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Baseball Isn’t Boring

Michael Kopech Is Back (This Time As A Free Agent)

08 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What insights does Michael Kopech share about his free agency experience?

0.031 - 1.553 Michael Kopech

Yeah, there should be some passion.

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1.573 - 12.448 Rob Bradford

This doesn't have to be boring.

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12.829 - 26.368 Michael Kopech

There's no doubt about it.

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26.448 - 41.489 Rob Bradford

There's one thing I know to be true when I woke up this morning. Michael Kopach. There is nobody on the planet I'd rather be talking to. I'd rather be talking to. Michael Kopach. I was going to try to beat you to it. You threw me off right there. I referenced you. It was one of the highlights of my 2025.

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42.31 - 54.542 Rob Bradford

Standing on the field after Game 7 of the World Series and having a major league player, a world champion, say, there's nobody I'd rather talk to than Rob Bradford.

54.562 - 69.35 Michael Kopech

I honestly did. And I really meant it. Because... I mean, you know me at this point. I don't like doing a lot of interviews. But I was like, yeah, I didn't do anything really for the team this year. I got to be here.

Chapter 2: How does Kopech reflect on the World Series championship moment?

69.39 - 82.571 Michael Kopech

I'm excited. If I get interviewed after we win this, there's only one that I actually want to do. And sure enough, it was almost immediately. It felt like you were on the field before everybody. But... Yeah, no, I really meant that.

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82.592 - 110.729 Rob Bradford

Well, I mean, thank you for making the highlight of 2025, and now you just made a highlight for 2026. There we go. We're rolling. You know, actually, it was probably, I got to be honest, I think the first person I ran into wasn't a player. It was Tony Robbins. What? Yeah. Really? Yeah, I mean, he does Dodgers. I mean, I didn't realize that he does stuff for the Dodgers or something. I don't know.

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110.749 - 112.592 Rob Bradford

I guess I didn't either. Oh, you didn't?

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112.632 - 114.255 Michael Kopech

No, I don't know.

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114.675 - 118.381 Rob Bradford

Evidently, Tony Robbins isn't doing too much for the Dodgers.

118.661 - 123.889 Michael Kopech

Well, I mean, I try to lay low, so I wouldn't say that. I'm throwing anybody under the bus here.

124.19 - 126.934 Rob Bradford

Yeah, no. You ever see the movie? Are you a movie guy?

128.095 - 129.517 Michael Kopech

Uh, not really.

129.537 - 152.037 Rob Bradford

No, he didn't see shell. He's in shallow hell. So anyway, I'm not to waste my time yet. Uh, so that, uh, but it's, it's, it's, you know, we've always have good conversations and I appreciate you. I sincerely appreciate you saying that. Um, it was. It's kind of weird to think back that we had back-to-back years. Obviously, I interviewed you.

Chapter 3: What unique experiences did Kopech have during the World Series celebration?

194.802 - 226.742 Michael Kopech

I mean, when you're young, you dream about a World Series championship. And you dream about winning wherever you're at, celebrating. You kind of dream about what the feeling is, that rush that comes over you. And I got to experience what that actually was. Was it what you thought it was? Yes and no. The rush initially was crazy. I mean, then I got to see my family. I got to hug my dad's neck.

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226.763 - 247.573 Michael Kopech

I got to cry tears of joy. It lasted like through the day of the parade. And then it was just like back to work, you know? So yes and no. It was incredible and very short-lived because, you know, there's always a next one. And the last one's already forgotten.

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248.127 - 264.088 Michael Kopech

you know, at least for a lot of people, not for everybody clearly, but I mean, like it, it doesn't stay with everybody the way it might stay with you and your heart. So it was, it was really cool. And I was really stoked about that. And I got to, you know, fulfill a lifelong dream. And that was, that was cool.

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264.488 - 288.291 Michael Kopech

Um, the next one obviously was a little different, um, not getting to play, trying my best to be supportive, just figuring out where guys needed me or if they needed me, um, Whether whether I should show up and be there for guys or if I should just like sit back and shut up because they're doing the work and I'm not like trying to kind of walk that line. It was really special to the team.

