Yankees vs. Blue Jays ALDS Preview | 1293

Yankees vs. Blue Jays ALDS Preview | 1293

Today is October 3rd. Tomorrow is the start of the playoffs. The Yankees will be facing the Blue Jays. And we are previewing that matchup today. [Music] Recaps awards and hot takes. Get your Yankees news from these two fine dudes. It’s time for talking yanks. Yanks with old and old. Thank you very much for tuning in. My name is Jimmy. His name is Jake. Producer BBD in the corner. It’s brought to you by SeatGeek where you can use code JM Playoffs and get 10% off any ticket. You want to see some baseball? Go to SeatGeek. Find the event. Yankees game. I guess they let you know if it’s a good value ticket, bad value ticket. You get 10% off when you use code JM Playoffs. I’m jazzed up about this episode because I just uh did uh you know, a couple hours of research and I just kept running into things. I like Jake. So I I wrote down a notes here. Uh just says Schneider, Jay’s pitching, uh relievers when faced, roster decisions. Those are some of my notes to make sure we get to them. James, your note card, Davis, everyone tuning in. Let’s go. Yeah, we’re entering a real postseason matchup. And yeah, the the weird Jakey thing that I stumbled into this morning was if you did a clue the board game version of playoff matchups, Boston in a three-game set at Fenway would have been the worst combination. That would have been the worst three you could have put in there. Yes. Luckily, Boston in three at the stadium was a step up from that. Schlitler has the performance of a lifetime. that Toronto with home field in five, that’s an okay clue board for us. Uh, and I think our starting pitching lines up pretty well. There’s a lot of judge numbers to be liked that man, if not now, when for the big fella. But yeah, and again, two divisional teams that know each other well. And to be fair, we’re going to be excited and get ourselves hype. There’s some Toronto numbers that they are going to be excited about and they like their team. So, a ton of matchups in the bullpen again, just like we saw with Boston. Um, all righty starting pitchers. So, that’s going to be the great game. Uh, but yeah, the Yankees this Boston and three or Toronto and five, this has more optimism. Much Yeah. Yeah. Much more optimism. I will say for Blue Jays fans that are coming, um hopefully you’re the nice kind and not the kind that is like an annoying Chihuahua that’s always just like barking and upset cuz those are bad Blue Jays fans. But there are nice Blue Jays fans and I like the Blue Jays team. I love it to be honest with you in this I love the style of ball they play and I want more baseball games to look like what the Blue Jays did this year. I think it’s a better like taking off my Yankees hat. This is actually my playoff baseball hat and just like base fan of the beautiful game of baseball. I think the Blue Jays if they’re successful get us back into a more exciting product. So, I will say that I like what they’re doing. They’ve had a very successful season and offensively they scare me a little bit. But when we went through this with Cro with Garrett Crochet and the counter moves that the Yankees had to made make because of Crochet and the Red Sox bullpen. That was way scarier than when I look at the counter moves the Yankees have to make against Blue Jays because the answer is none. They have all righty starting pitchers and they have all righty relievers in the top of their bullpen. So that means I’ll counter you on that a little bit, Jim. Um Brennan Little has had a really nice year for them and they like him a lot and flu Hardy uh since they called him back up. He has been good for them. That those are two lefties they are going to use a lot. Do you think they’re going to use those guys above Hoffman, Sir Anthony, and Yariel? Not Hoffman, but the other guys in lefty lanes. They Yes, they’ll get like a eighth inning lefty lane if it’s a lefty lane. Yes, I they’re going to attack our lefties with lefties. Flu Hardy is nasty. Um he uh since he’s got called up, he’s been good and he throws with funk. Um and yeah, Brandon Little has been a guy for them that yes, they they have lefties on the board. They have lefties. It’s just a little different than having the closer and the seventh inning and the sixth inning guy be lefties. Yes. Although they could do that, but Hoffman and Chapman much different level of scare, especially Hoffman’s having a tough season and and tough end to a season. Innings innings five through eight, that’s going to be the chess game in this series cuz they will press the lefty buttons there. Um especially like um I guess maybe they’ll want to save a guy for Hoffman. Hoffman’s a very interesting story of this series because he has big lefty splits and like you said he’s given up the most home runs from a reliever. So that’ll be interesting. Maybe they’ll want to save a guy for that. But yeah, they are definitely going to the Yankees starting lineup is set. Um but in those middle innings they’ll hit their lefty reliever button and it’s going to be interesting to see if Boone counters cuz he might not cuz he’ll want to leave him for Hoffman if he has to. Yeah, the Yankees are more built to face a team like this. Use their righties in strategic pinch hitting. Uh pinch hit Rosario, then use Cababie in the field. Uh pinch hit Goldie, then use Kabie or use um uh someone else in the field or just pinch him