Hour 2: Evan’s “Banned” Manfred Question, MLB Realignment and How Well Does Tiki Know Tiki?

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.6 • 945 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hour 2 starts with the mystery of Evan’s pre-recorded question for MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred that never made air, and the behind-the-scenes explanation from Craig Carton on why it got spiked. The guys finally reveal the question, argue whether it was fair or “too much,” and debate Manfred’s obsession with a salary cap and the financial gap between big and small markets. Then the conversation turns into full MLB confusion as Manfred talks realignment, geography, and keeping the Mets and Yankees separate, and nobody can quite agree on what he actually meant. Calls roll in to interpret it, while Evan vents about owners crying “unable” instead of “unwilling” to spend. Plus, the show pivots to Wild Card weekend storylines, including how often teams win rematches, and a fun deep dive into Tiki Barber’s playoff games where he faced an opponent for the third time in the same season. The hour also touches on the Giants coaching search optics, Evan’s choice between banishing Woody Johnson or Rob Manfred, and a Yankees offseason debate about Cody Bellinger’s market and whether Brian Cashman should pivot to Bo Bichette.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So Craig came into our show at the very end and said, hey, I'll offer you something, Evan.
0:05.5	Pre-record a question for Rob Manfred and we'll play it on the air.
0:09.2	And I said that's a great gesture.
0:10.9	And Craig said you can ask anything you want except why do you hate baseball, which of course I would never ask.
0:17.0	It's more of a joke.
0:18.3	So when the show ended, I went back in a back studio, and I did record
0:22.0	a question. I listened to Rob Manfred's interview with Craig and Big Mac, and I never heard
0:28.5	my question. Never heard it. So I was curious, are they ever going to bring this?
0:33.0	Yeah. He promised. He made a promise. He didn't do it. I was incredibly frustrating if somebody
0:37.4	else who was waiting for the question.
0:38.7	I think a lot of people were.
0:40.3	So Craig did address it after the interview was over.
0:43.9	Here is his explanation for those that missed it on why he wouldn't play his favorite partner he's ever had in radio's question for Rob Manfred.
0:52.7	I was told by our producer, you cannot air the question.
0:58.3	He said it was too disrespectful, that Evan broke the rules kind of of being respectful.
1:02.9	Okay, so again, I have still not heard the question.
1:06.6	All right?
1:07.8	I'm not going to listen to the question now either, because I don't care.
1:11.0	But I want Evan to know, and Tiki now either, because I don't care. Right.
1:16.8	But I want Evan to know, and Tiki and Evan, who will be on tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock after Boomer and G.O., that the only reason I did not allow his question to be played is that I was told, as Rob Manfred was walking in, do not play that
1:29.1	question. So I can only imagine
1:31.2	what type of
	...

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