shot. And I did. I told my son before we looked at the six unders because I picked Patrick Reed. I just don't see Patrick Reed as a 64 guy out there. I said the one six hundred, believe it or not, David, I said the one six under guy I could see making a run. I could see him making birdies. And then when he starts going, you know, my son, I looked at another one. Well, look at this. But he ended up not having it after playing just an unbelievable front nine. He shoots even far on the back net. Well, but also quite frankly, like 17 and 18, most of the week played as two of the four toughest holes on the course. I mean, they were by the way, and once again, they don't want to hear criticism. When the entire field, no one makes a birdie on 17. Yeah, that's an indictment of your pin position. Okay, it was a little too extreme. No birdies on 17. And by the way, could could Imelman stop it? That was not where the pin was in 86. That pin is 20 feet away from where that pin was in 86. Please, Norman's 12 footer was to the left of the pin coming up the hill. You only had about eight feet left to the pin before you were off the green. Okay, please stop it. Leave the history of the masters to Nance. Will you please? God. Well, other than 12, like what you talked about, the only other insightful thing I thought he had was on Saturday because I want him telling me golf stuff. You know, he immediately said, look, I think it was a Roy, he's choked down, he's going to lay up. Give me golf, Trevor. That's it. You're listening to Miller and Moulton. And now here's Mark Miller and David Moulton. 21 minutes past the hour on this Monday after the masters on this Monday after the NBA regular season comes to an end on this final Monday of the NHL season. Miller and Moulton Miller and Moulton.com Miller underscore Moulton on X. A masters without the usual excitement down the stretch that we normally have just worked out that way. It happens. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. But history, I don't know about you, Mark, and I don't know how much you had the volume up. And I watched most of the masters with the volume down except for yesterday. For some reason, the volume was up yesterday. And I thought they were clearly rooting for Rory. Yes. Absolutely. Very unlike, you know, unless it involved Tiger, it's very unlike how CBS does the masters. They usually root for the tournament. They usually root for excitement. But I thought they were clearly rooting for Rory yesterday, which surprised me. Well, I think part of that was David Shephler couldn't make birdies. Because early in the round, I thought, and I watched from noon on, I had the Amazon coverage on the CBS, you know, bonus coverage, if you will, because it was the same crew. You know, Nancy's doing those two hours, and they're all doing that noon to two yesterday on Amazon. So as Shephler gets it going early, and guys are making threats earlier, almost before, you know, and they didn't tee up the, what, Rory didn't tee up till 230. So they, I thought were rooting a little more for a tournament up until the point when on the back nine, no one could do anything. I mean, I didn't think they were rooting against Rose. But once Rose three-putted 13, I thought they were done with him. And you're right that I never thought they got excited about Ken Young in any way, shape or form. But I think if Scotty Shephler makes a couple of birdies on the back nine, I think you would have heard a slightly different tone. They want stars. I don't, I mean, I know, I believe David, you would know this better than I, but it's the same producer and director, right? Or no? Yes. Well, they changed producers about five years ago. But yeah, what we're used to this decade. Yes. Okay. So I mean, the producer's the one in the year trying to help tell the story to, you know, I mean, helping the announcers along, if you will. So, yeah, I think you're right. I think that's a fair thing to say that they were rooting for Rory. I will say this. I mean, between if you, I wonder, you know, maybe the fact that Rory's was the mouthpiece of golf for a while, and he started to annoy people, myself included. And the fact that he's not from the United States, maybe people like Shepard more, but Shepard is so boring. And Rory has some excitement about his game. And I think, but you don't, I mean, he gets excited out there. He's yeah, he's more fun to watch than Shepard. Well, yeah, since Shepard was very much a machine over the weekend, he didn't make a bogey. First time in over 80 years that someone's played the weekend at Augusta bogey free. It's up to go after a guy who shoots 11 under on the weekend at Augusta without a bogey. But you're right, he didn't have two compelling back nines both days. And obviously, that's where the tournament has gotten its legacy from. And that's what we remember. I thought you and I had a better text exchange, though, than the booth. Like it's amazing to me and all the networks that cover golf do this. But how quickly they declare the tournament over. I mean, have they not watched golf? Have they not? I mean, this is what I would bring up constantly. Yeah, Rory had a two shot lead with two to play and there's no more water. You know, when Tiger had that amazing chip in on 16 back in 2005. Yeah, he had a two shot lead with two to play over Krista Marco. Krista Marco made two pars. They ended up in a playoff. Why? Because Tiger went bogey bogey. This is the Masters. Okay, Arnold Palmer doubled 18 with a one shot lead to lose by one. Okay, I was, stuff happens. Okay, I thought they should have spent more time. I thought you and I had