New York Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays | Full Game | MLB playoffs 2025 Quarter-finals | Game 1
guys, take it away. [Music] All right, boys, come on inside and welcome to the 2025 American League Division Series on Fox, presented by Booking.com. We’re in October in Toronto and it’s 75 And these folks are revved up no matter rain or shine. Ready for postseason baseball. We welcome you inside. We welcome you to the postseason here on Fox. Joe Davis with the Hall of Famer John Smoltz. 162 games. Not enough to decide the division between these teams. They both win 94 games. Blue Jays win the division with a tiebreaker. Get homefield advantage, but ultimately John will decide this thing here in the playoffs. Yeah, absolutely. It was a great run down to the end and the Blue Jays, one of the best home field teams in all of baseball facing the Yankees who are pretty good on the road. But I think for the Blue Jays, the rest is going to be the question, right? They needed the rest. They got home field advantage. And can they keep doing what they did the last two months of the season to be successful? So, the Blue Jays have homefield advantage while the Yankees have the momentum. They are the hottest team in baseball. And they think, John, more well-rounded, more well equipped to finish the job this year. Absolutely. Everybody wanted to know what they would be without Sodto. They’ve been pretty good and they got the best outfield combination offensively in all of baseball. Look at the numbers. It’s going to be hard to even get close to him. So, you think about Judge, absolute MVP season. He speaks for himself, but the surrounding cast is why they’re better. For Aaron Judge, the focus, fair or not, is going to be on the postseason. He’s been better of late. Can he take his walks? I don’t think he’s going to get as many pitches to hit. So, can he be patient? And I think his postseason numbers get better. A lot of us know about the Yankees. Let’s get to know these Blue Jays who went from last place last year to the top seed this year. And they’ve done it with their fair share of superstars, but really, John, they have defined the word team. Absolutely. They knew they’d get better performances than they did last year. Everything went wrong. And what went right for them this year offensively, they put the ball in play. They don’t strike out. And they lead a lot of categories offensively. That’s what they have to do to do well. Here’s the formula for success. See that column where it says first? That’s why they’re in first place. And that’s why they’re a dangerous team. If they could continue that, I don’t see why they won’t continue. On the flip side, they need their stars. One of them’s out, but they need their stars to be great. And this is the guy who struggled down the stretch. If he regains his form, Blue Jays are in good hands. Yeah, we got a couple storylines that match. You got two teams trying to end droughts of different forms. You got two superstars who have not done it in the postseason trying to deliver on this stage really for the first time. And in Toronto, they hope to party like it’s 1993 or at least like 2016, the last time they won a postseason game. The Yankees are hoping they’re playing their best baseball at the right time as they try to win it all for the first time since 2009. Game one of the division series coming up on Fox. Thanks, Joe. The Blue Jays are the top seed in the American League. AL’s champs for the first time since 2015. They’ve done it with unexpected contributions from role players. A great comeback season from George Springer, the star power of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Their next step to end their sevengame postseason losing streak dating to 2016. And they’re going to play this series without one of their best hitters, Bobette, who is out with a left knee sprain. Also off the roster, two prominent veteran starting pitchers, Max Scherzer and Chris Basset. The Jays instead will go with four left-handed relievers to better to match up with the Yankees. All right, Kenny. And we take a look at today’s same game parlay which is available now on FanDuel. A couple Yankees are featured and Judge and Stan who have both had Kevin Gosman hard and George Springer having a monster season for the Blue Jays. Now we take a look at Fox Foresight which is powered by Google Cloud. John, you handle this one. Well, this is going to be what the percentage for Mr. Judge to get an RBI. I say yes. Look at the six home runs against Gauman early in his career. 