Gary Apple Joins the Double Team: Mets, Madness, and War Stories w/ Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan

Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan open with a World Baseball Classic check-in and bracket talk before bringing in the big guest: SNY veteran Gary Apple, who joins the Double Team to break down the 2026 Mets, reflect on 20 years at the network, and trade war stories about Bill Parcells, Kareem, and the late-night legends of KMOX Radio. The Pop That Culture segment closes things out with a tour of sports records so outrageous they make Bam Bam's 83-point night look modest.

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Key Takeaways

1. WBC: Good for the Game, Nerve-Wracking for Mets Fans

The US punched through to the championship game against Venezuela, and Mets pitching phenom Nolan McLean is set to start the title game. Rick and Corey agree on the WBC's appeal for growing baseball internationally, but Corey can barely enjoy it. With McLean already throwing a tick harder than he was at the end of last season, the last thing Mets Nation needs is a dead-arm period hitting him in June. Corey floats an idea that actually makes a lot of sense: move the WBC to an extended mid-season break, replacing the All-Star Game the way the NHL runs the Four Nations tournament. Less ramp-up risk. More stakes. Less Edwin Diaz-style heartbreak.

2. March Madness Preview: Duke, Michigan, and the Bracket Nobody Can Predict

Corey is all in on Duke as the overall No. 1 seed, even though they had a rough stretch down the stretch missing two key starters including their star center. Rick thinks Michigan and Duke are the two teams to watch, but notes that a shorthanded UCLA squad lost players in their conference tournament, which opens up a broader debate: do conference tournaments even serve a purpose? The short answer from both hosts is: not really. The Cinderella conversation is alive and well, and everyone's bracket will be busted by Sunday.

3. Double Team: Gary Apple on 20 Years at SNY, the Mets, and Being "Center Me Up" Ready

Gary Apple has been part of SNY since the network launched on March 16, 2006, and the Double Team segment marks his 20th anniversary on the air almost to the day. He joins Rick and Corey to share what it was like to be the first voice on a brand new network, what he's learned from working alongside Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Howie Rose, and why information is king no matter how long you've been doing this. On the Mets, Gary is cautiously bullish:

• The rotation looks deeper than it has in years. Freddie Peralta leads the way, McLean has star potential, and Kodai Senga has had a strong spring. The one concern: Sean Manaea's velocity is down, sitting around 89 mph. They have the depth to cover it, but it's worth watching.
• The lineup loses Pete Alonso's power, but gains a more aggressive offensive approach with Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, and the continued evolution of Juan Soto, who figures to see far fewer steal-friendly situations with this lineup construction.
• Carson Benge, the two-way Oklahoma State product, has done everything asked of him in camp and Gary sees no reason not to hand him the right field job.
• The bullpen has the pieces. Devin Williams (the Air Bender) is the key. If he's the Milwaukee version of himself and not the 2025 Yankees version, this pen can hold late leads. Gary also floated "The Dreamweaver" as a nickname for Luke Weaver's changeup, and we're choosing to endorse this.
• The bottom line: David Stearns runs a long-game operation. The real benchmarks are Memorial Day and the trade deadline. Get to October healthy, and anything can happen.

4. Who's the Team to Beat? (The Dodgers. It's Still the Dodgers.)

Rick asks the question. Gary gives the honest answer without flinching: the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series titles, they're built correctly from top to bottom, and they do everything right. That said, both World Series went deep. Gary thinks the Mets are a legitimate National League contender. Corey agrees, #LFGM.

5. Women's Sports Then and Now

Rick and Gary get into how far women's sports has come since their early days scrambling for camera time in local TV newsrooms. Gary's niece is a goalkeeper committed to play soccer at Georgia. His daughter went to UCLA during the rise of Cori Close's program. The WNBA is drawing real audiences. Caitlin Clark is a must-watch. Rick's family watches every US Women's National Team match. The consensus is that the ascent is real, it's long overdue, and the one note of caution is the WNBA not overplaying its hand in the current CBA situation.

6. War Stories: Parcells Yells at the Wrong Guy, Kareem Goes Off in Phoenix

Rapid-fire closing segment delivers two gems. Gary Apple got an earful from Bill Parcells in the bowels of Giants Stadium over a prediction he didn't even make (that was Warner Wolf's call, Bill). Rick got confronted by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Phoenix for the crime of showing up with a camera while Kareem was mid-interview with the newspaper guys. Both men survived, both have told these stories at every dinner party since.

And of course: the story of Gary asking for a tie while Rick was having a cardiac event in the newsroom. "Should I get my tie?" remains one of the great moments in Los Angeles sports media history.

7. Pop That Culture: Sports Records That Won't Fall (Probably)

Bam Bam's 83-point game against Washington was the jumping-off point, but the real conversation was about records that feel untouchable. The shortlist:

• Wilt Chamberlain, 100 points and 25 rebounds in a single game. Still standing. Almost certainly permanent.
• Shohei Ohtani's Game 4 in the 2025 World Series: 10 strikeouts, three home runs. A two-way performance that may genuinely never be matched.
• Norm Van Brocklin, 554 passing yards in 1951: Remarkable for any era, and he did it for the Los Angeles Rams.
• Flipper Anderson, 336 receiving yards, one touchdown: All those yards and somehow only one score.
• Adrian Peterson, 296 rushing yards in a single game: He nearly became the first player in NFL history to break 300.
• Darryl Sittler, 10 points in one game in 1976: Six goals, four assists. Gretzky matched the single-game assists record three times. As Corey noted, the lead was buried: Wayne Gretzky tied the record. Three times.

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The season is still on paper. The arguments are about to get real.