Super Awesome Mix
"I made you a mix tape" -- some of the best words to hear from someone you care about! Join Matt and Sam on a weekly mix tape adventure: each guest is asked to pick a theme and make a mix tape, which will be unveiled over the course of the episode. You're guaranteed to hear about good music, some new music, and even learn some trivia along the way. Come listen with us, and be sure to grab your copy of the mix made available in the Super Awesome App in each episode's show notes. IG/Threads: @superawesomemix
Super Awesome Mix
Mixtape Rewind: The Ultimate Countdown of Baseball Closer Anthems
This week's Mixtape Rewind goes to our most downloaded episode of all-time. Our countdown of bullpen closer entrance songs.
The bullpen door swings open, and suddenly the energy in the stadium shifts. A familiar song begins to play, and everyone knows what comes next – the closer is about to take the mound. Baseball's most pressure-packed moments have their own soundtrack, and in this episode, Matt and Samer break down the most iconic entrance songs in baseball closer history.
From unexpected choices that became superstition-fueled traditions to deliberately intimidating anthems designed to strike fear into opposing batters, these musical selections reveal the psychology behind baseball's specialized relief pitchers.
The episode takes listeners through surprising stories – like Craig Kimbrell adopting "Let It Go" from Frozen after his wife swapped his walk-up music on Women's Day, or John Smoltz strategically using ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to throw off opponents. You'll discover how Kenley Jansen's commitment to geography-based entrance music follows him from team to team, and why Edwin Diaz's entrance set to "Narco" suddenly exploded in popularity.
As Matt and Samer approach their top picks, they analyze what makes certain songs particularly effective for the closer role – from instantly recognizable intros to lyrics that perfectly complement the situation. The tolling bells that announced Trevor Hoffman's arrival, the Irish rhythms that energized Fenway Park for Jonathan Papelbon, and of course, the definitive closer anthem that accompanied the greatest reliever of all time, Mariano Rivera.
Whether you're a baseball fanatic or just appreciate the perfect marriage of music and sports, this countdown reveals how these carefully chosen songs transform ordinary pitching changes into theatrical moments that energize fans and intimidate opponents. Listen now and discover which iconic closer entrance claims the top spot!
The playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/239CiybVVYuw2q1olpiJe5?si=1bj8MKd3ROy54nDdnoUFjA
Edwin Diaz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BYSp2pzP0Y
Aroldis Chapman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTp-j1j7GU
Craig Kimbrel:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/APIFsi9BcXc
- Let It Go by Idina Menzel
- Bad to the bone by George Thorogood & The Destroyers
- Dancing Queen by ABBA
- California Love by 2Pac, Roger, Dr. Dre
- Jump Around by House Of Pain
- Wild Thing by The Troggs
- Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine
- Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N’ Roses
- I’m Shipping Up To Boston by Dropkick Murphys
- Hells Bells by AC/DC
- Narco by Blasterjaxx, Timmy Trumpet
- Enter Sandman by Metallica
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Welcome back to another Super Awesome Mix. My name is Matt Sidholm, alongside my co-host and co-founder of Super Awesome Mix, Samer Abusabi Samer. How are we doing this week?
Speaker 2:Doing real well. This is another first. Ier, how are we doing this week? Doing real well. This is another first, I think, for us. We had an opening mix earlier this season to mark the opening of the baseball season and here we are with the inappropriately named closing mix for closing out the baseball season, and it's pretty awesome out the baseball season and and it's pretty awesome yeah, we had a.
Speaker 1:Uh, we had a lot of great response to our walk-up music mix earlier this year. So we thought because, not just because, um, that one was popular, but also because there are so many awesome songs that closers come out to, that we would rank them. So we're doing another countdown mix here. So, like we did last time, the first song we'll introduce here, that'll be number 12 in our rankings and then we'll go all the way down to the last song in the mix. Today is our number one song. Number one, you know baseball closers entrance song.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know, if you're not familiar, too familiar with the rules of baseball, basically pitchers come in right around, usually the eighth or ninth inning, to kind of close the game out or save a game where, like they are, they're down and they really need to make sure that there's no more scores, and so these guys are like best of the best, they throw really fast. Typically, you know they've been cool the whole game, they're warming up and they're getting out there and so they need a lot, lot of amp up. And so a lot of these songs at least I ranked them and I think you did too in terms of like, how much are you going to amp people up? And with that I'm going to kick us off with our first track here. So this is Countdown number 12. And it is Let it Go, by Idina Menzel, of course, from the Frozen soundtrack. So talk about that one, matt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this one is being used currently this year and I thought this was such a funny story Craig Kimbrell, who's the closer for the Dodgers the Dodgers had like a Women's Day earlier this year and they had the players' wives swap out their walk-up music with songs that they like. And so Craig Kimbrell's wife swapped out his normal song and I don't even know what his normal song is, but swapped it out for Let it Go. Well, he comes in the game and he closes out like the Astros with like 10 pitches, like just dominates them and, you know, in true baseball fashion, he respects the streak and is like all right, well, we're not going to change it. And so now he plays let it go when he's coming out there.