114 RBI’s this year. So, even though it only says 42%, I say yes, he gets an RBI tonight. Thank you, Mr. Smoltz. Thanks to Google Cloud for powering these real time insights. How about the Yankees lineup now after beating Boston in the wildard round? It’ll look like this with Trent Gisham to lead off. Judge bat second in right field followed by Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice. Couple of the left-handed hitters that have been injected into the lineup this year and thrive. Stan DH is with Jazz Chisum at second hitting sixth. Ryan McMahon the third baseman acquired at the deadline from Colorado and Anthony Vulpi doing it again in the postseason and Austin Wells catching and hitting nine. There are no mysteries here John. Kevin Gauman faces the Yankees for the fifth time this year and for the 40th time in his career. Yeah, they got a lot of film and a lot of history against him. He had his way early with the Yankees. He’s got a 3.97 RA. You see his record on the year and his usage of pitches is going to be primarily fast ball and split. Now, he’ll throw an occasional slider, but if his fast ball is throwing strikes like he normally does and and he can elevate, he stays low to the ground with that good split finger. And now, who the home plate umpire can make a big difference for this guy. Absolutely. Watch for the strike zone. And it might be more east and west with this umpire than up and down, but the strike zone is going to be huge for the different pitchers that are on the mound tonight. Yankees have won 13 of their last 15 games. Hottest team in baseball, pursuing back-to-back pennants, trying to win it all for the first time since 2009. And as Kenny told us, the Blue Jays division champs for the first time in a decade. They’ve ended that drought, now trying to win a postseason game for the first time in nine years. Trent Gisham leads off for the Yankees. Gossman comes and off we go with a bouncing ball along first. That is a fair ball and one pitch, one out. Gisham saying, “I don’t think so.” I think he’s arguing that he fouled it off his foot and then he’s hoping that it stayed foul. This didn’t take long. No, fast ball early on and it hit off his toe is what he’s saying. And the top spin of that ball, watch this. Hit off the toe right there. And that caused the ball actually to go back. [Applause] All right. So, this call is going to stand. [Applause] Gisham was right on the toe. Yeah, I mean the hitter’s going to know right away and he didn’t run. So, but that’s a dream first pitch out in a postseason for a pitcher. And now here comes Aaron Judge. 53 home runs this season. Pops the first one up into foul ground for Vlad Guerrero Jr. over the shoulder. He can’t quite get there. Well, the interesting thing I thought after watching all the film on Gossman against the Yankees this year is his fast command early. 70% strike for one, right? And then you don’t want to get the two strikes to see that split finger fast. So early on the two Yankee hitters swinging at the first two pitch might be a theme that their offense has given approach against Gossman. They’re judge six home runs against Kevin Gman. That’s more than against any other pitcher. And he rips a base hit to the left side. Yankees have their first base runner of the day as Aaron Judge continues what he did in the wildard round when he had four hits against Boston, all of them singles. He’s had the complete year. I mean, he was flirting with 350, 360 most of the year. And I know it’s strange when we ask Aaron Boon, he goes, I still think he’s got a chance to click in. He’s not totally locked in. And if he’s not totally locked in, he needs another lead. Yeah. By far the best hitter in baseball this year is a board for the Yankees here. Cody Bellinger comes up. We were talking about how much more well-rounded this Yankees team is where last year terrifying and then he had Judge and Sodto. Sodto goes out one week later, one of the first moves they make is they trade for Cody Bellinger from the Cubs and he’s having as good of a season as anybody that’s not getting talked about as having a great year. Elite defense at three positions in the outfield, 29 home runs. And this is a former MVP who had such high highs in LA, but then such low lows that saw him on the way out who’s really steadied into a solid veteran player. Yeah, he has. He does not like facing Gossman, though. It has been a big struggle for him. They exposed him early, maybe those years with the Dodgers, but the numbers aren’t great. He’s going to have to try to get a fast ball down that he likes, but the problem with a fast ball down is you think it’s a fast ball and it ends up being a split, you get a swing and miss. And that’s