as DH. Like the Yankees are are going to start a consistent lineup. Yes. Yes. Um Yeah. I mean, hey, it’s a playoff series that, you know, things can happen quick. And, uh, you know, Paulie G, I think he’s got some some good numbers against Gossman and some other guys. So, you wonder if they they get in their Yankee lab about that at all. But, we’ve seen how good Paul’s been at pinch hitting. Um, that Yeah, it’s definitely some of the scenarios we’ve talked about previously where we’ve mentioned, well, if the Yankees are up, they’re not going to pinch hit in a big situation to potentially hurt their defense. If the Yankees are down or tied, that changes the math a little bit that hey, if they go to a lefty and Ben Rice is up and you know you’ve got two runners on, you might have to shoot Goldie there because you’re going to get his defense and you have an at bat that could change the game. So, um yeah, the the middle innings are going to have more chicken than the late innings did versus Boston. But for all the fans that are um you know like the set it and forget it lineup, you’re going to get more of that which is nice where they just face two lefties and kind of like two bullpen days. It was a little harder to juggle. Uh okay. So I I like that. And I think roster-wise that’s probably another Do you want to go to the the the roster decisions and who do we think is on and who do you think’s off? or have we already sped past the very basics? I I guess I would I would do it tight because I think it’s tight. Uh unless I’m missing something. I I think it would be heel for Blackburn. Uh is uh I think they’re going to want Hedrik or um Yarby. One of those two. I think they’re going to want another lefty in a fivegame set against a team that is right, left, right, left, right, left. And way more damaging than the Red Sox in that way. Yes. Uh yeah, I I guess I don’t know. Um I I don’t know if they need that. I mean, Lucas and Barger are the two lefties you have to be scared of. And if Var show’s got Pop, I you know, he should be thrown in the mix. Um but still, I don’t know if Yarro changes that. I guess Hedrich could, but we haven’t seen Hedrik in a little bit. And I guess for me, the next step to get someone off the roster, I really don’t like that. I I think I’m only heel for Blackburn. That would remain 11 pitchers. I think they did. They go 12. They had 12 last series. They did 11 in the DS last year. So there’s Yeah, they did 11 in the DS last year. I I guess for me um if you go Hedrick I would do it for another reliever like maybe Mark Lighter Jr. Um because I think you need Warren as insurance uh for game one or maybe he starts game one. We haven’t gone to that but dude I can’t take a Scara off the roster and I think Dominguez you can’t take off either. So I’m that’s where I’m at. I would understand Dominguez. I would it would be Dominguez if you’re taking someone off. if he didn’t get reps. Ascaris with the right situation, ascar safety when you’re when you’re starting both of those. So, if they wanted another pitcher cuz their bullpen is not as strong as last year like and I don’t think you can um I don’t think you can pitch Mark Lighter Jr. against the Blue Jays. I really don’t. I think that their contactbased approach and his pitches do not bode well together. He has he got by them a decent amount in the regular season. So if you wanted to like Hedrick who throws hard or we saw them like if Warren’s getting a start, Schler’s getting a start, we saw both those guys get absolutely demolished by the Blue Jays and then we saw Yarby come into a game and shut him down for five. So I would want Yarby on the on the roster if you need length. So is it Yarby or Heedrich for you? You can only get one, right? I would choose Yarby, but I’m saying if they if they value just like a lefty that throws heat, but I value Yarby in the long relief. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I’m okay with the Mark Lighter Jr. transaction. I think we’ve I think we’ve moved on past Jone a little too quickly. But again, the Red Sox were so left-handed that like Jason against righties and his speed and again Cababiro, we need him to be the versatile Cababiro for us that I’m I’m not willing to make that trade for Hedrich or Yarby. I would do Hedrich or Yarby for Lighter Jr. Yeah. The the only difference is last year they they had the off days. It was like game off day game off day and that allowed them to carry less pitchers. But this se this series is game game game off day game game game. It’s normal, right? Game game, but still they should be okay. You don’t you don’t have the three in the row like you have with the CS. So I there’s an off day before, there’s an off day after two that like I think I think you’re fine. And hey, the Yankees starting pitching deserves a little love. Like I as we were doing our hype thing like what Rodon did in game two, what him him and Freed’s innings all years and now Cam Schlitler has changed the equation just a little bit that um I I don’t know. I think what Yarby could offer I I would rather have Dominguez. So, right now, the Yankees pitching is Luis Heel versus Shane Bieber in game one, but it it could be Warren, but everyone is just leaning that it’s heel. It’s not been official yet. Not official. Uh Heel’s last start against the Blue Jays was six innings, one earned run. I think it was arguably his best start of the season. Um he’s well