Speaker 2:I love that so much. Yeah, I mean honestly, like if you ever watch a game of baseball, like pay attention to the things that pitchers will do before and immediately after a pitch. It is unbelievable. They just keep building and building on, like well, it worked that time, so it's going to work a hundred more times. There's some really fascinating rituals around pitching a baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If you've seen the movie Bull Durham and that'll give you a little bit of an insight, because I mean, truly, you know, even if you're not a baseball fan, that's really more of a rom-com than it is like a baseball movie, but it does give you some insight into how superstitious a sport baseball is, and so it's very much if you've got a streak going, you respect the streak and you just keep things exactly as they are, like they're wearing the same socks, they never wash them or, in this case, they're going to keep coming out to a uh, a hit disney song yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, and you know, and a lot of these, I tried to go into the lyrics and see, like, okay, if this really you know was, was this inspired by the lyrics? Of course, in this case it wasn't, but I was like, okay, maybe, maybe these lines here, like you'll never see me cry, here I stand and here I'll stay. Let the storm rage on you know, maybe right, yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 1:I could see that, yeah, and if and if you're a baseball pitcher, I mean you know, hey, like, don't hold anything back, right, just let it go, right exactly let it go yeah, give them all you got um, all right. So next up on the countdown. It's, uh, number 11 on the count in here.
Speaker 2:Second track on your mix it is bad to the bone by george thoroughgood and the destroyers yeah, so, um, this is from the a's, dennis eckersley, um, which I, you know, I'm not too familiar with with this one. So, matt, you might have to fill in some of the background on this picture, um, but I mean on the song part fantastic song.
Speaker 2:What a natural walk-up song. You know like I think this is a classic. A lot of people are going to know this. It has, like many of these, an iconic opening that is immediately recognizable. So I think, like in terms of ranking, you know it wasn't super high, but it also wasn't last Sorry, let it go. It wasn't super high, but it also wasn't last Sorry, let it go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Dennis Eckersley. When I was growing up the Oakland A's were really good in the late 80s, early 90s and Dennis Eckersley was their closer and he was the first of kind of like I feel like to be a really well-known closer and so he had this reputation of he's coming in. The game is over now. He famously gave up a huge home run to Kirk Gibson in the uh, I think it was the 88 world series to the Dodgers, um, or maybe 87, and so that that was one time he did blow a save.
Speaker 1:So you could you could youtube that and take a look at the one time Dennis Eckersley really got tagged up there and blew a game, but otherwise he was really dominant and growing up this was the first closer that I truly knew of and, yeah, he would come out the bad to the bone, which is a great song. Like you said, everybody's going to know it. But I would also encourage people go into the rest of George Thorogood's catalog because he's actually got a lot of good like rock music. Probably be in that classic rock genre now, but the only one that really gets consistent airplay is this one.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's funny you mentioned to go, you know, into the, into the discography of this guy, because I even for the first time, just listened to the whole song, because I think I've only ever known I've only really ever known the chorus and like there are some shredding amazing guitar solos in this song that I just had no idea existed. Because, again, this is just one, this might, this might need to be a mix one day where it's like did you know? The rest of the song is great, um, you know, it's more than just the chorus and this could be number one on that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All right. Moving on another kind of funny entrant here which I couldn't find the story on this one, so hoping that you did. But this is Dancing Queen by ABBA and of course, yeah, it's John Smoltz on the Braves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so John Smoltz. This was back in the 90s. They had this dominant pitching staff and John Smoltz was a starter for the Braves during that time and then he got injured, came back from an injury and became their closer and he was an all-star, I think, in both positions.