what they’ve gotten Bellinger on a lot. on this one. It is a splitter and it’s grounded foul. One and two. Talking about all the times that Gossman has faced these Yankees and certainly you know what’s coming even if you’ve only faced him once cuz it’s pretty much all fast splitter. But especially when he has that fast ball going, he’s still so hard to hit even when you know what’s coming. Exactly. And with two strikes, he can elevate the fast ball cuz they’re going to be thinking about anything up they’re going to attack of the hitters down. They’re trying to decide what it is. fast ball spoke foul and see there’s that fast ball up and if they tie him up inside he’s got no chance. So you’re basically looking at up and down vertical south and north is what he’s going to be pitching to these hitters because of the style of pitching he has. He really doesn’t throw his slider much. So that’s the east to west pitch. And I think for the Yankees they’re going to try to get as many fast balls as they can early in the count. Judge at first one away. Gossman to Bellinger with another one, two. It is another fast ball. It’s way up there into center field for Dalton Vo. Bellinger retired. Two gone in his first. And it brings up Ben Rice, whose breakout this season has continued into the postseason. and he homered on the very first pitch that he saw as a playoff player in game two against Boston. This guy hits the ball hard, man. Yeah, he does. Look for a lot of splits, especially in scoring situations against him. There’s one right there. And you’ll see a lot of those. He’s got to It’s such a good pitch for Gossman because you have to respect his fast ball. And we’ll show you later in the game why this pitch does what it does and has the impact it has. It’s still off of his fastball command. If he was wild with his fast ball, you wouldn’t get that many swings on that pitch. He goes back to back splitters and it’s 0 and two. There’s no reason to change. Now, if you want to do anything, you got to throw this splitter away from him. But he could literally lock him up with a fast ball up. I think you just go three in a row and see what Rice does. Brook. Yeah, a good pitch. I mean, that’s where you want it. 02, you have the luxury of two pitches to get the hitters to fish. Uh if he’ had this pitch a little bit outside more and see how it came out a little bit low, they could recognize it. Set up for the fast, kill pitch if he wants it. It is a fast ball. It’s fouled off basically at home. If you’re watching a game, the cat and mouse game between the pitcher and the hitter and the catcher, they’re recognizing that when you slow a hitter down at three straight pitches, you then can speed him up with a fast ball, they can’t catch up to it. A perfectly located pitch and he has no chance. So that’s the reality of these two tight pitches, why he can survive all game with two pitches. He’s home with another one, two, and it fades away for strike three. Finished him off for the splitter. Scoreless top of the first for Kevin Gosman. Blue Jays come to bat against Luis Heel after this. Progressive Insurance step up to the plate for savings. Blue Jays coming to bat for the first time here in game one. This is the lineup with George Springer headed up there to lead things off. Nathan Lucas will follow him. Then it’s Vlad Guerrero Jr. at first base. Addison Barger starts at third in bats cleanup. Kirk is the catcher and five hitter with Baro in center field. Santand Dear and left to Mennez plays short with Bette out and Ernie Clement is at second base hitting nine. Luis Hill the reigning rookie of the year missed a lot of this season with a lad injury. He gave up five runs in his first game back but he’s 4-0 in the 10 start since. Yeah, control, control, control. That’s going to be the key. He’s can he have enough control and throw enough strikes against an aggressive team that does not see a lot of pitches and puts the ball in play. They’re the best bat-to ball team in baseball right here. And Springer goes after the first one. Strike one. Fast ball. And you not you mentioned maybe not enough swing and miss that we’re used to seeing with Heel, but this team the best at home. They put the most balls in play against right-handed pitching. They just do the little things. One through nine. Springer chops this one to third. McMahon a running throw to get him for Luis Heel. He’s going to primarily throw fast balls, change ups. He’s got his slider that needs to be upgraded for today’s game. The change up doesn’t have a lot of swing and miss. It’s more like a 91 92 mph fast ball with a little bit of fade. So, that’s how hard he