rested. What do you got, B? Gossman’s game one for them. We said we said be Oh, go yeah. Gosman beat game one. um that yeah I we’ll see. I it feels like heel in a way has earned it but not but against the Blue Jays maybe. Um and yeah I it feels like Warren’s the insurance piece there that again you know people are people are excited about this Yankees pitching now that having Hill be be your we survive the wild card free money chip is a not a bad spot to be in. If Heels’s getting the start, I I kind of like Yarby as the long relief out of the bullpen guy over Warren because Yarby’s done that all year. Done that over the course of his career. Yeah. And Warren has not. Feel like it’s a more interesting conversation than others may think. Okay. Um Yeah. I don’t I don’t know. Last start against the Blue Jays, eight earned runs. Not great. Um, same with Schlitler. Uh, I mean, Yarby wasn’t really good when he came back. Um, that I don’t I don’t know. You know, Ryan Yarbo, it’s that Twins outing. He had two. Um, he had Twins the year and Detroit. Um, I know he was tipping. They had a tail on him and the Twins won. And it’s just that comeback. It’s It’s what’s the upside there is innings. I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know. Yeah. I just remembering his 5.1 against Toronto in September. Yarby, that was nice. That was nice. Yeah. I mean, hey, if it if it drops and it’s Warren, I’ I’d feel a little dirty. If it’s lighter, I get I guess I wouldn’t that Yeah, it’s a nice option to have that length there, but also I don’t know. You’re bringing in Yarborough if you’re down. And with the depths of our bullpen right now, if the Yanks are down in game one or two, it’d almost be nice to have like tryyouts like, “All right, Dval, what do you got?” Um, whoever else is down there, Will Warren, let’s find out if you can impact a playoff game with Yarby. You kind of know exactly what you’re getting. Yeah. And I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Me neither. So, they’re going Gossman. There going Gossman, which I Jimmy, I I don’t know exactly what notes you have. Well, actually, Gossman has plus and minus notes. His last couple starts have been pretty dominant against the Yankees. Couple Yankees have really good lifetime stats against him. He’s The righties all have really good numbers and the lefties all have bad numbers against him. And he’s he’s a a righty. Yeah, that splitter when it’s on it’s it’s one of the toughest pitches in baseball. Yeah. Um he is tougher on lefties this season uh in the hole, not just the Yankees. I wonder if that’s his career as well. He’s got such a long career that’s kind of going to even be like messy. Yeah, it’s a mixed mixed bag of a career. Um yeah, Judge Judge has more homers off Gossman than any other um player. Yeah, they’ve faced each other a lot, but he shut him down the last time he faced him. last two. Yeah. Oh, wait. Before we go into like these matchups, kind of like the context of the series and this and what happened this season, uh, first ever postseason meeting between these two franchises. Yeah, that’s that’s kind of wild, right? Yes. Very wild. It is. We live so in the now, you forget how playoff formats were set up that it was a near near impossibility. Um, but yeah, I mean, pretty crazy. And hey, as much as this is a Yanks pod and we’re excited for a lot of stuff, that Roger Center, man, I I remember when they first introduced the oneame playoffs and people were like blown away cuz that’s a Canadian hockey drinking crowd. It is going to be rowdy and even we’ve talked about the good Toronto fans and some of the tough ones online. Um they are an intense fan base that hates the Yankees. That place is going to be a zoo. Yeah. and the turf. The Yankees hate the turf. I don’t agree with them. I’m not using it as an excuse. The Yankees have used it as an excuse. Yeah, they used it as an excuse on when they had the horrible gou four game set and they were like, “Well, a lot of those balls are bouncing high.” Okay. Can’t really do that. Um, and then the other thing I wanted to talk about was the Blue Jays have the season series against the Yankees. That’s why they have the division. And the Yankees won the first series uh 2 to1. The Blue Jays won the second series 4-0. They swept them. The Blue Then the Blue Jays won the next series 2 to1. And then the Yankees won the last. So they split series, but the Blue Jays won more games because that four game set where they embarrassed the Yankees. Jake, I went and I looked at who had the ball on the mound for the Yankees. Oh, you were going. Can I give you some of the bullpen pieces that came out? As long as you don’t mention Jeff Hartley. BS Clayton Beer, JT Brewbaker, Scott Effro, Ian Hamilton, Geoff Hartleb, thank you. Mark Lighter Jr., Jonathan Lewisa, Tim Hill, Weaver, Devin. Um, and Weaver and none of them really pitched great cuz the Yankees blew like a lot of those games in relief. Yeah, Deon and Weaver got hit. So, I know they did. So did Sch Slitler and Warren, so they have guys they’ve hit. But I was like, whoa. Yeah. And then when you look at the defense we were running out there, Blue Jays fans, I I don’t I don’t say this in a way of like beware and trying to be cocky or arrogant about it, but the Yankees are not the same defensive team you guys faced. Like like that was the worst defense we ever had. Yes. Changed the course of the season. Yeah. So, it