Starkey & Mueller

16 runs last night for the Buccos in a 16-5 win over the Nationals. Joe Block and the boys were having fun. The Pirates have 10 wins, leaving only the billion-dollar Dodgers as the team with more victories so far in 2026. The Pirates have one of the more explosive offenses in baseball so far, but how long can they sustain it? The Pirates have had hot starts before, even as recently as 2024 when they started 19-8. The guys don’t think this is all smoke and mirrors like the teams of the past. The rotation has been awesome a few times through and it gives them a chance every day.

PM Team Sports Court w/ our friends from Edgar Snyder & Associates. The guys noticed that Nick and Chris had the same shirt on today. Would Nick make the trip to Philly for a Pens-Flyers playoff game? Nick believes Oneil Cruz is bound for an All Star nod given his start to 2026. Is the Stanley Cup the best title in sports and are the NHL playoffs the best in sports? Nick said Mullsy is going to throw a strike on Friday night at PNC Park.

Penguins and Flyers is officially set for the opening round of the NHL playoffs. It’s been 4 seasons since we have seen the Pens make it to the postseason and we get the battle of Pennsylvania off the bat. Do we still hate the Flyers? Is it more about hating their fans? They don’t have guys like Scott Hartnell or Claude Giroux or Daniel Briere anymore. How do we feel about this matchup? Chris thinks the Penguins will take the series in 5 or 6 games and that idea worries Poni – because nobody out there is willing to pick the Flyers. Will Sidney Crosby continue his dominance over the team in Philadelphia? Poni said he can’t say a bad word about Rick Tocchet because he once invited him to a Stanley Cup party.

PM Team FULL Show 4-13-26

The Steelers brought Utah OT Spencer Fano in for a pre-draft visit. Most analysts have him as a top 10 pick in the draft. Poni thinks that this means the Steelers are out on Broderick Jones. Fano has small arms and small hands, which is a concern for a tackle prospect. Would the Steelers have him play his actual position if they drafted him? Donny thinks that Fano would be an A+ pick if the Steelers got him at 21. Taylen Green made waves at the combine for being a ridiculous athlete. Would he be worth a shot for the Steelers in the late rounds? Donny Football Debrief – Local news is reporting there are still plenty of available rooms in Pittsburgh for the weekend of the NFL Draft. Are the Steelers over-inflating what attendance at the draft is going to look like next week?

The Pirates blew a 5-0 lead and lost the series finale to the Cubs yesterday. They still won the series 2-1, however. Poni thinks that the Pirates beat themselves yesterday, and that the loss was very disappointing. Jake Mangum is in left field today, one day after Bryan Reynolds gifted the Cubs a run with another terrible play in left field. Former MLB pitcher and MLB analyst Matt Clement joins the show. Matt says that walks are the biggest issue for the Pirates pitching staff so far this season. He also thinks that the Cubs had the advantage in starting pitching in all three games against the Pirates, so winning 2 out of 3 games is a good thing. Matt says that he would give Konnor Griffin until June to pick up his play, and if he doesn’t, he would send him back down to Triple A. Mock of the Day – Mike Renner of CBS Sports released a mock draft, and he has the Steelers taking Simpson at 21. The guys are not a fan of this, and think that the Steelers should go a different direction with the first-round p

The Penguins dropped both games to the Capitals this weekend and now could see them in the playoffs. Do we like the way things were handled, with several players sitting out Saturday, the final home game of the season? There was also an honoring of Alex Ovechkin this weekend, but on and off the ice. It sounds like at least one fan is mad at Sidney Crosby for not playing Saturday afternoon. Did the Penguins get this right? Did the Penguins put honoring Alex Ovechkin over their own fans? Did Poni rage-bait the fans? Does the NHL have something wrong with their point system? Masters Minute – Rory McIlroy completed the back-to-back wins at Augusta National going 12-under to win the green jacket again. The Pirates also had a nice ode to the event on their broadcast yesterday.

Konnor Griffin has been off to a rocky start at the plate. He’s only 9 games and 29 at-bats into his career, but the metrics also don’t side with him much. He’s not the guy rocking the baseball and just having bad luck. He is great on the bases, but it’s a matter of him getting there. Since everyone around baseball said this guy would be a star, should they have a long leash here?

Donny Football Debrief – Local news is reporting there are still plenty of available rooms in Pittsburgh for the weekend of the NFL Draft. Are the Steelers over-inflating what attendance at the draft is going to look like next week?

The Steelers brought Utah OT Spencer Fano in for a pre-draft visit. Most analysts have him as a top 10 pick in the draft. Poni thinks that this means the Steelers are out on Broderick Jones. Fano has small arms and small hands, which is a concern for a tackle prospect. Would the Steelers have him play his actual position if they drafted him? Donny thinks that Fano would be an A+ pick if the Steelers got him at 21.

