FIRST TAKE | Mad Dog BOLD PREDICTIONS 2025 ALDS: Blue Jays vs Yankees; Mariners vs Tigers – Who win?

FIRST TAKE | Mad Dog BOLD PREDICTIONS 2025 ALDS: Blue Jays vs Yankees; Mariners vs Tigers – Who win?

Oh yeah. Division series begins Saturday. Blue Jays welcome in the division rival Yankees. Toronto won the AL East over the Yankees on the final day of the regular season. Blue Jays won the season series 8 to 5. Toronto was 6-1 at home against the Yankees this season. And that’s where this series will start. And well, we’ll see how it plays out. In the other ALDS, it’s TK Scubble and the Tigers clashing with Cal Raleigh and the Mariners. Scooble slated to pitch game two. Big Dumper hit 60 home runs in the regular season. One of them was against Scooble. Scooble played college baseball for Seattle University. So somewhat of a homecoming for him. The Mariners have won four straight games against the Tigers. Back here with former MLB executive of the year and CBS Sports Baseball insider Jim Bowden. Yankees Blue Jays. It was as if they were on a collision course here. Final day of the regular season. Toronto wins the division. My question for you, Jim, is okay, it was 8 to5 in the regular season, but it was six to one the advantage at home for the Blue Jays. What has to happen for the Yankees to go into Toronto and at least get one? They have to out pitch them and that’s going to be the key for the Yankees. You know, we all want to talk about the MVP season that Aaron Judge has. We all want to talk about the success we saw with Jean Carlos Stanton last postseason. We know what the big boys can do here, but the big story for the New York Yankees is the starting rotation. And their rotation right now is in the best shape it’s been all season long. Lewis Heel will start game one for them, followed by Max Freed, followed by Carlos Rodon, followed by Cam Stitler. Those will be the guys pitching the first four games of this fiveame series. And they’re all at a good spot right now. They’re all healthy and they’re all pitching at their best at the right time. The Yankees need them to pitch deep into games. You know, I know they’re very comfortable with Fernando Cruz and David Badner at the back end, but they’re not as comfortable with Weaver and Devin Williams as they have pitched. And so, that’s going to be an area that is going to be something that is going to be important in this series. But for them to beat Toronto, they have to their starting pitching has to outpitch Toronto’s. Well, they’re hoping to have Bo Bashette back in this series. Wii would give us Bo Bashette and Cam Schlitler in the same series. So, we’re gonna have I’m gonna have to be really careful when I read these highlights. U so I don’t slip up u because that’s it’s going to be it’s going to be very critical, Jim, for me to annunciate my words when Bo Bashette is facing Cam Schlitler. Or maybe Schlit will happen. We never know. All right. So, the Yankees are the favorites here to win this series and they’re actually tied right now. best odds to win the World Series with the team they lost to in the World Series last year, the Dodgers. Who’s your pick to win this series? And do please don’t be a prisoner of the moment and say the Yankees, because of just what happened. Yeah, so look, I’ve got the Yankees winning this. I did before the postseason started. I had them playing the Blue Jays and winning the series. I think it would be a good series. The one thing I really do like about the Blue Jays is they have the best defense in the American League. Um, you don’t get 27 outs with Toronto. Uh Toronto has the best outfield defense in the league and outside of shortstop they have a plus defender at every position and they’re they’re going to beat you there and their lineup is deep and they can mix and match against you. They can platoon the lefty righty thing extremely well. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is living up to that $500 million contract he got back in spring training. And the Blue Jays are really tough to beat up there in Toronto at Rogers Center. They really are. So I think we’re in for a really good series. I do, but the rotation isn’t as good as it was most of the year for Toronto. I’m a little bit worried about that aspect of their team, especially as we get into games three and four. So, we’ll see how it plays out. I think it’s going to be close, but I do think the Yankees have a better team. And remember, even though the Blue Jays won the division, they were tied, right? But in the regular season, the Yankees couldn’t beat Toronto and they couldn’t beat Boston. But I think that will flip in the postseason and I think that’s when the Yankees will get back at the Red Sox, which they just did. And I think they’ll get back at Toronto as well. But I think we’re in for a really good series. This is the first ever meeting in the postseason between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Might surprise a few folks. It’s the first ever postseason meeting between the Tigers and Mariners. How much are you looking forward to the TKO Cal Raleigh matchup in this one? And as I mentioned, Scooble played college baseball at Seattle University. So, a homecoming for him here. Yeah. I mean, look, it’ll be fun because Terrick Scooel is going to win the Sai Young award. Second consecutive year that he won in the American League. He is the second best pitcher in baseball to Paul Ske, but the best pitcher in the American League. In my opinion, Cal Raleigh is going to win the MVP slightly over Aaron Judge, who I think will win the Hank Aaron award for best offensive player. But because Raleigh caught and was such an elite framer and called such a great game all year, I think Raleigh’s going to end up getting the votes of the writers to edge out Judge. So to see the Sai Young award winner face the MVP one-on-one, it’s going to be great. The problem with the Tigers is he only gets to start one game every 5 days or four days. And he’s not going to start game one, he’s going to start game two, which makes it almost impossible to pitch game five or at least a lot of game five. And so, you know, I I just think it’s going to be hard for Detroit to get by Seattle. Um, I said all along I thought Seattle was the best team in the American League. Their starting rot rotation is deep 1 to5. They have an elite closer in Andres Munoz. They got strong bullpen arms and depth getting to him. They’re a strong defensive team up the middle with Raleigh behind the plate, JP Crawford sitting there at shortstop, JRod in center field. So, they’re really good defensively up the middle. They got power on the corners with Josh Naylor and Uennio Suarez. Uh they’ve got speed in right field and Victor Roblace who’s going to rob you of a hit in the gap. Seattle has a really good team. Detroit got in because they’re in the American League Central. But the fact of the matter is I can’t see them. I cannot see them outside of the day that Scooble pitches. I can’t see them beating Seattle. Well, I’m going to give you this statistic right here. The Tigers are 22-10 when Terrick Skoo pitches. They’re 66 and 66 when anybody else pitches. So yeah, that’s them. That that’s that’s what it is. Static. Yeah. So you’re picking you’re picking Seattle to advance to the ALCS. They’ve never appeared in the World Series ever. Ever. They’re the only team in franchise in MLB history. Do you believe in the Mariners to get to the World Series? Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think either the Mariners or the Yankees can get there. I think they’re the two best teams left standing in the American League. I really do. And I think one of the two of them are going to be there. I’m not going to give you my prediction yet. I need to watch both of these teams in the next series. I’m a big believer in momentum and recency bias, so I want to keep watching. But I predicted before the postseason started that it would be a Mariners Phillies World Series. So, I’m going to stick with that for now. But I’ll be subject to change based on how they play coming up this week. Oh man, that would be fun. I’m already thinking about that. Big dumper against Kyle Schwarber. Led their respective leagues and home runs. Potentially the two MVPs, not show and Aaron Judge just stirring the pot here. I love it, Jim. I’d love to see that. I I Otan is going to win the MVP, but I would like love like love to see a Schwarber Raleigh World Series. That would be something else. All right, division series begins Saturday. Hey, Jim Bowden here with us on CBS Sports HQ. Tigers and Mariners first ever meeting in the postseason. Seattle won four straight against Detroit in the regular season. Terrick Scooel, Cal Raleigh, big dumper. We cannot wait. It all gets going on Saturday.

FIRST TAKE | Mad Dog BOLD PREDICTIONS 2025 ALDS: Blue Jays vs Yankees; Mariners vs Tigers – Who win?

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