should be much tighter in that regard, especially the Yankees have played great defense in in the They played great defense in the wild card series. Toronto will put it to the test much more. Yeah, that’s it. One of the number one things to watch for is are Toronto is Toronto’s offense going to translate to this postseason? They were first in batting average, first in on base percentage. The way you teed it up before, Jim, you probably haven’t I’ve been saying it on Talking Baseball. If you’re just a fan of baseball and your team is out, you’re rooting for the way the Blue Jays and the Milwaukee Brewers play. They have really grindy, tough at bats. They have a lot of athletes on the field. They have a lot of defense. Um, a lot of veteran pitching, which I like, from Toronto, which is their juggle cuz they’re not sure how they’re going to execute that yet. That that could turn on eyes on Schneider if he presses the wrong button, which I don’t hate. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s going to be Toronto’s at bats were disgusting. Like if they’re doing that in the postseason that they are not going to be an easy out at all. Yeah, maybe you want 12 pitchers if they’re doing that cuz they just foul off balls and foul off balls and make you work and grind it out. You sent you mentioned maybe the heats on Schneider. This was another fun thing. Uh Schneider, manager of the Blue Jays. He’s 0 and4 in the postseason. He he made it in 2022. They lost the first two games, made it in 2023, lost the first two games and and got eliminated. More so, he’s 0 and3 in decision making. Like, we’re talking huge blowback decisions. In 2022, Gossman was dealing. It was in the sixth inning, took him out and brought in um that lefty who was on the Yankees for a little bit, too. Blanking on his name. Lefty Yankees for a little bit. I don’t know. Check the note card. K. Anthony K. He was on He’s a Matt 2022. [Music] Who’d he bring in? Uh, anyway, it was a bad decision and it backfired. I I remember it happening. He He shot it. He shot it. Tim Mesa. Tim Mesa. Tim Mesa. uh that backfired and and um but that’s not even the worst thing, Jake. The next year um or no, that was the game that was in and that game he also put Tapia in as a defensive replacement and not Jackie Bradley Jr. and Tapia lets two balls fall in. They were up um 8 to one and they end up losing after all that. The next year, Bereios was cru like the best we’ve seen a pitcher look like Schlitler yesterday and he took him out in the middle of the fourth inning. Yeah. To go to Kikuchi by design. The quotes from the whole locker room were like, I hate that. Yeah. Uh the GM came out and said, I don’t know why we did that. That surprised me. Like it was huge, huge blowback. and uh and it backfired and they lost that series as well. So, his playoff history is awful. He’s changed as a manager and like he had good quotes about how he changed as a manager and he uses the bench more, but people still don’t like how his bullpen decisions with Hoffman. So, I’m excited for him to be under the hot seat. Like, let’s feel the pressure. Let’s make the first thing he does not work. Yeah, Toronto Toronto has more pressure on them, at least early on in this series. Um, like we said with Heel on the Mountain, game one, Toronto’s full season and the layoff, you know, there there’s a lot of talks about that every postseason and we just end up playing the result like the Yankees and Dodgers ended up moving on from the one seeds last year. But yeah, uh that the pressure is going to be on them for game one. And this is the highest expectation. Uh like those Blue Jays teams were fun, but nobody was like nobody was really picking the Blue Jays to make it out. Um the Blue Jays are similarly talented to the Mariners and the Yankees that um this is this is a massive series for them and a massive season for them where they thought they might be trading away Vlatty. Instead he’s extended. They win the AL East. Um which again I mean Toronto hasn’t won the East since Jeeps. um 16 15 15 2015. So this is this is their second time winning the division since 1994. So it’s a different pressure. They use a lot of bench guys. I believe they average like 12 players a game. Yeah. I mean they’ve got a lot of lefty righty at the bottom of their lineup. Um, it’s going to be, you know, the Freed Rhdon game two and three. Um, watch out for the Ernie Clement show. That guy plays playoff baseball, speed, defense, righty bat against lefties. Um, but the whole the the whole point of this combo is the Toronto team has played playoff baseball all year, and that’s part of the reason they’ve been like mindblowing to watch. They’ve been great in one-run games where the Yankees have not been great. Um, Vlatty has not been hot down the stretch. That all gets erased. Vlatty at the stadium is very scary against the Yankees in general. He’s he’s been a killer. Yeah. The biggest thing if you’re if you’re don’t tune in to a lot of postseason or a lot of regular baseball because this this is sounds silly maybe to you, but you mentioned it. The biggest thing that the Blue Jays will kill you on is fouling off two strike pitches. Yeah. like they they they knocked Schlitler out in the first inning by doing that and driving the pitch count up. They also had a tell on him, I think, in that game. So, they’re just such a pesky team. Their starting pitching can win you games, but I also