an interesting text debate. I, if I was Rory's caddy, never would have let him hit driver on 18. And you text me and said, he's missed one fairway since seven. I go, I don't know what to tell you. He just put it in the trees to the right on 15. The only way you can make six on this hole is to put it in the bunkers or the trees. I would have handed him a three wood. He can't reach the bunker and he hits it dead straight. Okay, I just, I would not let him hit driver. And when that ball started going to the right, I went, well, six is in play. Hell, seven's in play. He got lucky for that ball ended up. He did. And it was funny as soon as they show where he is, I'm like, because in my head, and I'll give him a little credit there because they brought up was that I forgot who shot Nats brought up that he made it over the tree, but they quickly pointed out he could hit a big book. Okay, because you're two options there as soon as you see it are to take it down. I believe that's 10. 10, right? 10 fairway and then come back more. He was able, he was had an angle where he could hit a big book over the tree. Thank you. That's, that's what I'm expecting out of you. But yes, just so you know, David and I will debate over text back and forth during a golf tournament. Yes, we did our own alternate broadcast. You know, we, we pretended we were on paramount plus. Okay, we have four people watching and listening to us right now. That's okay. Unlike the fab five broadcast that they put on during the March madness. This was the fat two broadcast. It was a little different, right? Right. Or the fat or beefy, you know, whatever you want to go with. In fact, Miller and Malton, except when we do a text broadcast, at which point we're fat and beefy. So yes, David and I were going back and forth and I mean, but that's you've kind of got me on that because I just try to watch. I really do. I don't try to overanalyze. I try to let the tournament come to me or the game or whatever I'm watching. But CVS right now is a tough watch on golf because there's part of it, David. I don't, I have the volume on, I can't do what you do. I can't watch on mute. I really cannot. It's difficult for me to stay interested if I can't hear anything. But I want the analyst in the booth to talk to me about golf and he's talking about records and he's talking about the stuff to me that the play by play guy that Nance should be doing. There was one occasion and I don't remember what golf for it was. I think it was young on Saturday in which he's got a low grip and he goes, well, because they said he got two options. He can go cut it or he can go under and immediately when he gripped the club, he goes, he will, he's gripped low on the club. He's going to go under. Okay. That's golf stuff. That's what I want to know. The shot of the tournament, by the way, may have came from, or a shot of Sunday may have came from young on eight there when he hits the chip up the damn hill. Oh yeah. It looked like he scalded the thing and it's like, that's the shot he's playing. Holy cow. How about that creativity? No kidding. Because I'm with you. He hits that shot and I'm like, wait, did I hit that shot? That's a 15 handicapper shot. What's going on here? No, wait, he's intentionally pounding it up the mound and wants it to roll down off it. How about that? By the way, we talked about this on Friday with Mark Lai and it was never brought up from that point forward by any of the broadcasters when they're laying up on 15 and some guys hit some bad shots and guys hit some good shots. What do they need to do? They need to get as far down the hill into the left as possible because that's where it's flat. And as that was going on and guys were struggling with their third shots on 15, I'm thinking about our interview and Trevor Immelman never said it once, David. Well, and that's where Rory nearly lost the tournament because boy, that ball, that ball barely made it onto the green. His third on fifth barely made it. That would have brought like six guys into the equation. Miller and Mol, starting five when we come back and I at some point today will shock one David Mold. Thanks for listening. Welcome back to Miller and Molton. Text the guys what's in your mind at 21,000. That's 21,000. And now here's David Molton. 22 minutes till the top of the hour. Chris Easterling will be our only guest today. He covers the Browns. They're one of the five teams that have multiple first round picks, six and 24, I believe. That's exactly right, David. Two first rounders. So we'll talk to Chris Easterling about the Browns, 10 days out from the draft. What are they going to do? What should they do? Et cetera, et cetera. By the way, throwing this out there for you, Mark, to consider and we'll get to it next hour. If you were the Chargers and the Bears, you have picked 22 and picked 25. Would you call the Giants and offer those picks up for Dexter Lawrence? Think about it. Well, for Chicago, I think that's a hell of a good idea. I think for both, but I really think for Chicago, that's an excellent idea. Both teams have need. Both teams have cap space to be able to bring in a guy who right now is counting for about 19 to 20 on the books. Yes, he wants to raise. He's worth it. But just saying to make the initial acquisition, because here we are, because I don't know how much monster trade activity. I think we could have a lot of trades in this draft, but I don't know if there's a big one, if you will. If there's a Crosby trade, they tried it once, now they're going to pull it off on draft day. We had six trades in the first round last year, David, for what it's