throws it, but they say he has the moxy and the ability to work in and out of trouble and he might be the right guy for the right situation here in game one. Aaron Brun was telling us before the game, I know it hasn’t always looked pretty with him. There are a lot of walks, but the one thing I do know is that he’s not afraid coming and pitching in an environment like this. Nathan Lucas got a team full of guys that you know the fringes of the roster. Guys that nobody had ever heard of coming into the year that have played a big role. And this is the first of those guys here. And Nathan Lucas who’s gotten his first real shot in the majors at the age of 31 hits it hard, but Vulpi plucks it and two up and two down for Heel. The Yankees defense so much better than last year. I think they’re a more athletic team and even this little slump that Opie went through defensively has been really good lately and on this turf which Toronto is very familiar with. You got to get a couple of those tricky bounces and and as a road team it’s a little bit more foreign for you than your home park. Obviously the Yankees lost six of the seven games here this year and committed 11 errors in those seven games. Guerrero Jr. takes high. Well, if the Jays are going to make a run, John, they got to get more than they’ve gotten lately from Guerrero, who’s not homered in a month. Yeah. A lot of ground balls and and really the average plummeting the last two weeks. He’s a timing hitter. He’s he’s just like his dad and the f the fact that, you know, he sometimes has those wild swings, but he’s going to put the ball in play and he loves the fast ball. I talked about the strike zone for either pitcher. Heel wants the ball up. He’ll take the fast ball that he throws up versus what Gauzeman will take down. There’s the difference between the style of pitching between these two guys. Vlad Jr. on 2-1. It’s a high high fly ball to deep left field. Bellinger’s going back and it is gone. Vlad Guerrero Jr. homers in his first at bat of the postseason. calendar flips for October and he hits his first home run in a month. I didn’t like the pitch. Change up in. I know he’s a good fast ball hitter, but see how he can drop the barrel of the bat on a 91 mph change up. It looks like an average fast ball and didn’t have the movement. kept it fair down the line and they strike first right now. Addison Barger swings at the first pitch. Strike one. The Blue Jays we’ve talked about are the best bat-to ball team. They’re first in average, their first in on base, but that is not to say that they can’t hit it out of the park. They’ve had enough power to pay their bat to ball ability. And this guy right here and Vlad Jr. 23 during the regular season, but the guy at the plate following him is one of those emerging players. And Addison Barger, who started the season in Triple A, comes up and he’s hit 21 home runs. And he swings hard. Ball two. He’s ahead 2 and 0. [Applause] 25 years of age, his second season in the big leagues. He was back and forth last year. Hit below 200. Constantly, he said, tweaking, changing the swing. this here got back to what he had always done and that is wide open stance that leg kick and try to hit it a mile. Yeah, last 36 games along with Vlad down the stretch weren’t great for him. But you wonder what the off time does for these hitters, right? You’re not built in a season to have five days off. But when you’re struggling, maybe it’s the perfect time off that you need. Barger down in the high fast ball. Blue Jays get on the board first though. And these fans, they love this guy. face of the franchise. Makes his mark and wastes no time in doing it. Now he’s dressed for the occasion. Vlad Jr. after hitting his first career postseason home run as the Blue Jays ahead one to nothing. Kevin Gosman goes back to work here in the second with 56 and seven coming up for the Yankees. Sean Carlos Stanton to lead things off. missed a lot of this season with elbow issues, but he comes back mid-season and he’s had his best year with the he has. He looks more balanced. He looks more in control of the box. Sometimes he gets off balance and swings wild, but if you miss middle in and you miss down, you’re not getting it back. This year he’s closed that that window. Check swing foul. Gossman’s ahead of him and two and that’s where you got to go. You got to go up and in to get Stanton from getting his arms extended. He started him off with that rare slider and he got him conscious up and in. Maybe he goes away right here with two strikes. 