feel like against the Yankees, like they can all lose a game. Like Gossman, I’ve seen him lose a game against the Yankees as a starter. I like Gossman. I’ve also seen him dominate. Basset. Same thing. I feel like I’ve seen a game where the Yankees put a lot up early and then other games where he gets deeper. Um what’s that? Eber. Yeah. Sher in the postseason has been a mixed bag. Their their wild card this series. Their Cam Schlitler is Trey Savage. Um wild name. Um and wild pitches. Jim, you love a good high release. He’s got the highest release point in the majors. Nobody’s seen him. Uh, and he’s got a fast ball and a I think it’s a split change that play perfectly off each other that he’s potentially the game three starter or they could use him as their like secret bullpen weapon. Does the Do the off days allow in this series any creativity there? No. Like in the National League DS, I think their off days allow for creativity like having someone throw on their throw day because they have so many off days. They have game off day, game off day, game. I I believe traditionally if you throw in game one, the Patrick Corbin is you can throw your your natural throw day would be game three. I believe that’s right. Um the NL like you just said with their extra off day this year, I think that gets you get an extra extra day if you want to do that. Um I’ll be interested. I think he’s Savage is the only guy they would do that with, but he’s also a young crazy arm talent that I don’t know how much they want to mess with his routine. Uh, he could just get a start cuz he’s been impressive for them. Which Yankees pitcher allows the least amount of balls in play? Cam Schlitler right now? Yeah, I guess um out of um like Freed and Rodon, do either of them? you’d slight lean Rodon. He’s more he’s more fly ball and strikeout. I feel like he’s got the least batting average against, but I don’t know if that’s the same thing that I’m thinking about. Um because I was wondering if there’s a world where, you know, it’d be better. Ah, you don’t want to pitch freed on day three. Freed at the stadium I like more than and and I like Rodon more on the turf because you, like you said, fly ball, ground ball, but it’s whatever. Yeah. And hey, that’s that’s the wild card ripple effect that um they they kind of you can’t throw Rodon. So this uh the lineup is going to be the lineup, right? Like if I go to the Yankees page and type in most commonly used lineup against righties, that’s probably what you’re going to see here at least in the second half. Yeah, I don’t I don’t expect any funny business. I The Jays were 28th in stolen bases, so maybe you could open up a Rice Wells combo if you wanted to, but um I don’t think you need to. And I I think they’re going to find out what they got a little bit. Like McMahon has really good numbers against Gossman. Um and he made that the great catch to help end the series. Um that yeah, I think they’re just going to roll out who you’d expect at each position. Um yeah, so Gish, you think it’s going to be Gisham, Rice, Judge, Belly, Stanton, Jazz, Wells, McMahon. There’s a lefty lane at the bottom there. I don’t like there’s a lefty lane. Um, and yeah, it can also be a lefty lane at the top. Sometimes they’ve been at the top of the lineup. They’ve been doing Trent, Judge, Belly, Rice, Stanton. So, you could double up the lefties there because they like those lefties a little more. Um, that yeah, there’s going to be a lefty lane somewhere unless you get Paul Goldmid a start with Rice behind the dish. and he does have really good numbers against Gossman, but I don’t know over their lifetime when those were. Um, yeah, I think they’ll probably do the double stack up top where it’s probably Trent, Judge, Belly, Rice, Stanton. Yeah. So, it would be Trent. Oh, you think they’re not going to go Trent Rice? Um, well, especially against Gossman who’s better verse righties. Probably not. are better against lefties and better better for bullpen. You saw that in game three to just go straight right. So then you would go um they did this in a recent game. Trent judge belly um Stanton. Well, they did belly rice. That’s what you just said, too. Yeah. Belly Rice Stanton, which maybe they’ll stick with that. I don’t know. That’s that four out of five lane that I didn’t like. They created Jazz, Wells, Vulpy, McMahon. You got to double up somewhere. It’s whether they believe in it at the top or the bottom. Yeah, that’s doubling up two places though, which I don’t like. But with McMahon, you you only have three righties. And when he’s only got three righties, he does it 258. Boon has told us that. Yeah. Uh or uh or 358. If those lefties are good, I don’t really like giving them that four out of five lane. Yeah. I mean, it’s the postseason and the the lefties I just mentioned are new to the party. Little little has some gross stuff, but this is his first full year getting used. Uh Flu Hardy’s 24. He’s new on the scene. He does have some funk to him that um yeah, it’s interesting. I mean, again, maybe Rice Wells becomes more of a conversation because if you could get Gold Schmidt in the lineup who has good numbers against Gossman and he breaks up, he ruins a lefty lane for you. Maybe that’s on the table. But I think the Yankees really like where they’re at with Wells that um he’s come through in their both two of their wins and it it just becomes uh how will they deploy the bench in those