worth. It's something you like to pay attention to. We had six trades that involved picks in the first round a year ago, just to give people a little perspective. Either reduce it a half or add a half, and that'll be our over-under then. Exactly. For this year's draft. But just something to think about. We'll get to it next hour. 20 minutes before the hour. Time now for The Starting Five. Five big stories you need to know. Here is The Starting Five. Brought to you by Lee County, Florida. One of the five fastest growing counties in the state of Florida. Lee County, building a better community through BST, business, sports, and tourism. The Masters for a brief moment, Rory was three shots back after six holes, but then he played holes seven through 17, four under. In taking a two-shot lead with him to 18, and he ends up with a tap in bogey to become just the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods. It's Rory's sixth major tied with the likes of Trevino, Faldo, and Mickelson. His second Masters, sixth major in his mid-30s. Scotty Schaeffler had an amazing weekend. 65-68, no bogeys. First golfer in at least 84 years to play the Masters bogey-free on the weekend. He finished one back. Justin Rose, Cameron Young, Russell Henley, Terrell Hatton, all finished two-back and tied for third. The Masters, 20-26, has come and gone. Final day of the NBA regular season yesterday, there were some seedings up for grabs. All 12 playoff teams had been determined. All eight play-in teams had been determined. It was just a matter of who was going to be what seed. Interesting the significance of the Orlando Boston game. No significance to Boston. Great deal of significance for Orlando. Boston ended up winning in Beantown 113-108, which by the way turned out to be Mark Jones last broadcast with ESPN after 36 years. He's leaving on his own accord. The word is he's going to become the play-by-play voice of the Sacramento Kings. Interesting. He filled in and did Kings broadcast a couple years ago. But Boston wins. Orlando then drops to the eighth seed. A win in Orlando would have been no worse than the seven and would have had a shot to avoid the play-in. But what's really interesting, Mark, is that by losing, there is not a three-way tie for fifth. If there were a three-way tie for fifth between Toronto, Atlanta and Orlando, Atlanta would have been the five seed. But because it was just a two-way tie between Toronto and Atlanta, Toronto is the five. Atlanta is the six. So that means Toronto gets the Cavs and Atlanta gets the Knicks. The Knicks haven't lost to the Raptors in like five years. Okay, believe me, the Knicks wanted Toronto. They get Atlanta. And by losing, Orlando goes from hosting the seven-eight play-in game to being on the road and going to Philadelphia Wednesday night. The heat finished as the tenth seed. They beat Atlanta 143-717. The heat orange Charlotte in the loser is out. Nine-ten play-in game. Other games with meaning, Toronto won to be the five. They beat Brooklyn by 35. Denver needed to win to be the three seed. So Yokich played and he played well and the Nuggets won. They're the three seed. They beat San Antonio 128-118. Lakers won to make sure they're the four. They beat Utah by 24. Portland beat Sacramento by 12. Portland then is the eight seed. Now they'll be on the road for the seven-eight play-in at Phoenix, but if they lose that, they will host the winner of the nine-ten play-in out west, which is Golden State at the Clippers. You know, this is the fourth time in six years, Golden State's been in the play-in. It's the second time in those six years they've been the ten seed. Yet they've also cut down the Nets once in the last six years. So steps 38. Right. In Dreamhack, it's no good anymore. There's not much else there. You know, I mean, they made some moves, but in Dreamhack, I mean, steps 38. I mean, how many games did he play this year? He missed a lot of time. Well, he missed like 28 in a row with the knee injuries. So I think he barely played half the schedule. Doc Rivers out in Milwaukee. No surprise. We told you that was coming last week. I mean, Doc was already talking about missing the grandkids. So you knew he wasn't in this for long. Plus he just got into the hall of fame. Why does he need to keep doing this? Sacramento's going to stick with Doug Christie, which is interesting because I think they went 22 and 60 this year. Yeah, but he did most of it for them. I mean, they've got to reward them. He's the one they told the lose for crying out loud. Well, that's true. But usually you know what they do, Mark. They make people take for them and then they fire them because they're trying to win multiple press conferences. NHL, Montreal beats the Islanders 4-1. Islanders eliminated from playoff contention. Montreal technically tied for first in the division. They're two points ahead of the lightning, but Tampa Bay has got a game in hand. Worst case scenario for Tampa Bay, they went out, they'll be second. Boston beat Columbus 3-2. Bruins right now are the first wildcard with 98 points, a point ahead of Ottawa who lost in overtime to New Jersey 4-3. So your wildcards are Boston and Ottawa. That's not going to change. It's just a matter of who's going to be the first wildcard who's going to be the second. Columbus, by the way, crushing loss. They're all but eliminated. Magic number to eliminate the blue jackets is one point. They have one game left. Philly has two. And the likelihood is that even if Philly lost their last two, it wouldn't be Columbus. It would be Washington because the Caps have moved ahead of them. They're ahead of Columbus and a