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288.311 - 292.883 Michael Kopech

Let me stay and be there considering I had like. I don't know.

293.133 - 322.482 Michael Kopech

12 innings on the year I don't even know if it was that yeah but listen I mean you're part of you're part of the team man like come on right but like but think about like think about like this just how grateful I felt for it like all the guys that threw just a few innings that might have gotten you know hurt or DFA'd or optioned or whatever the case is and they were either sitting back at home or sitting in Arizona and not getting the opportunity to be there like I didn't feel deserving of that but not feeling deserving and still getting to be there I was really grateful for it you know

322.782 - 348.182 Michael Kopech

um and then on top of that my son's canadian so getting to do it in toronto and him getting to be there that was really cool for me so a lot of things made that one more special than it seemed even though i didn't get to play um i didn't get the same like like rush yeah that i got the first one but it was just like it was just like i was overwhelmed with gratitude like

349.09 - 362.264 Michael Kopech

How good is God that I get to be standing here right now in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity twice? You know what I mean? It was sick, man. I was really grateful for both of them, but both very different experiences for me.

362.585 - 379.191 Rob Bradford

Did you... You know, because I think we were trying to, we'll get to the tattoo a little bit. But we were, you know, I was trying to line that up. And you said, I think you said, I got to take off pretty quick. I mean, you took off pretty quick, right? Were you even there at the parade or no?

Chapter 4: How does Kopech feel about his role in the team during the playoffs?

384.018 - 407.219 Michael Kopech

It wasn't funny then. We were actually planning on leaving before the parade. We loaded up my wife's Suburban and my truck. And we were going to get on the road. we go to get in the car, we lost our key. Couldn't find the key to our car. Just couldn't find it. So we were like, well, we're here. And so we went to the parade. We did the whole parade, the celebration.

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407.259 - 431.309 Michael Kopech

We're going to leave that night. So we got a locksmith to come out. Locksmith was going to make a new key. We're going to get on the road. So he comes and he does that. But by the time we actually got a locksmith out there, because all the traffic from the parade Got the whole thing done. It was 9.30 at night. We're like, we're not going to take off right now. This doesn't make sense. So we wait.

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431.329 - 447.414 Michael Kopech

We're going to take off in the morning. So first thing in the morning, I say first thing. After a long day, we slept in a little bit. So like 10 o'clock in the morning, we'd go to get on the road. We get like 10 minutes down the road, my truck breaks down. Like, well, it didn't literally break down, but it starts malfunctioning.

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447.434 - 450.698 Rob Bradford

It's misfiring. And you're going, I mean, you're going to Texas. I'm driving to Texas.

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451.078 - 473.563 Michael Kopech

I haven't been 10 minutes down the road yet. So we pull into, I won't say what kind of truck I drive. I'm not trying to throw anything at the bus. But we pull into the shop. I'm like, look, I don't know what's going on, but my... My truck, I just got it out of the shop. I can't figure out why, but it's not running right still. And they're like, yeah, no worries. We'll take a look at it.

473.583 - 475.967 Michael Kopech

But it's probably going to be a couple of days before we can figure it out.

Chapter 5: What emotions did Kopech experience during critical game moments?

476.087 - 493.01 Michael Kopech

And I'm like, OK, I got to get back home. Like, we've got things to do. We got to get back home. They're like, all right, we can set you up to rental. So we start to get set up with the rental, go through that whole process. I got to take stuff out of my truck, put it in the rental car. We got, you know, we got all the kids with us. So we're taking the car seats out, put them in the rental car.

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493.751 - 508.272 Michael Kopech

By the time we're about to get going again, it's like four or five o'clock in the afternoon. We may get two hours down the road in the rental car. Fast forward to the next day. We wake up from wherever we're staying. We go to take off. My wife's alternator goes out.

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508.793 - 508.933 Rob Bradford

Oh.