Speaker 1:So he was a starter for a long time and then moved to the bullpen and he was really good in that role and he's currently an announcer, I think, on the TBS broadcast and he looks like a middle-aged dad, which is essentially what he is. Right, he's just like an announcer now, but he was so good that he could move from a starter role to a closer role, be dominant in both, and he was so confident that he's like, yeah, just throw on Dancing Queen when I come on out. He just didn't. I think it was just kind of a throwaway, but uh, people kind of got into it. It ended up being kind of this funny thing when smolts would come out, uh, to close the game, rather than something like super serious, like a bad to the bone type thing might be right.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's kind of the vibe I got from it, so I'm happy that that is what is what you confirmed. I I almost thought of it as like it's almost like a psych out strategy because, like you know, the opposing team is expecting some kind of like fiery entrance and and some kind of badass song, but then Dancing Queen comes on, which is an amazing song, no doubt. I mean yeah. I'll listen. I'll listen to ABBA all day long, but it's definitely not stereotypical for like a closing walkout song so you're probably just like wait what.
Speaker 2:What's happening right now?
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely giving yourself a psychological edge if you're walking out to this song. I think. Yeah, all right, so number nine on the countdown. Okay, we go with California Love by Tupac and Dr Dre, and this was used by Kenley Jansen when he was with the Dodgers yeah, so he was with the Dodgers for a long time.
Speaker 2:Um, and it's funny because originally in my notes I was like I mean this is, this is a great song to play. If you are pitching for an LA team, you know like of course you're gonna play California Love. And then I even wrote down, before digging even further, of just like I mean, mean, this song is not going to move with him. If he ever moves teams and sure enough he's, he's on the Braves and he's no longer using this song. Because that would just be inappropriate, matt, it would be inappropriate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's not appropriate. That's the only inappropriate thing about the Atlanta Braves, and that's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:That's the only inappropriate thing about the Atlanta Braves, and that's all I'm going to say I know I need them to lose like one more game so that the Mets take the NL East. But yes, he now uses the song Welcome to Atlanta by Ludacris, which is also very appropriate, so he seems to really like the geography based entrance song. He's like he wants to stay true to where he physically is um. So I'd be curious. I almost just want him to be traded to a whole bunch of teams just to know what is his.
Speaker 1:you know city playlist for yeah, if he was on the brewers he'd have to use, like the theme from laverne and shirley or something like that. Like what? What great milwaukee song? Just trying to think off the top of my head, if there's a great milwaukee song, but that's yeah if you know of any.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you know of any reach out to us on instagram at super awesome mix. Send us, send us a dm, let us know what. What is milwaukee song?
Speaker 1:yeah, but you're right, this is uh, this is awesome song. I think we've featured this a couple other times on different mixes and we'll probably keep featuring it because it's such a great song. But you're right, very strong choice. But it's got to be geography-based. You've got to be in LA and there's LA. They've got Anaheim, San Francisco as a. It's like there's multiple places you could be in the major leagues and use this song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good stuff, great song Also, again another iconic intro where it's like you immediately know, you know not. I mean I guess the song literally announces itself with the first two words. But still, great intro Fair enough All right. So number eight on the countdown, number five on the mix, and it is Jump Around by House of Pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this one was used by Brian Wilson of the San Francisco Giants during the early part of the 2010s when they were really good. They won the World Series like three out of six years and he came out. I mean first of all this song. Like you hear the first couple of notes and everybody knows it and they're immediately gonna start to jump around.
Speaker 2:So you immediately get that energy going.
Speaker 1:And then you know, go ahead and Google Brian Wilson, because in his heydayday he had this huge beard and he's so intense and I mean so I could just imagine coming up to the plate and everyone's jumping around and you've got this guy who just looks like an insane person staring at you and is about to throw a baseball as hard as possible at you, right. I imagine just his presence. I think lent itself to this song gave it a little bit more of an edge than it already has.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is what a great song to get a crowd into your entrance right. And I think that as we get further down this list and closer to number one, I think that that's like a theme is, these are songs that are going to get people in the audience like really fired up and they're going to want to stand and they're going to want to applaud and cheer and yell and like and I think that for a lot of pitchers, like you want that energy right, like you want to make that entrance, you need that to feel like, ok, I can do this, I can do this. Like I've got the crowd behind my back, like let's go, um, and so this is a classic one for that?
Speaker 1:um, absolutely. It's such a fun song. Um, all right, next up number seven. On the countdown we've got wild thing by the troggs, and this was used by mitch williams of the philadelphia phillies yes, mitch williams.