point behind Philly, but they only have one game left and the Flyers have two. Washington showed out Pittsburgh 3-0. The Penguins lined up to shake Ovechkin's hand, kind of like the end of a Stanley Cup playoff series. And Ovechkin turned, looked at him and waved him off and told Sid, he goes, I haven't made up my mind yet. I really don't know what I'm going to do. Cross, we went, okay. And so the Penguins skated off the ice. It was the Caps last home regular season game of the year. They made Ovechkin the first star. So he said he'll decide in the off season after talking to his family. I do think it's set up good and no offense to Columbus and any blue jacket fans, if you're actually out there, that it looks like the Pens are either going to play the Flyers, good in state rivalry, or they're going to pay the Caps. I mean, if you're the NHL, you're pleased with how that's turned out. Totally. Totally. Because the Penguins and Flyers absolutely hate each other. Okay. And I think both Penguin and Capital's fan bases have gotten over it. Washington fans, I think gotten over it after they hoisted Lord Stanley, okay, and beat the Penguins along the way after the Penguins had beaten them three times in the playoffs and all three times went on to hoist Lord Stanley. So now it's kind of the mutual respect, you know, and really set it up for the same reason that most of us like it because I was never the biggest OV fan in the world. But he's certainly to me the most popular Russian to ever play the game in North America. And for me, it's because of how he acted after winning the Stanley Cup. The summer of Ovechkin was one of the great things in sports. It really was. Is this a fair analogy? The Penguins Flyers is Florida State and the Gators. Okay, the Penguins, Capital's is Florida State, Miami. I like it. I like it. All right. Anaheim left the point on the board. They lost an overtime to Vancouver because of it there in third place, top three teams in division separated by a point. And really a meaningless game. Utah's locked in as the first wildcard. They lost to Calgary for one. Baseball. Hey, the Ray swept the Yankees. First time they've done that in five years. Yankees have lost five in a row. Five, four Tampa Bay Red Sox have getting it together a little bit. They took two of three from the Cardinals. 93 they've won four of five. Orioles took two of three from the Giants. 62 they've won five of six. Boy, the twins stay hot. After the four games sweep with the Tigers, they took two out of three from Toronto. 82. Braves took two of three from the Guardians. 19 hits, 13 runs. Boy, they had Chris Sale pitching. They didn't need half that. No, another one run performance from Sale and six innings. He's had four stars. Three of them have been sensational. 13-1 Atlanta. Marlins got swept in Detroit. Tigers have to get swept in Minneapolis. Come home and sweep the Marlins. 82. Supposed to be a pitchers duel yesterday. School Bull against Sandy Alcantra. School Bull did his part. A sweep the Metz won nothing. Metz have lost five in a row. Arizona took two out of three from the Phillies. Four to three. Washington went into Milwaukee and swept the Brewers who've lost five in a row and are likely going to use Luz Jelic who tweaked a hamstring. Expect him to go on the IL later today. 87, Washington over the Brew Crew. Cubs avoid the sweep. Snap a four game losing skid and overcome a five run deficit in the process. Beat the Pirates. 76. That's the first place Pirates. Gays are wondering. Angels 9-6 over the Reds. Jose Soriano, the first four game winner in the majors for the Angels. Astros have lost seven in a row. Seattle beat them 6-1. Texas avoids getting swept in LA. They beat the Dodgers 5-2. Otani let off the game. Second straight game with a homer this time off the Grom. That's the only run the Grom gave up in six innings and getting the win. Padres, four game sweep of the Rockies, seven to two, but they lose starter Nick Povetto with an elbow injury. Ouch. Man, White Sox and Royals split a four game series. Chicago, BKC, 6-5. Pay attention, Mark. I was gonna say here it comes everybody get ready. One other baseball note, Phil Garner, who three different franchise claim him. Pirates claim him because he was an instrumental part of the We Are Family 79 Pirates as a player. All right, but the Astros claim him because he was the manager when they went to the World Series for the first time. In 2005, Phil Garner passed away at the age of 76 over the weekend. And finally, Mark, the good old boys were at Bristol, Ty Gibbs with the win. Ryan Blaney led 190 laps. He finished second. That's okay because Kyle Larson led 284 laps and he finished third. And our buddy Ross Justein does not have it going on this year. He finished 20th. And as we have it going on last year, if he wouldn't have won a race, he'd have never gotten to the playoffs. And as we approach seven minutes before the hour, that was the starting five, five big stories you needed to know courtesy of Lee County, Florida. They're built in a better community. The only way they know how through BST, business, sports, and tourism. Once he blew off this show, he quit racing. Well, used to be a regular, used to answer our calls. Then he got too big for us. And you know what's happened? He's really a nothing now. I don't know. He did finish second in a cup standings one year. He had blown us off by then. But yep, he got too big for us. He used to, he was testing in Vegas one day, answered his cell phone. He was literally in between sessions. Did an interview with us. Doesn't answer our calls anymore. One of many. Miller and Moll.