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509.437 - 531.698 Michael Kopech

Oh, my gosh. So like we I go and I'm like, maybe we can just like tighten this here, try to jump it off. Like I said, long story short, we jump off the car, but we're a few hours into it. So things like that kept happening. Somebody somebody hit her while she was driving. She got in an accident. And so it ended up being like we were supposed to be home a week and a half earlier.

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532.083 - 552.515 Michael Kopech

But we got home when we got home. We had to change a few of the plans that we originally had for the beginning of the offseason. But we were like, man, we just – we need to rest. And it rubbed some people the wrong way that we thought we needed some rest after a long year because we had made plans. But, like, man, it was just – we really needed some rest.

552.596 - 555.56 Michael Kopech

And it wasn't even so much physical rest. It was just, like, mental rest.

555.62 - 555.901 Rob Bradford

Yeah.

556.502 - 566.374 Michael Kopech

But – But it just went from one thing to another. And I can't tell you how grateful I was to finally hit my own bed. I was like, man, I just want to stay.

566.394 - 587.132 Rob Bradford

I thought you were going to say after your truck breaks or you lose the keys, you go to the parade. I thought you were going to say, well, we have to go to Mookie's party now. Oh, we did go to Mookie's party. Oh, you did? Oh, so we had on your other guy, the other tattoo guy, Banda, right? Okay.

Chapter 6: How does Kopech describe the atmosphere during the World Series games?

588.454 - 593.562 Rob Bradford

And he said that that was part of the party, giving out tattoos, right?

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593.742 - 614.157 Michael Kopech

Oh, yeah. There was a guy there. He actually tattooed me. almost 10 years ago now, that was theirs. It was so crazy to see him in a setting like that. But he was tattooing people. I think he tattooed my wife, tattooed a bunch of the wives, a couple of the players, a couple of explicit tattoos that I probably shouldn't mention.

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614.357 - 639.033 Rob Bradford

Well, they had the one of, I think, with TK and Yates. Yeah, exactly. But I just want to make sure, because we don't want just as you, when you get the... In case people don't know, which they know, but I'm going to say anyway, you have proclaimed that if you won the World Series, you would get a baseballs and boring tattoo. We're still good, right? For sure. Okay.

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639.133 - 646.665 Rob Bradford

I just want to make sure it wasn't just random, hey, I'm at a party. No, no. This has to be a special, very special event, special occasion.

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646.685 - 655.883 Michael Kopech

I'll do it on y'all's terms. I agreed to what you wanted. With that being said... It's going to be what we agreed on. I'm not just going to... No, no.

656.123 - 658.287 Rob Bradford

Whatever you want. Whatever you want.

658.707 - 684.538 Michael Kopech

I don't know. I want... The baseball isn't boring. I want those words tattooed on me. I mean, first of all, I told you this before. Joe meant a lot to my career. You've meant a lot to my career. And I don't see those relationships running out anytime soon. And it's affected me deeper than just the game itself. So, you know, I'm grateful for you guys.

684.698 - 702.154 Rob Bradford

Well, I appreciate that. And you've meant a lot, not only because you prominently displayed the Japanese baseballs and boring T-shirt. In Toronto. But we will get this. And I don't want to... We have time to do it. Band-Aid hasn't done it.

Chapter 7: What lessons has Kopech learned from his career in baseball?

702.877 - 727.896 Rob Bradford

First of all, we have to figure out where you're going to be, right? Yeah. Figure out where you're going to be. I was, as I told you, at the GM meetings, the winter meetings, I was whispering in people's ears and saying, you know, Scott Boris, hey, Scott, give you Copac here, Copac there, Copac everywhere. I did that. Yeah, well, it's going to be a great story.

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727.936 - 749.825 Rob Bradford

It's going to be a great landing spot, whatever it is. I guess the question I have in that respect is, this is the first time you've been through this, right? Yeah. And I was talking to G Alito the other day about that, and he said when he went through it after – He had that weird year where he's traded a couple of times and then he was a free agent. He's like, I didn't handle it well.

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749.965 - 759.995 Rob Bradford

I wasn't a good spot. I wasn't like I was stressing so much. And now he's like, now he's a free agent again. He's like, it's a completely different mindset. Everybody handles it different. How has it been for you?