Speaker 2:Um, another iconic opening to a song, I think one that we have talked about before, because I think I've told the story about how I used to wait on the radio for this to play, because I was obsessed with this song as a little kid Again, not knowing the lyrics or what at all it was about, but just really like the sound of it. So he earned the nickname Wild Thing we were talking about like crazy pitching rituals because he used to like fall off to the third base side of the mound during follow through, and so I guess people were like what the heck? And again, because it worked for him, he just continued to do that over and over. And then, I guess, at some point the organist, you know, on his entrance, like played Wild Thing on the, the organ, which I really would love to hear. That sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:And then eventually they would just play, you know, the version by the troggs um, whenever he came up, and so, yeah, wild thing, very appropriate, uh, song for for a closer and just a great story too, which is why it's ranked number seven on our list well and he was kind of, you know, coming into his own with the phillies in the early 90s and it was just a couple of years after the movie major league came out and of course you know, rick wild thing vaughn was the big reliever in that one played by charlie sheen, and so it was kind of on the heels of that too that it's like we had this sort of real life version of wild thing where you know this guy coming in and he was really effective for a while.
Speaker 1:And then, and you know, similar to Dennis Eckersley, he had a big moment where in the 92 World Series Joe Carter hit the World Series winning home run off of him, ended the series with a home run and yeah, that was off of Mitch Williams coming in trying to save the game for the Phillies. So that was a big moment on a downside for him. But he had a really good career and was also, you know, a Major League Baseball analyst for a while on TV and stuff. But yeah, this was the perfect song for him and also for pop culture when it came about.
Speaker 2:Nice, All right, Countdown number six. So track number seven. And it is Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine being used by Aroldis Chapman on the Yankees.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you know a lot of people think baseball is boring. You know, I'm not in that camp. I think it's a pretty fun sport to watch. But if you're bored at a game and then Rage Against the Machine comes on.
Speaker 2:I don't think you're going to be bored.
Speaker 1:It's going to do exactly what this song intends to do, which is wake you up, right.
Speaker 1:But, on top of that, aroldis Chapman throws about as hard as any player in Major League history, right, just insane heat over 100 miles per hour, and so you know you better be awake if you're at the plate against him, and so it's almost like kind of a. I mean, I see this as kind of a warning to the other team that if they're kind of in a lull for some reason, like they better start paying attention because yeah, he's coming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and for a lot of these we'll have some YouTube links in the show notes for you to watch. Some of these entrances set to these songs, this one in particular, the Yankees, of course have, you know, like many stadiums, a big screen and they produced an entrance video that plays for him and it's like there's sirens playing in the background of the mix of Wake Up, so that makes it even more like alarming His ball that he's like tossing in the air is on fire. There's flames behind him. I mean it is quite the entrance. You know we're talking about the opposite of like coming in on ABBA, right, like this is pure total theatrics, really like trying to make you afraid that this guy is coming in and throwing these pitches as hard as he is. So absolutely love that. Yeah, great, great pick, and I won't again discuss. I won't bring up how upset I was at the end of the Matrix that Neo flew. We've already covered that, all right, so I don't need to bring that up.
Speaker 1:For all the Matrix fans listening out there. Yeah, you'll know. You'll know exactly what Sam was talking about.
Speaker 2:Exactly All right. Number eight on the mix, but number five on our countdown is Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses.
Speaker 1:So this was used by Eric Gagne of the Dodgers. So our third LA Dodgers to make an appearance on the countdown here. And I feel like as we get into the top five on the countdown here, they all have just amazing and we've already hit on this a little bit, but the top five especially have those amazing just intro notes where everybody's going to recognize the song and even if you don't, you're going to kind of get into it immediately and there's no doubt Welcome to the Jungle fits the bill there, because you get just a little taste of Slash's guitar and then he gets really into it. And then Ax rose's voice comes in and and eric gagne was kind of this, he was this big guy for the dodgers and obviously he was really good for them, um, when he was their closer, but he was super intense, like he would be like literally spitting out there, like he was so intense and so this song would come on and he's coming out to the mound and just like I mean, everybody was just going nuts at Dodger stadium.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and apparently they would even flash the words like game over on the scoreboard while the song would be playing, which, you know, honestly, is also a lot of pressure on these players. Like, it's like, man, but I, I guess that's what you sign up for when, when you want to be a closing pitcher. I mean, sometimes they come out and it's like they're down nine zero and it's like listen, it's as good as you are. I don't know. I don't know if you're gonna save this it's over it's over uh, we should have defensive scores in baseball.