24 home runs this year for Stan. Two of those came against Gauman who fires an 02 pitch. It is a splitter hit down to third recovered by Barger. High throw but Guerrero’s got it for the first out. So, the challenge that the Yankees are going to have is they got to decide how aggressive do they be, which if you’re aggressive and not successful, you let the starter go deep into the game. And this guy that’s at the plate has had nothing but trouble against Gauer and he’s looking for that fast ball belt high that Gosman has not given him. A lot of splits, a lot of fast balls down for 0 at 13 to be exact against Gosman. He rode the bench in game one of the wild card round against Garrett Crochce, but Aaron Boon said, “Nah, he just he changes the game in too many ways to look at that sample size against Gossman and to have him out of there in this situation.” And he’s shown that throughout his first full year with the Yankees, the many ways that he can impact the game. How about with his base running the other day in game two, scoring from first base to give him the winning run. Yeah, they just got to make a little more contact. A lot of swing and miss lately, especially against this guy. And if he goes, the Yankees are going to go. Imagine him in the six spot doing some damage. 30 home runs, 30 stolen bases this season for Jazz Chisum Jr. who they got at the deadline last year from Miami. Talk about going from bottom of the bottom to brightest spotlight and Jazz thrives with that. He’s loved playing with New York in a one-two hole. Gossman deals down the line. And that is a fair ball and a base hit for Chisum. Lucas is playing over there, so he holds him to a single. No one out here in the second. And for more on Kevin Garzman, down to Kenny. Joe. Kevin Gosman threw a career-high 193 innings this year. And yet, at age 34, he seemed to get stronger along the way. His fastball velocity peaked in September, averaging 95 miles an hour. Gossman said he benefited from pitching on an extra days rest six straight starts late in the season. He’s on extra rest again today and again averaging 95 with the fast ball. Well, he’d like to have that pitch back and that’s the one pitch that could get Jazz going. That fast ball off was supposed to be way up and just the waist pitch. That was the only chance that Chisum had to get a hit off him and so he’ll be kicking himself over that one. Use the fast ball to get ahead of Ryan McMahon here. Chisum 31 stolen bases. You know, the Yankees, you talk about them beating you in more ways than just the homer. They lead the majors in steals since the start of August. Obviously adding Cabayro help, but Chisum has started to run like wild. As we saw the other day, he doesn’t even have to be running. Have to be stealing bases to make an impact with his leg, scoring all the way from first in game two. Got a good lead over there. Gossman deals the one-1 pitch in for strike two. Yes, they’re number one in home runs, but they steal on bases as well. In the wild card round, 20 of the 25 hits were singles. They didn’t have any home runs from Judge or from Stanton. And you ask Aaron Boon, how are you different than the team that went into the postseason last year, he said just how versatile the offensive attack is. Here’s the one two. Ball two. Ball two. Again, you’re going to see a lot of this changing the eye level. All he wants to do is change the eye level up and down. You can follow that pitch right there with a split finger here with two two count. Out of two, two. McMahon takes outside and the count goes full. Looking for the east west strike zone. That That one’s too far out. 34y old from Colorado trying to get his first career postseason win and that is not for a lack of opportunities. He’s pitched in eight postseason games. He’s 0 and2. He’s pitched in two of them with the Blue Jays and given up seven runs in nine and two/3. And so like a lot of these guys that have had success in recent years just trying to duplicate that in the postseason. Chisman first one away. 3-2 pitch block foul. Now, the only game they’ve really this year got to Gossman, it was a 53 pitch inning. That’s right. 