situations and I think kind of where I started the episode. I think if the Yankees are up, they won’t deploy. Tied or losing, they will deploy. Let’s take a look at what they did against Gossman last time. He did go eight innings pitch, one ear and run, right? They went lefty, lefty, righty, lefty, righty, lefty. Goldie started and batted um seventh. Was Did Rice catch? Rice caught. Okay. I don’t think they’re going to do that though. But they did do uh Trent and Rice, which I think they’re going to do that at the top. And then Judge three, Belly four. Stanton five, Jazz six. Yeah, you need Goldie in unless you’re building a a lane at the end there. It depends, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s how much I I think from what I’ve seen from this postseason or at least maybe I have too much crochet and Schlitler in my head. Um I don’t know. You need you need your best lineup out there to try to get a lead early and if you don’t you’re screwed either way. Yeah, you use that McMahon spot if you want to pinch hit Goldie or Rosario and then Cabiro goes out there. So, they have a counter there. They’re built better that way than to face a lefty starter with lefty relievers later. Yeah. All right. You think Heel just gets the baton? That’d be nice. You know, build starting pitchers build off each other. Yeah, I mean it Luis Heel won rookie of the year last year. He hasn’t been bad like um it it’s felt chunky and again I I think the I think Toronto’s a decent matchup for him. Like Hill’s kind of been a contact pitcher. They’ve kind of contact hitters, but it’s been weakish contact and like you said with the Yankees new defense, Ryan Mc like that summer it was DJ at or excuse me, it was DJ at second, Jazz at third, which he said his only thing he disagreed with with Aaron Boone this year. Um, Vulpi was in a slump. They’re like, Vulpi looks good. He deserves credit for that. McMahon looks on god mode. He looks like I don’t know in a Mario video game when someone has a star or something and you just can’t touch them defensively. And then Jazz at second, you know, game- saving play in what he is out there. Uh, you know, he’ll it it could go both ways. It It’s And that sounds like a copout, but you’re probably going to get a lot of early contact, which could be runners on first and second and nobody out, or it could be seven pitch inning. The scariest part about heel is the defense. Like he I think he’s got three pickoffs where he threw it away. Uh he’s botched some that comebackers. He’s a pitcher that if the Blue Jays want to use use their bat to ball and make him make plays, he heal is part of that issue of the battery has been botching plays. Yes. and and he did pick someone off third one time, but I feel like he he’s thrown the ball away a couple times. Yeah, he uh he’s got one of them pitcher bodies. He he didn’t I don’t think Louis Seal grew up playing a lot of shorts stops. No. No. All right. Well, anything else, Bibbs? Anything we missed? I would say first we need to tell the people about DraftKings. Today’s episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Sports fans, it’s happening. Whether baseball, football, no better place to bet the next touchdown at the DraftKings Sportsbook. Bet some first TDs. The juice on those is crazy. Anytime TDs or get in live. And the best part is if you bet just $5 and you win, you’ll get $200 in bonus bets instantly. So, why don’t you download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use code JM baseball Baseball. That’s code JM baseball Baseball. Turn five bucks into $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours, peeps. Yeah, just in general, look looking at all the batter versus pitcher data in this set. Just a lot of people that have faced each other a lot of times. That’s kind of fun. Yeah, it’s another divisional game, man. These these guys know each other really well, which is kind of freaky. Um, dude, there’s a um Gold Schmidt has good numbers against Gossman and Bieber. I don’t know. Interesting. Well, you know, and uh Goldie went three for five in the wild card round. Better defense than Here’s some trivia for you. trivia. Who had the most hits on the Yankees in the wildard round against the Red Sox? Uh, I thought Vulpian judge tied. Turn that think into a no because that is correct. Yeah, I got an angry text from Courage. Uh, yeah, the uh hashtag gamer big Yankees fan friend of ours. Um, he was mad we didn’t give Vulpy more love. Uh, in the hype episode last night, he said Vulpi has an argument for position player MVP of that series. Is that something they give out? They do not. But okay, just process. Belly also made some plays, but I would agree with him. I thought we had maybe I gave a lot of love off air. I thought I gave Opie a good amount of love after game two. and after game three. Maybe not enough to counteract all the dislo. I think I think long season I think we uh I guess I could get the direct quote from him but he was like he’s like guys only cuz I walked into the office yesterday and immediately pulled up replays of Vulpi’s double plays to show Joe’s cuz I was like dude I don’t think people realize how in game two I was like I don’t think people realize how good these were till you actually see them that the double play um from Devin is like right when you actually see it with the noise of hearing the ball hit the glove and the foot of the base and and the throw