Speaker 1:I think that that's really oh, there you go, yeah, yeah, I think that that would be, I know they're tweaking the rules a lot to make them faster they are, yes, they are quite a bit good stuff, great song all right, next up. Okay, we're getting into the top four on the countdown. Here it's. I'm shipping up to boston by the dropkick murphys and this was used by jonathan papabon of the boston red sox yes, of course it has to be a boston team.
Speaker 2:Um, and you know it's funny. This is one of those ones. Now we're getting into like earworm territory. This is one that stayed with me all day long and one that I didn't know the title of you. We've talked about songs before where it's like I just don't know what the name of the song is.
Speaker 2:but I absolutely know, like the gig here. You know I did a little Irish gig that plays. It's so good. I mean this is absolutely his top five material and it's it actually was popularized by him playing it as his entrance song. So it kind of was one of these things where it went the opposite way. You know, it wasn't like taking a popular song and then choosing it. It was kind of like making a song very popular because you chose it and it became just so iconic and actually is like kind of an unofficial Boston Irish song for that community there. So pretty amazing stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Papel Bond's another guy. He actually you know because of some press that's come out this year about closer entrance songs, because there's an entry on the countdown coming up here that got a lot of press this year. He came out and they interviewed him and he put his song at the top. He said this was the number one entrance. He goes go ahead and YouTube it. And if you YouTube some of these entrances by him, first of all Fenway Park is such a small park and the Boston fans are so intense, and then Papa Bond matched that intensity and so all of that coming together, right, even if 30 seconds earlier everyone was just singing Sweet Caroline, like now they're just ready to just kill someone.
Speaker 1:So it really is something to watch, because I mean they are just going crazy. And so is he. Like he's definitely matching every bit of their intensity and the intensity of the song. So it was a really cool intro for sure.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, yeah, uh. So such high energy in this song, again just from the opening beat. So it's great. Um, all right, a different kind of energy, um, but certainly one that works as a closer song. So number three in our countdown, number 10 on the mix, is hell's bells by acdc yeah.
Speaker 1:So trevor hoffman, who spent most of his career with the san diego padres uh, this was his entrance song and, um, for a while he held the major league record for number of saves. Like all time he got passed up by somebody coming up on our countdown. But he still holds the national league record and so I I kind of put him up high in this ranking just because of the level of success, coupled with how awesome this song is. Like I could just imagine a quiet stadium and then you just start to hear this bell and I've actually seen ACDC in concert and it's the same tack they take in concert where it's like everything gets really quiet, it's dark, and then you just start hearing the bell Right and everybody just erupts, and so it's the same thing they do in concert. And, um, he was so good and so effective that, yeah, it really was like like the bell is tolling, like it's it's over game. It's like you just said, game over, you know game over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wrote my official take on this song is it's a creepy af entrance song. My four word review right there.
Speaker 2:So, I yeah, I'm like a sucker for for any kind of like use of bells, like church bells and songs. I think like they're so ominous and really dark so they work really well with like any kind of rock song. I also love them with football games on third downs. A lot of stadiums will ring like church bells on third downs to kind of be like you know, again it's over, like why are you even trying? Like we're gonna, we're gonna send you off the field here. It just it adds definitely a layer of like intensity to any kind of a sport, I believe.
Speaker 1:Agreed. But you're right, it's a different kind of intensity from like the.
Speaker 2:you know, shipping Agreed but you're right, it's a different kind of intensity from the shipping up to Boston kind of energy, right, exactly. This one is much more solemn of just getting the crowd being like, okay, yeah, this is happening, that's all. Watch and marvel, that's right.
Speaker 1:All right, now let's get to the song that may have been the inspiration for this mix. Okay, because you've been so excited about it.
Speaker 2:Number two on the countdown didn't quite make it to the top, but it is Narco by Blaster Jacks featuring Timmy Trumpet. Yes, timmy Trumpet. Okay, so this is, of course, edwin Diaz on the Mets and they have, like SNY, which is the broadcasting company here for the, here for the mets, like primarily they follow them, and there was, like, I guess, one game where they decided not to cut to commercial break and instead to have the cameraman follow diaz out onto the field while this song was playing, which is his entrance song, and um, I, if I'm, if I remember correctly, like the person who has, like been producing the mets games, like studied like theater or film or something at some point in his life, and he wanted to kind of introduce some theatrics into, into the cinematography of these baseball games. You know there's 160 of them. I'm sure you get bored. You want to change things up.