53 pitches, which I’ve never heard of by a pitcher. They used a lot of foul balls, a lot of three and two counts, and ultimately the blow with the bases loaded to knock in there. Broken bat, baming catch by Vlad Jr.’s put his stamp all over this game through two innings. You think Vlad, you think offense, you think home runs, but do you think this? Wow. [Music] Team OA, the best network in the game, is now the best network in America. John, I’m just going to let you handle Alejandro Kirk because I think he’s your favorite player. Yeah, he’s one of the most underrated hitters and one of the one of the most underrated players on this team. He does it all. I mean, don’t let his size confuse you. Oh, baby. drives this ball a mile and it’s two to nothing Toronto. [Music] Captain Kirk lifts off and the Stars delivering for the Jays in game one. Well, right on Q. Not a lot of wasted motion in everything he does. He may be not known to hit 30 home runs, but when he sees it, he hits it. And the Rays are doing exactly what you were concerned if you’re thinking about the layoff and the hitters. Well, so far no big deal. Yeah. Uh today is that narrative is kind of dying. You see what the Brewers were doing against the Cubs had nine runs through three innings. Yeah, it uh starting to get used to it, right? Dton Bar show here. One ball, one strike. Well, the thing about Heel is, you know, they don’t string a lot of hits against him in one inning, but he’s been making a couple secondary pitches. Not exactly where you want to and that’s the difference in the game right now with two swings. One two and one on Bar Show. You go from Alejandro Kirk to a guy in Baro hit 20 home runs in 71 games as far as home runs per at bat. He’s right up there with the who’s who of sluggers across baseball. Two and two on it. One of the biggest swings of the season came the final week. Blue Jays were fading. Yankees had caught up. Jays had lost six of their last seven. They had hardly scored during that stretch. It was a 000 game late in it. And Varo launched a grand slam that started a four-game winning streak to end the year. Toronto hung on to win the division with the tiebreaker. Right now, the reason it’s hard to hit his four seam fast and the reason it’s hard for him to control it, he has a lot of cut action to it. He’s getting underneath it right now. And see that one right there just kind of spinning in the middle of the zone for Heel. He works hard on his velocity, but also that change up slider combination. And right now, not truly connected with the location of it. And that’s going to be the difference if he stays in the game longer or get exits earlier. 27year-old from the Dominican Republic, home devar show with a payoff and that golf foul. [Applause] Eight pitch to Varo up the middle and three. Varial goes out to get a change up. Singles into center. Back to the home run though from Kirk. Yeah, when you see this pitch, see the spin on it? how it just stays middle in. And that ball was launched. I mean, that ball was gone as soon as he hit it. And for you can be effectively wild, but you can’t live in the strike zone, in the meat of the strike zone, because this team’s too good in the strike zone in Toronto. If you’re going to miss, miss the other way. Yeah, bad miss right there. Put it on a T. Anthony Santandere with a runner at first and nobody out. Santandere a year ago hit 44 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles and earned himself a big payday with the Blue Jays, but his shoulder got injured early on. He had a total of six home runs this year as he missed a lot of the season. We’re talking with John Schneider. What role does he have? He came back the final couple weeks, didn’t do a whole lot. And John said, “We paid this guy for a reason. We signed him for a reason. We’re going to trust that he can find it here in October.” It’s enticing for a lineup that has so much bat to ball and average ability to look at a guy like this that can hit home runs. See, this next pitch should be nowhere near the strike zone. And Heel, who can strike out a bunch of hitters, he’s not having the movement on his secondary pitches that is fooling anybody right now. That so the touch is not there. He’s just not been able to put guys away this year like he could as a rookie. He’s had the biggest drop in strikeout rate of any pitcher in baseball from last year to this year. Yeah. And I I’d like to think that’s mechanical and because your pitches don’t have that late life and don’t have that execute bite to them to get the swing and miss. Tries another O2. Misses badly. See that’s underneath. Now, what makes him unique is this long arm that he can throw a baseball with. But when you get underneath a change up, you just have no chance for that to be successful. It just fades up and away. It’s a non-competitive pitch. [Applause] Still trying to get the first out of the second inning. Santandere fouls another. It’s a guy had well above average strikeout rate last year, winning rookie of the year. A total of 12 strikeouts his last five starts of the regular season. [Music] Santandere fouls it again. But see, this is a good example. Okay, when you’re electric and you got your best stuff, you can get away with