release like those three sounds are like whoa [ __ ] that was a lot of coordination. Um he said I can’t believe it. I just listened to the episode only 30 seconds about Vulpi guy just might have won wild card MVP of position players which is not an award and another layer to not an award but it is really interesting because it’s everyone is competing with each other on a very similar level of the position players like I might have an argument when I was saying goodbye to you yesterday I left the room saying well my parting words because we just kept talking even or we were off air was hey am I are we just going to have to right if Vulpi has another good postseason is what it is it’s cemented now and now you have Kabieron McMahon to to give some platoon ability next year during the regular season of a threesome and get rest and like I love that formula if this is what he does in the postseason he is a different locked in player driving the ball the other way trying to not Yeah on stream. We gave him love. Uh Jim and you know 300 400 450 300 300 He is 18 for 60 in the postseason. [ __ ] yeah. Uh who had the highest on base percentage? Wow. McMahon third highest on base percentage. Yeah, he um stayed away from Chapman and uh Crochet. Uh does if Goldmick counts, right? Goldie counts. He’s got the Everyone counts, but he only had uh Goldie only has um five played appearances. McMahon also only had five played appearances. Yeah, I I hate to say it. I’m getting myself excited for Ryan McMahon. I I have been all year. But that play going into this while getting he’s getting every start and he’s got good numbers against Gossman. I’m you know I’m not going to call him Scott Brochious or anything like that, but like no I I I’m a little excited about the turf in the infield because our defense is much better now. Uh they just need to get a lot of reps. It’s a very odd It’s like um dirts are different and turf is different. Like the the Rays took all the dirt out of George Stein Burner Field and put in their own dirt that they like better. And I remember when the Yankees played there, um Rice and Goldie both had a scoop they missed and they were high on it. And I was like, I bet that [ __ ] dirt bounce is different than they’re used to. The turf is true, but it’s a little springy and that’s what happened last time or like it’s it bounced a little higher than everyone else. So, just get there early. Like I’d like to see a video of the Yankees taking infield on the turf before the game, especially if Ben Rice is playing first base and I’d be very happy about that. Will we get one today? Will they fly in and head to the field today? Boon said they were flying last night. I think they’re they’re in Toronto by now. Let’s get a couple choppers today. Um, the more I think about Gold, Schmid, and Rice, it’s becoming a conversation in my head again because Gossman being better verse lefties, the infield, good career numbers, and if you in the in the fifth or in the let’s say the sixth, seventh inning where you would potentially shoot either of them as a pinch hitter for each other, Rice would be the late game guy you would want in cuz if it’s a righty in the game, you would want him instead of Goldie. If it’s a lefty, you just leave Goldie. And then if Rice is in the game for the sixth, seventh, eighth inning at bat, that would mean he’d be in line for the Jeff Hoffman at bat. So, I don’t know. Another interesting little boon cat mouse game to play. Do you think Wells uh is like do you think Rice can catch? Um I don’t hate finding out in game one, which is like the house money game. They don’t have like a a a true stolen base threat. Um him Springer’s got 18, Gimenez got 12, and Straw’s got 12 on the year, you know? It’s not like no one has grabbed 30 or 25 or Yeah. It’s just It’s interesting because if you make the Blue Jays press that button and it works and they get five steals, we’re not going to be happy. I don’t think you can do it with Heel. I think that’s a bad combo for the running game. Heel and Rice. Yeah. Is Heel and Wells a good combo for the running game? You know, um it’s obviously a tick better, but it feels like heels heel going to heal. Yeah. Did they steal against the Yankees during the season a lot? Let me check. Let’s see. Um I don’t know. Wells feels like he kind of earns it and it feels like he’s getting back to that catcher. Do you see the Ben Rice calling him a madman interview? Um, no, but I like that. Pretty good. Um, that looks like none. So, I mean, it can’t be none, but it looks like not a lot of steals against the Yankees. Let’s see. I mean, I’m just I’m just digging through box scores now. No, I I have it. Um, it’s just Hold on one second. I have it in an easy way. I just um need to delete all this other nonsense. Okay. Stolen bases against the Yankees this year. The most in a single game. 000000 one one two. So that’s five in a lot of games. Yeah, they they did get two against Ben Rice uh in that June series uh Springer and Barger, which that’s the other thing here that playoff baseball like George Springer’s not going to steal a ton during the regular season because he’s getting up there. Um but everything’s on the table for the postseason that I Wells Wagner stall Wells behind the plate kind of feels like it’s been working. It’s been working. Okay, so they they had a steal against Wagner. So, two against Rice, one against Escara. He He was He’s really