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761.576 - 788.632 Michael Kopech

I got to say, not to like pat myself on the back or anything, but I'm very surprised at how little I've stressed about it. It's just... This past year could have gone way better for me. I could have stayed healthy. I could have had a good, you know, cool platform year going into free agency or what have you. But I, you know, I've just felt like I'm going to land wherever God wants me to land.

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788.753 - 816.094 Michael Kopech

And, you know, I think that there's no right or wrong time for me to be anywhere right now. You know, I have the things that I want as far as like, physical location for my family and I, for, you know, financially or whatever. But I, you know, I've really enjoyed my career to this point.

816.214 - 836.585 Michael Kopech

Like, I've seen some really tough times with some tough teams, but made some great relationships and learned a lot of lessons there. Obviously, I wouldn't want to lose a lot, so I don't want to go to a losing team, but I've the way I've been able to look back on everything and be like, I'm grateful for what I've had.

837.305 - 859.95 Michael Kopech

I don't think that there's going to be something that I could really be upset about. You know, I, I think, I think everything will work out the way it's supposed to work out is bottom line. And I've kind of just, you know, when I've got a text from my agent, just looked at it and smiled and responded or,

860.639 - 878.62 Michael Kopech

you know, I've stayed, you know, I don't go on the internet a whole lot anyway, but I've stayed off the internet and I kind of tried to just keep my head down and keep working. So I'm not too worried about it, man. Like if, if things don't go according to plan, I'll be okay. If they do great.

878.94 - 884.627 Michael Kopech

If they go better than that, even better, you know, but I, I'm not, I'm not too worried about it at all, really.

Chapter 8: What future goals does Kopech have as he moves forward in his career?

890.828 - 913.812 Rob Bradford

I do. I am like interested. Are you talking about getting texts from Scott and his guys? How, how does that dynamic work for you? Like this is as, as good as you handle it, you, you, this for, for me, it'd be sitting around like, Hey, anything going on? What's going on? What's happening? Does this mean this guy signed? Does that mean anything that, you know, this, do you ever do that thing?

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915.073 - 931.659 Michael Kopech

Uh, It's mainly through what I hear from other people. So, like, somebody texts, not even me, texted my wife the other day, and was like, Michael signed here? And she was like, did you? And I was like, I didn't sign anywhere, but, I mean, maybe something going on.

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932.019 - 940.31 Rob Bradford

I know exactly what that was. If I say the team, so I think it was a Yankees thing, right?

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940.691 - 941.512 Michael Kopech

No, no.

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941.792 - 942.553 Rob Bradford

Oh, was it?

942.533 - 963.404 Michael Kopech

There was a whole article. I guess I can say it. I mean, I hadn't heard anything about it. So there's a whole article that came out that said I signed with the Blue Jays. And I was like, I hadn't heard from Scott. I hadn't talked to anybody at all. Like, I've just been chilling. But then, like, you know, murmurings happen and people are like, is this where he's going? Blah, blah, blah.

963.744 - 983.334 Michael Kopech

I don't know. Y'all literally might know more than I do. And that's cool with me. Like, to answer your question, though, like, the business – was Scott and I, I think it's a pretty, like a pretty mutual understanding between the two of us that like, I'm going to let him handle that side of the business for the most part.

984.476 - 1005.565 Michael Kopech

And, you know, I might tell him some things that are going on or whatever, but I'm going to let him handle it. And then he'll come to me when the business is taken care of. Like, I, and this is why I was off social media. This is why I don't like talking to media. I just want to play ball. Like as simple as I can put it, that's it, man.

1005.625 - 1032.946 Michael Kopech

Like all the drama, all the nonsense, all the murmuring, all the rumors, all the whatever, the trash talking on social platform. I don't care. Like I just want to play ball. And I've got to do that, and I've got to have a good career doing that. So it kind of works out perfect for me in that regard, and that's probably part of the reason I don't stress, because that's what my mind is, you know?

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