missing location. But if you don’t have the swing and miss stuff, you cannot get away with location. And here now he’s missing by a foot. He tried to throw that ball in a place that cut back inside and he was not trying to throw that ball there. Santandere fouled five pitches off. Here comes another and he takes it high nowhere close to where he wanted it and that is coming out of his hand cutting. He wanted to throw that ball away and he threw a cutter up and in. It’s just not connected. And you have games like this and that’s why the pen is up for the Yankees cuz they could see it right away that he is not connected with his pitches. And Aaron Boon said he will be aggressive if he doesn’t see what he wants to see out of the field. He’s seen pretty much only what he’s wanted to see so far in this playoff on the starting pitch and was so good in the wildard round with Freed and Rodon and Schlitler the other night. We go man. Oh man, this marathon continues. So, in a perfect world right now, he would throw a change up that fades away low, but he hasn’t been able to locate his change up. He has nothing going away from a left-hander. So, everything that they’re following is going to be fast ball and middle in. And that breaking ball middle in needs to get him to reach for something away. On the ninth pitch, Santandere swings and misses. He finally finishes him off with the fast ball. Santandere gets a appreciative cheer from this Toronto crowd. Andre Hill finally gets the first down of the second. Here comes Andre Simenez who starting at short moving over from second with Bashette unable to get ready get healthy from that knee issue in time for this division series. And that makes it a totally different lineup when they don’t have Bo Bashette, one of the top hitters in baseball. Tried in a couple long balls so far though to this two to nothing lead. You go back to early July, Blue Jays swept a four game series here against the Yankees and scored nine runs per game. And they did that without Bashette. In the air to right field for Judge Shades his eyes from the sun pouring through the open roof. Two out. Talking about that sweep back in early July. They averaged nine runs per game in that series. This is why homefield advantage was such a big deal. You talked about how good the Jays have been overall this year at home and especially against the Yankees here. Yeah, they have been really good. And based on the way the Jay’s rotation is, this game one’s so much more important to them than it is to the Yankees. Uh unfortunately, some injuries have knocked out some pretty good pitchers. Ernie Clement with two away. It sounds like it’s going to be the 22-year-old Trey Savage tomorrow who started all of three major league games and the decision being partially to have Bieber, the veteran, go at Yankee Stadium. So, you get the kid getting the start in front of his home crowd. But Chris Basset unavailable for the division series. Still dealing with that back issue. Sher not on the roster. If it were to get to a game four, you’re looking at a bullpen game. This is the one where you have the advantage. [Applause] Oh, and two on Ernie Clement. He’ll delivers one. Here’s the first good breaking ball he’s thrown. You seen the catcher just give him a little nod there with two strikes. That ball had late tilt and break. He hasn’t thrown one of these yet. And this pitch right here, he stayed behind it. Now, when you’re trying to throw a breaking ball and you throw as hard as he does, if you get on the side of the baseball, it’s all it’s going to do is spin and not spin in the right direction. Got your glove? I tell you what, I didn’t think we could get one up here, but there’s two. I’ll be ready. Enjoying your time in Toronto so far? So far, it’s been great. Yeah, right. Beautiful weather. What an environment. Another one-two pitch from Heel. Clement reaches out, gets his bat on it into right center fielder where Gisham makes the call and the catch to finish off this inning. Alejandro Kirk, they love him here in Toronto. If he does that throughout this month, they’re going to love him around baseball. [Music] [Music] Guerrero and Kirk both with home runs for the Blue Jays. Two to nothing as we go to the top of the third and Anthony Vulpi leads off for the Yankees. homered against Garrett Crochet for the Yankees blown run against him in game one of the wildard round. He knocked in another run in game three and here he is doing it again, John. A 220 career hitter in the regular season, 300 in the postseason. Well, this guy’s going to still be a great player for the Yankees. I know a lot of talk this season. Drives this ball in the air to deep right center field. Vo steps on to the edge of the track. He’s got it. Opening day of the division series continues tonight. 