Speaker 2:So they didn't cut the commercial, they let this like entrance run and it was unbelievable, it was so cool to kind of get the view, you know, running behind Diaz as he's going to the mound of like this is what they're seeing, right, and I just thought that was so well done, and so I think that is part of the reason why it became like it kind of blew up on the Internet and was shared a whole lot and like the YouTube videos now have so many views and he was really kind of vaulted to this like amazing top closer mixes on online, online and so anyway he and he's an amazing pitcher like it's unbelievable, like it is truly game over when he comes in. He's closed out so many games so successfully, saved a lot of games. He's so like many of these guys, like he's just so straight face. Like you, you expect sometimes for them to come out and be smiling and be like let's do this, but this guy is like nothing.
Speaker 1:Like he's just there to work. That's right, they are completely dialed in completely dialed in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and this one in particular, be sure to check the show notes because there's like um, the mets put together a special entrance where they actually had timmy trumpet come in and play the trumpet live on top of the track. Um, and and of course, mr and mrs met, or, which are giant baseball heads, are behind them also playing trumpet, and it's just pure joy. Um, and again, no smile cracked. You know you would think like, okay, this would be the scenario where you could get a smile out of this guy, because look at what, what the mets have put together for his entrance and nothing. He's like I don't care, I'm just here to save the game.
Speaker 1:He's got one job and he's there to do it. It's very simple.
Speaker 2:Exactly yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this one really was incredible. I remember this one kind of got caught fire on Twitter and started to get spread around and it's such a unique song and similar, though, to the Dropkick Murphys not a song that I was familiar with prior to this entrance situation, right, so it clearly kind of blew this song up a little bit, but it's definitely an awesome song. Definitely going to make it on my workout mixes going forward. But, yeah, I mean really I mean a strong entry here to come in in its debut season and be number two on our countdown. But, yeah, credit to the amazing season the Mets have had and Edwin Diaz's success too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they've been so much fun to watch and they're going to the playoffs. Matt, I made fun of them earlier this year I'm so sorry, or maybe I'm not sorry, because we kind of have this joke now that we have a reverse jinx on the Super.
Speaker 1:Bowl, that's right.
Speaker 2:Because at the time of this recording, the Jets are 2-2, which is the first time that's happened since 2015.
Speaker 1:So I mean, you know it's happening, it could happen. It could happen. Look out.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, here for our number one on the mix, a team that probably does not need a reverse jinx because historically they've been so good. You went with. Or rather, the song is Enter Sandman by Metallica and, of course, used by Mariana Rivera on the Yankees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I put this actually on my you know walk up music mix earlier. It was one of my picks because I was like this is such a great intro song and I said I cheated a little bit because it's a pitcher and not a batter. But now I'm glad we're doing a reliever mix because I could use it again because it is definitely the number one all-time. Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher of all time. I don't think that's hyperbole me saying that he's the all-time leader in saves and this song works on so many different levels. I mean it's such a great song and this song works on so many different levels. I mean it's such a great song. You know, like we talked about with these other guys, he was completely stone-faced, like nonplussed by the whole thing, right while he's coming in.
Speaker 1:But he was so good it really was like game over. And I was. You know, I'm a fan of the Texas Rangers and we faced Rivera a number of times Because they you know, the Rangers were actually pretty good in the late 90s and every time we faced Rivera it was just like, okay, that's, that's the end. Here he comes.
Speaker 2:That's three outs you know, so right yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it has to be number one because it's the perfect matchup for like lyrics and song intensity and for the success of the player too yeah, I remember kind of arguing with you a little bit whenever we were talking about who's going to be number one in the spot between Diaz's song and Rivera's song and I was like, okay, fine, I acquiesced, I think you were right, it has to be Enter Sandman. Yeah, both for skill and also just for the song. I mean, as you said, this is one where I think, again, like the lyrics work really well with, with like the, the sentiment you know, because Enter Sandman is like a very another creepy song of just like you know, here's someone who's going to turn out the lights on you, basically.
Speaker 2:So I think it works works really well for a closing mix and, of course, yeah, he's unbelievably skilled and absolutely deserves to be number one in our countdown mix.
Speaker 1:Yes, there you have it, another countdown mix and another sleeper awesome mix for your collection. We're going to close this one out, pun intended, but we're going to get to work on some more mixes for you. So, yeah, so for Samar, this is Matt, and we'll see you next time.