Former MLB pitcher and MLB analyst Matt Clement joins the show. Matt says that walks are the biggest issue for the Pirates pitching staff so far this season. He also thinks that the Cubs had the advantage in starting pitching in all three games against the Pirates, so winning 2 out of 3 games is a good thing. Matt says that he would give Konnor Griffin until June to pick up his play, and if he doesn’t, he would send him back down to Triple A.

The Pirates blew a 5-0 lead and lost the series finale to the Cubs yesterday. They still won the series 2-1, however. Poni thinks that the Pirates beat themselves yesterday, and that the loss was very disappointing. Jake Mangum is in left field today, one day after Bryan Reynolds gifted the Cubs a run with another terrible play in left field.

Did the Penguins put honoring Alex Ovechkin over their own fans? Did Poni rage-bait the fans? Does the NHL have something wrong with their point system?

The Penguins dropped both games to the Capitals this weekend and now could see them in the playoffs. Do we like the way things were handled, with several players sitting out Saturday, the final home game of the season? There was also an honoring of Alex Ovechkin this weekend, but on and off the ice. It sounds like at least one fan is mad at Sidney Crosby for not playing Saturday afternoon. Did the Penguins get this right?

Pittsburgh sports is on a big upswing, the Penguins are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pirates have signed Konnor Griffin and the NFL Draft is only a couple weeks away!

PM Team FULL Show 4-10-26

Pirates 2, Cubs 0 in the first of three at Wrigley Field this weekend. The Pirates got clutch pitching and a clean 9th inning from Dennis Santana. We tipped our cap to Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched into the 6th inning after struggling in previous outings when he sees a lineup multiple times. Big credit went to the bullpen for closing the door. A deeper look into the numbers following the Pirates win at Wrigley to open the series against the Cubs. Another ugly day for Marcell Ozuna – how do his numbers early on stack up to guys like Tommy Pham and Rowdy Tellez at this point in the season? More Bucco Reaction following the win in Chicago.

Steelers correspondent Mark Kaboly from The Pat McAfee Show joined the show. Mark now believes Aaron Rodgers will be back with the Steelers before we reach the draft in 13 days. That being said, Mark doesn’t see Rodgers going as far as announcing the Steelers draft pick on 4/23. If the Steelers select a QB, will that spell the end for his guy Mason Rudolph? Mark doesn’t think the Steelers were ever really interested in the Kirk Cousins idea. More w/ Mark – We joked with Mark about us meeting his nephew last week at the Pirates’ home opener. Mark said the chance of the Steelers trading TJ Watt is ‘zero, none.’ This discussion sparked into a debate over the edge rushers and what the future could look like for Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. Out of others that are up for contract, who will and won’t get paid? We found out that Kaboom really likes Sebastian Joseph-Day, one of the sneaky Steelers free agent signings. More w/ Mark – Mark shared his take on Poni hoping the Penguins and Pirates throw him a bone.

At least one Steelers insider reached out to Poni to say the Gerry Dulac report on TJ Watt being floated for a trade is ‘complete BS.’ Chris and Donny guessed Mark Kaboly, who tends to enjoy poo-pooing any big news. Another layer on this is Nick Herbig, who got interest from another team, but the call reportedly ‘went nowhere.’ Steelers insider Nick Farabaugh from Penn Live dot com joined the show for a little Fair Game w/ Farabaugh. Is TJ Watt getting traded and is his contract even tradable? Nick is worried about Nick Herbig being blocked from a starting role as somewhat coming up on a contract year. Nick told the guys why a safety will be considered in the 1st round because of the lack of depth at the position in this year’s class. The discussion went back to Herbig and if the Steelers would pay/tag him after this season. Nick believes the Steelers would bet a ‘significant haul’ if they traded Herbig right now. Nick doesn’t think TE will be considered in the 1st round, even if Kenyon Sadiq is still on th

A Pirates pregame to start the show as the Buccos begin a series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. What are the takeaways from the lineup put out there by Donny Kelly? The Pirates have struggled mightily against Shota Imanaga in the past. Why are players already getting planned off days this early in the season? The Penguins are IN. The 5-2 win in New Jersey clinched a playoff spot for the first since the 2021-2022 season. The Pens proved A LOT of people wrong this season, which was one many expected the Penguins to be a lottery team. It sounds like Sidney Crosby had more motivation than usual to get this team into the postseason. Penguins social media decided to dunk on Poni a few times last night, even though they had many doubters. Joe Starkey was featured in the Penguins hype video after they qualified for the postseason. We think it is kind of a flex for Poni that the Penguins social team keeps picking on him despite 99.9% of the city expecting the team to be bad.