Do we need to change the MVP conversation around Shohei Ohtani? | Brewers sweep Cubs, Tarik Skubal trade outlook, Tony Gwynn Jr. joins the show

Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney

ESPN Radio

Sports

3.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today's episode, Buster Olney and David Schoenfield break down the Brewers surge and the Cubs fall, discuss if Tarik Skubal could be traded midseason, why the Astros decade of dominance is over, and if Shohei Ohtani is the favorite in the NL Cy Young award race. Tony Gwynn Jr. then joins us to discuss the Padres-Dodgers recent series; is it the best rivalry in baseball? Plus Mason Miller's dominance and why the MVP conversation around Ohtani is feeling like it did around Michael Jordan. Sarah Langs tells us why Ohtani, Sal Stewart, and Jacob Misiorowski are doing things that we haven't seen in 50+ years, and Todd Radom gives us his 3 most underrated ballparks. 0:00 Intro + Welcome 2:13 Dave Schoenfield joins the show 2:56 Brewers sweep Cubs 5:53 Could Tarik Skubal be traded? 8:40 Cal Ripken Jr. to return as Orioles President? 11:19 Royals could be sellers at the trade deadline 13:19 Astros decade of dominance appears over 16:15 Ohtani's Cy Young case 17:30 J.P. Crawford willing to move to Third Base 19:35 Sarah Langs plays the numbers game 20:58 Tony Gwynn Jr joins the show 22:54 What did we learn from Padres-Dodgers series? 25:48 Why Manny Machado is in a slump 27:08 Mason Miller should be a Cy Young and MVP candidate 29:02 Sandy Alcantara should be a Padres trade target 30:28 Ohtani's MVP conversation feels like it did with MJ 34:13 Tony Gwynn Sr's feelings towards the Dodgers 35:01 Todd Radom's most underrated parks in baseball 41:57 Bleacher Tweets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention all passengers.
0:03.0	The Uber ride for Mark and Jamal's romantic weekend
0:07.0	will depart in four minutes from Platform 6.
0:10.0	Your ride comes with a rolling countryside sunset view
0:14.0	and a table seat, ideal for playing footsie beneath.
0:17.0	Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber.
0:20.0	Trains on Uber.
0:23.1	Trains on Uber.
0:34.8	This is the baseball tonight podcast for Friday, May 22nd, 2006, presented by Lakeinta by Wyndham.
0:37.3	I'm Buster Only working for my home in Montana.
0:40.7	Kenny Ligon is back in Connecticut producing this show.
0:44.2	We had a bunch of little leaguers over at the house the other night. And man, they were over for a pizza party.
0:47.6	The Redbirds 10 and under team from here in Bozeman, Montana, they had a ton of conversation
0:53.9	about Shoah Otani, lots of
0:56.1	questions about the players that they watch on television all the time. I can't tell you how much
1:01.4	pizza they put away and the root beer floats. And it was super fun talking with those guys.
1:06.6	We go into a big weekend of baseball. Starting on Friday, Friday night, you've got the Yankees and the Rays.
1:14.3	Garrett Cole set to return to the Yankees rotation coming off the injured list after having Tommy John surgery.
1:20.9	I'm going to be fascinated to see how the Yankees adjust defensively to the raise speed.
1:28.1	Because we saw in a series earlier this year down in Tampa Bay,
1:32.2	the Yankees were completely discombobulated by the speed of Chandler Simpson,
1:36.0	by that style of the race play where they're bunning the ball a lot.
	...

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