Mike and the Mad Dog poked fun at their struggling former employer Wednesday.
Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, appearing side-by-side on Russo’s “High Heat” show on MLB Network, reunited for a fun hour of television in which they playfully ripped WFAN, which has yet to regain some of the juice the station lost when Francesa left in December (and Craig Carton departed in September).
They were set up when, at the end of the show, the pair was asked about a possible reunion show on WFAN. Francesa, who remains coy about what he plans to do next, downplayed the idea before Russo buzzed the station where they rose to prominence.
“I’ll tell you right now, though, there’ll be nobody on WFAN before you know it. I guarantee it,” Russo said.
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“Oh, jeez,” Francesa, ever the straight man, said.
“Who’s leaving?” the Sports Pope asked. “(Midday co-host Joe) Benigno?”
Russo said “they’ve got nobody on” after Boomer Esiason in the morning, clearly a shot at the “Joe and Evan” midday show and the “CMB” trainwreck that fills most of Mike and the Mad Dog’s former afternoon timeslot.
“Oh, we can make fun of FAN all day,” Russo said.
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Quite honestly, they could make fun of or talk about anything all day and it would be entertaining.
We still do not know where Francesa is going next, but we sure know where he belongs: right next to Russo, which is what we got for an hour Wednesday, complete with hot takes, over/under predictions, and even a bottle of Diet Coke.
Outside of the shiny MLB set they sat on, and the fact that Russo was on the left and Francesa on the right, opposite from their old WFAN positions, it was just like old times. With Francesa’s future still a mystery, clearly anything he may do with Russo down the road would be appointment viewing or listening for the pair’s legions of fans.
The show opened with the familiar “Mike and the Mad Dog” theme song, followed by Russo’s legendary “Aaaaaand, good afternoon everybody!” greeting. Russo’s MLB show also ran plenty of memorable clips from the old radio show that changed sports talk forever.
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In addition to those old rants, Mike and the Mad Dog offered plenty of opinions on the Mets and Yankees. Francesa is still not sold on Giancarlo Stanton’s fit with the Yankees, and he even managed to slip in how he recently had breakfast with Mets owner Jeff Wilpon. On his beloved Yankees, Francesa remains puzzled as to why they added Stanton.
Mike Francesa (l.) and Chris Russo (r.) reunite on Wednesday.
(Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)“They weren’t looking for this and to me, it’s not a perfect fit,” he said. “It’s going to upset the outfield, it’s gonna make things a little weird with (Aaron) Judge and even with Gardy (Brett Gardner), plus they are going to strike out a lot, they are over right-handed, especially with (Greg) Bird hurt … I think Bird is going to be one of these guys that’s always hurt. I love him, I think he can be a big player, but he is always hurt.
“I don’t think it’s a perfect fit,” Francesa continued to go in on Stanton. “They didn’t need him. I understand where they couldn’t pass him up and it’s excitement. The Yankees are now rock stars again. They’re going to get a lot of attention. They’ll hit a lot of home runs, but they are not unbeatable. They’re good. They’re very good. But they are not unbeatable. They are not the best team in the league.”
Still, as one of his overs, Francesa said the Yankees will win more than 94.5 games and will win the AL East “comfortably.”
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As for the Mets, Russo thinks they will win more than 82.5 games.
“I think they’ll be over, but I still worry about them,” Francesa said. “That will either be 70 or 90. It won’t be 83.”
It wouldn’t be a Francesa appearance without one of his patented in-the-know brags about his access to power. In discussing Yoenis Cespedes giving up golf, Francesa bragged about breaking the story.
“I had breakfast with Jeff (Wilpon) and he told me, and I said it on one show I did with Sal Licata, I said it that night,” Francesa said. “The next week, they came out with a big story. I said it a week before: They told me he promised the owner he would not play golf this year. And he wants to golf every day. He’s a guy, even when he’s hurt, he goes to play golf. He is a golf freak.”
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Francesa called Cespedes the Mets’ most important player this year, “more so than any player in baseball,” he said.
Francesa also thinks Matt Harvey is due for a bounce-back season. “I think he is going to be supremely motivated and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a decent year,” he said.
The show concluded with talk about the Oscars (it “stunk,” Francesa said) and how much pressure new Yankees manager Aaron Boone is under (not as much as if George Steinbrenner was still in charge). Finally, the duo fielded a question from a viewer: Is there a better chance of a “Mike and the Mad Dog” reunion on WFAN or a World Series featuring the Rays and Marlins?
“Oh, without a question: Rays, easy,” Francesa said. “You have a better chance of having Rays-Pirates.”