Benched and Ready

Benchies, it’s time to crown the risers and send the boneheads straight to the pine! Edwin shouts out a Nationals star on fire and a Rockies youngster making noise, while Joe gives flowers to a future Hall of Famer and goes full homer with a couple Boston calls. On the bonehead side, the Yankees lineup has gone completely cold, Brandon Aiyuk is single-handedly ending his own career on Instagram, a...

Halfway through the season and we’re doing something most shows won’t — holding ourselves accountable live on air. Joe put himself on the bench… twice. Edwin got crowned for one of his preseason takes. And one heated debate had Joe defending his own team while using odds against another. Full midseason award breakdowns, new picks for the second half, and we read Benchie comments on air. This is wh...

The youth takeover at the MLB All-Stars is real — 11 players 24 or younger and four rookies stealing the show. But the fan vote vs actual performance divide is getting ridiculous (Vlad and Judge in, more deserving guys left out). Joe goes hard on private equity firms buying stakes in teams like the Dolphins, Red Sox, and Celtics — saying it’s killing the soul of sports and prioritizing money over...

A 33-year-old with a career worst season hit a 3-run homer off Paul Skenes on his birthday. Third straight game with a home run. The Phillies are 40-19 under Mattingly. A 53-point game tied TWO all-time WNBA records in one night. And most of America still does not know her name. Germany just got sent home by the same Paraguay the USMNT beat 4-1 on opening weekend. A referee ended Balogun's tou...

Joe and Edwin unveil the official Benched and Ready NFL QB Tier System for 2026. Mahomes is Tier 2. Edwin has 9 quarterbacks in Tier 1. Joe has 4. The debate gets heated. Jalen Hurts apparently speaks like a Taoist monk and it might be ruining the Eagles locker room. The Browns are on the bench. Again. They will always be on the bench. Plus the USMNT plays tonight and Tim's comment from Monday...

The Messi vs Ronaldo World Cup final everyone wanted is almost certainly gone. Portugal finished second in Group K after two scoreless draws and now faces a brutal path through Croatia, Spain, and possibly France or Germany. Argentina, meanwhile, got one of the easiest roads in the tournament. Edwin explains why Portugal looks worse with Ronaldo on the field and why the dream matchup is now a long...

Bryce Harper went 1-for-22, grabbed a waterlogged 35-ounce bat, and hit for the cycle by the fifth inning. Two days later he pulled Brandon Marsh aside between innings and told him to stop thinking and go be himself. Marsh hit a home run. That is what superstars do. Ben Rice is carrying the Yankees with Aaron Judge hurt — .293, 22 homers, 53 RBI, 1.004 OPS — and nobody is talking about him because...

The trade is done. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Miami Heat. Pat Riley cooked again and Edwin has been saying it all season. Joe breaks down exactly why this roster scares him as a Celtics fan and exactly why it is not a title contender as currently constructed. Giannis and Bam are the most physically dominant frontcourt in basketball. But Norman Powell could be gone. Andrew Wiggins needs to restruct...

MLB ownership just proposed banning high school players from the draft entirely cutting rounds from 20 to 12 and slashing the bonus pool from $358 million to $200 million. Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Ken Griffey Jr. all would have been ineligible under this new proposal. Is this about development or just taking money out of players' hands? Wyndham Clark wins his second US Open wire-to-wire at Sh...

40-year-old journeyman goalkeeper nobody had heard of shut out Spain at his first ever World Cup and woke up with 13.9 million Instagram followers. His grandparents who raised him are gone. His mother couldn't afford the visa to be there. Then the US government stepped in and flew her to Miami for the next game. His Instagram bio says — Never forget who you are and where you came from. Olivia...

The 2026 NBA Draft is 7 days away and the entire league is in a holding pattern waiting on one man. Brian Windhorst said Giannis is FOCUSED on Miami. But is Pat Riley actually closing this deal — or does Brad Stevens pull off the steal of the decade? Joe is a Celtics fan. Edwin is a Heat fan. Both have a lot at stake. Then Joe and Edwin go back and forth one for one on their top 5 draft prospects...

