The MLS Playoffs begin tonight on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV as Inter Miami FC takes on Atlanta United at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Apple TV analyst Taylor Twellman joined The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Friday to preview all the postseason action.
Mike Ryan says that, historically, the postseason in MLS has been interesting, with not a lot of chalk and the expectation of upsets. But coming off a year in which Lionel Messi and Inter Miami set the record for points in a season and are +160 favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook to win the title, Mike thinks the MLS probably wouldn’t mind some chalk. Is Taylor pulling for the chalk, though? He thinks, globally, anyone who has been watching and paying attention to MLS over the last 6-7 months will 100 percent want chalk. Taylor says he would argue the regular-season matchup between Inter Miami and Columbus that won Inter Miami the Supporters’ Shield was the best regular season MLS game since at least 2014. He says if this playoffs goes chalk it will be a postseason fans will be talking about for a long time. You’ve got names, you’ve got stars, but you’ve got quality players all across the board. He loves surprises, he loves underdogs, but he loves your Yankees-Dodgers type matchups and he thinks a chalky matchup in the MLS Cup Final would be something everyone would be rightly talking about. To see how things could go, check out the Cup bracket below.
Dan wants to know: Is there a way things could have gone any better for Inter Miami and Messi — plus Apple and MLS — this season? Taylor says the only way it could have gone better was if Messi hadn’t missed 15 games due to injury during the season. Taylor wonders if Messi doesn’t miss those 15 games are we talking about a 35-goal, 35-assist season? Probably. To put icing on the cake, Taylor says if Inter Miami wins MLS Cup the conversation and the story of MLS 28 years into its existence will be the No. 10 in pink because he opened the doors and the eyeballs around to world to what MLS is.
Dan points out what a reinvention of his career a MLS Cup would be for Messi, because of the longest time the only thing critics had on him was that he wasn’t a “winner.” Taylor says if Messi gets the MLS Cup the argument about the GOAT is over, Reynaldo won’t have a say. Now Messi has won the World Cup, is the favorite to win the MLS Cup and is still playing in World Cup qualifying. Taylor says that even though Messi has designated the 2026 World Cup as a “long shot,” if he keeps playing the way he is now, Taylor thinks there is no way he misses that World Cup.
Make sure you tune into The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network!
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Local Hour: Up To Snuff
Today’s cast: Dan, Roy, Billy, Jeremy, Mike, and Tony. Start up the f-in band, it’s the end of the week! We have a ton to get to in sports including the new lawsuit against the Clippers surrounding Kawhi Leonard, but in this episode featuring Tony, Dan is more interested in examining the origins of “up to snuff,” the definition of eons, and Tony’s reading. Plus, Taylor Twellman is here. After telling us about his grandfather who played with Yogi Berra and was replaced by Al Kaline, Twellman tells us about the FREE Inter Miami game on Apple TV, the brilliance of Messi, and why he’s scared for Tua and his future.
The Big Suey: Whose Name Is On The Cup?
We really need to get to our featured Tony segments, but there is still so much to cover in the world of sports. Dan leads the crew to a conversation about UFC and Tony’s MMA Hangout, but the real mystery that needs solving by Detective Tony stems from a story Billy shares with the crew about a litterer in the stairwell. Then, it’s the return of everyone’s favorite gambling segment: Bet The House (Of Representatives). Plus, as Roy debuts a top tier Flanigan’s voice and Jeremy *tries* to pepper in some baseball info ahead of tonight’s World Series Game 1, Tony delivers his Top 5.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