bad at throwing people out. Uh in this game, they had a stolen base and it was Rice behind the dish. So, I don’t think they’ve stolen off uh Wells yet. Oh, here’s the last one. Let’s see what who was catching here. catching catching Wells. Okay, so there’s one off Wells. I think Wells is the catcher. Yeah, it’s a tough thing because Goldie is gonna get you hits, but he’s doesn’t have the pop, but he’s also got the defense I’d rather late in games than the other way around. So, I think I’d still start Rice and I’d use use Goldie to drag and drop him um to counter a move. I think he’s more a professional pinch hitter on the counter. Uh, and you get to keep his defense at the end of game. I still would do that. Yeah. It’s just if you’re if you’re not pinch hitting him for Rice, are you burning two guys? Yeah, because you could pinch hit him for McMahon and then bring Cabiro in, right? But then Rice is out. So that’s a McMahon Rice out move. Rice wouldn’t be out. Goldie would pinch hit. So Ben Rice is playing first base, right? Yeah. So you pinch hit Goldie for McMahon. Goldie for McMahon. So Goldie’s not going in to play defense. Because that’s what you just Okay, that’s what I was That That would be another If you want to drag and drop the situation, then you have Cabier there. Okay. Or you do that and then you use use him for defense. If Rice’s spot in the lineup isn’t going to come up or if you clear it in that same inning. Yeah, if you clear it in that same inning, then you can then you can do that. Cuz if McMahon’s hitting ninth, you pinch hit Goldie, he hits a triple. Um, must be a demon. Must have got one of them turf hops. Ben Rice is hitting second. He hits a homer. You clear him in the lineup. Now Goldie can stay out there, play first. They got options. They have a bench. And dude, part of the reason Yankee fans are excited, a Cam Schlitler with an all-time postseason. If the Yankees have a chance to close it out, game four, Cam Schlitler at Yankee Stadium. That is going to be an absolute zoo. Wheelier Breu is not hearing who’s calling for the ball. I love it. If the Yankees somehow win game one, Freed, Rodon, Schlitler, Freed lined up for the rest of this series. I like that a lot. Yeah. So, you’re saying game one’s house money? Game one’s house money and Heel’s best start all year was against Toronto who hasn’t played a real baseball game in a week. Um maybe because Heels so effectively wild. Their batto ball skills. It’s like you know sack bunting, hitting it the other way, hitting runs usually all those are called when you have a guy in a 3-1 count and two count. think you’re going to get a pitch to hit a two strike fast two a 3-2 count heel so effectively wild they’re like we don’t even he doesn’t even know where it’s going how are we going to play do our bat the ball stuff maybe that’s a theory I just invented Luis Heel do you want to guess his Luis Hill had 11 starts in a 57 innings pitched do you want to guess his erra uh 278 Okay. 332. Nice. It’s pretty It’s good. Better than his rookie of the year number. Three 35 flat, right? And like the analytics aren’t great. He has he has extra rest. We’ve seen him taking stuff off. There’s a chance he’s got another gear. I don’t know. I I like I like Freed. Rodon Schlitler. Freed lined up for the potential final four games of this series. Uh Yankees bullpen. We didn’t talk about a lot. It’s gonna be interesting to see who else has to get involved. Um I just spasm my back. Yeah. Here’s some here’s some notes things that I would like to happen in Toronto. Two blowout wins. Okay. If they’re not two blowout wins, great. I’d like to make a Schneider move backfire in game one. Okay. He’s been up against it and now he’s 0 and5 in the postseason and every [ __ ] time he’s there there’s a move that the fan base and Toronto are upset with him about. Yes. Like let’s keep that momentum going. Some pressure on them themselves. Not I’m not predicting that. I don’t think it’s like it’s a hope. It’s just a hope. Can’t fault me for that. And then if Hoffman is in the game, get to him. Even if he wins game one, Jake, and he closes it out, hit the solo homer. Hit the double and two doubles, score one run before you lose. Get to the closer. Make him face more than just three batters. Ugly inning. Ugly inning. An ugly inning. Even Even if they It’s a fiveame set, you can lose a game. But if we lose a game, I want to get as many people seeing Hoffman and and him throwing a lot of pitches as we can just because everyone bullpens the more you see them in these postseasons, the more they get got. So you get them early. No, I agree 100%. Sweep them and have Toronto turn on each other. Hell yeah, babe. All right, thanks guys. Woo. Comment what we missed and what we got right. And go buy a Schlitler shirt. Yeah, cuz they’re cool. That’s fair. Get a shirt. All right. Go Yanks. Tell them Grams. Go Yankees. Go Yankees. Go Yankees. Go Yankees. Go Yankees.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Yankees vs. Blue Jays in the ALDS!
7:35 What Roster Changes Will Happen?
11:55 Starting Pitcher Matchups
15:40 Yankees History with Toronto
18:50 What You Should Know About the Blue Jays
28:15 Yankees Lineup Should be Normal This Series
33:20 Does Gil Get Game 1?
37:20 Volpe Has Been GREAT This Postseason
40:55 Dirts, Turfs, and Will Rice Catch?
49:45 Things Jimmy Wants to See In Toronto

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