Hour 3: Mets Salary, Need to Know, Jeff Passan talks M's wins

The Mariners' seven-game winning streak has transformed them from a struggling team into a legitimate contender, with Jeff Passan calling it the beginning of the franchise's best run in history. The episode dissects the team's success, highlighting their deep pitching rotation, the emergence of young stars like Colt Emerson and Cole Young, and their ability to win close games—something they previously struggled with. Meanwhile, the Mets' $300 million payroll is criticized as a failure of player development, with a lineup full of unknowns and aging veterans, raising questions about long-term sustainability. Passan argues that the Mariners' depth and focus on October readiness—mirroring the Dodgers' model—give them a strategic advantage. The conversation also turns to MLB's labor negotiations, where Passan praises the owners' proposal of a salary floor as a necessary fix for competitive imbalance, while criticizing the players' failure to engage with the idea, calling their response 'pathetic' from a PR standpoint. The episode ends with a powerful contrast: a team built on development and depth versus one built on short-term spending and roster turnover.