The Knicks ended 53 years of pain. The celebrity parade at MSG was real — but not everyone earned their seat. Kylie Jenner got her courtside tickets for free while real fans paid a million dollars at auction. We separate the real fans from the frauds. Then Giannis. Brian Windhorst just said he is FOCUSED on Miami. Bill Simmons said Boston wins. Joe is a Celtics fan. Edwin is a Heat fan. One of us...

A WNBA rookie nobody is watching is breaking Caitlin Clark's records. A 37-year-old is doing things in the Stanley Cup Final he last did at 18. A college QB sued the NCAA after betting on his own team — and won. And we caught the USMNT live — USA 4 Paraguay 1. Three episodes every week. Miss the follow, miss the drop. Topics this week: WNBA, Minnesota Lynx, Olivia Miles, Stanley Cup Finals, Ca...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially kicked off yesterday at the Azteca, Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 with 3 red cards and tomorrow night the United States takes the field for the first time. Joe and Edwin break down the entire tournament. The wildcard nobody has on their bracket. The mathematician who correctly picked the last 3 winners and his shock 2026 pick. The matchup Joe has been teasing for...

The Knicks are up 2-0 and Karl-Anthony Towns is personally making Joe look bad. Edwin drops the KAT stat package that changes the Finals MVP conversation entirely. Then a 19-year-old wins the French Open and becomes the first player of her generation to win a Grand Slam. And Aaron Judge plays through a broken rib for a month then his teammate grabs his actual bat and hits a home run with it. The c...

Joe and Edwin hand out this week's risers and boneheads — and nobody is safe. Julio Rodriguez woke up. Payton Tolle is a 23-year-old cartoon character with a 2.28 ERA throwing shutout innings for the Red Sox. Max Meyer is quietly outpitching Paul Skenes and nobody outside Miami is talking about it. The NL Cy Young race has four legitimate contenders and it's not even close to being settled. On the...

The 2026 NBA Finals are here, and Joe and Edwin are breaking down the full Knicks vs Spurs matchup before Game 1 tips off tonight. The Duncan/Wemby parallel is almost supernatural... same age, same draft position, same franchise, same opponent, 27 years apart. Plus the Rick Brunson story nobody is leading with. Series picks and bold predictions are on the table.

Chet Holmgren is earning $239 million and disappeared when the Spurs needed him most — Joe and Edwin have the full performance review. MLB's robot umpires were supposed to fix everything and glitched at the worst possible moment. A massive tennis upset came out of nowhere. The NFL trade every Dolphins fan is talking about. And the World Cup is eleven days away and most Americans are still asle...

The WWE curse is apparently a real thing and Joe and Edwin have receipts. Someone went 6-0 and still had the nerve to throw the crotch chop and honestly? Respect. A soccer legend went down with an injury that changes everything heading into the summer.

The NHL's Final Four is set and the Stanley Cup storylines are better than anything on television right now. Joe and Edwin make the case for why hockey fans and non-hockey fans both need to be watching. The best sport nobody is paying attention to just hit its best moment.

A legendary era came to an end in English soccer and Joe and Edwin mark the moment. Taylor Swift fans went to war with sports media and the boys have opinions on both sides. Plus, the Stanley Cup Cinderella story that hockey fans have been waiting years for.

An NBA team went fully nuclear and Joe and Edwin are handing out the risers and the pine accordingly. A Georgia driver hit speeds nobody should be hitting. And a coach who kept calling timeouts at the worst possible moments gets absolutely no sympathy here.

The NBA Final Four is set and Joe and Edwin put their picks on the table — on record, no take-backs. Callback Ammo gets loaded up as old predictions come back around. Who's going to the Finals? Nobody is safe from this conversation.

The Miami Dolphins made it official and signed their star — and two Dolphins fans had to take a breath. Shohei Ohtani is doing things on the mound that shouldn't be possible. And this week's boneheads? They're going straight to the pine, no questions asked.

FSU and Miami are building for war in the trenches and two fans with strong ACC loyalties break it all down. The Heisman race is already taking shape and there's a name you need to know. Plus Lane Kiffin left Oxford and nobody is surprised.