6:30 Eastern on TBS heavyweight fight. Dodgers and Phillies game one Otani’s postseason pitching debut. And then in the American League Tigers and Mariners on FS1 at 8 Eastern. But to follow up on Vulpi in the eighth spot. This part of the lineup so important for the Yankees cuz it creates traffic for Judge. And if Judge doesn’t have traffic, he’s not going to get pitched to, especially by the Toronto Blue Jays. One gone for Austin Wells. The nine hitter grounds it to second. Routine for Clement. Again, right in the This is the perfect recipe for Gossman. Get the lead, throw enough strikes early, get a team aggressive, get some quick pitch outs. And that man right there is going to benefit from his starter going seven eight innings which has been a theme by the way in the postseason of success for teams that have had deep deep starting out starters that pitch in the in the deeper in the game. Trent Gisham second look at Gauman here for the Yankees. Millionth look this year and he swings at the first pitch. Pops it up over third barger. Nine out of 10 first pitch strikes for Kevin Gosman who needs four pitches total to retie the side in the third. It’ll be George Springer with the top of the order for the Blue Jays leading two to nothing when you come back. I got it. I got you. [Music] Back here at Roger Center with Blue Jays manager, John Snder. John, you said yesterday you wanted Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to play free. What have you seen so far? So far so good. Um, you know, Vlatty is such a big part of our franchise, obviously. Um, and I’m excited for him to be in this position. You know, great first AB, great play there to double up Jazz at first. Um, he’s got a he’s got a pretty good vibe about him right now. Alejandro Kirk, for people who might not be familiar with him, what does he mean to your club? Man, Kirk is just a quiet leader. You know, what he does behind the plate, you know, recently at the plate, obviously, he’s had such a good rebound year. um just a lovable guy and I think that um he’s really kind of come into his own this year in terms of his leadership, controlling the pitching staff. Um he’s been really great. Finally, Kevin Gosman, what have you liked most so far? I think just pounding the zone. You know, they came out swinging really aggressive early in the count. Um splits carrying the zone to kind of keep them honest and then right there a quick third inning just locating his fast ball. So, um when he’s doing that kind of top and bottom of the zone, he’s he’s damn good. John, thanks very much. Joe, back to you. Thanks, man. All right, guys. George Springer leads off this third for the Blue Jays behind heel one and two. And when John Schneider talks about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. the person, and feeling like he’s got a pulse on how he’s going to be, he knows as well as anybody in this organization. He was his minor league manager when Guerrero arrived in the organization in the air to center field for Tren Gisham. And the first out of the third. 24 years in the organization for John Schneider. He started out as a player. He was a catcher that reached as high as AAA. But when it became clear that he wasn’t going to be a big league player and started thinking about coaching and dove into that, coached and managed in the minors for a decade. Came up to the big leagues as the catching instructor in 2019 and has been the manager the last three plus years. Taking over in an interimm role in 2022 and the full-time gig in 23. Nathan Lucas here with one way takes downstairs. [Applause] Lucas swings and misses. One ball, one shrike. Well, whatever they told Mr. Heel, he has come out and made some adjustments early on. Made some great pitches to Springer. He’s made some low good fast balls here away, which is how you got to get him out. And to left center field, Gishaman Bellinger. It is Ballinger. Two out and it brings up Vlad Jr. Time for our player profile sponsored by Liberty Mutual. Homers in his first atbat of the postseason and then makes a play defensively. Yeah, they threw a pitch after this defensive play. You see right there, they threw a pitch in his nitro zone. That’s why I was surprised by the change up and that change up faded back over the middle part of the plate. He owns that part of the plate against right-handed pitchers. That’s where you got to go and you got to stay there and give up the single. That’s where he likes to hit the ball the other way. Takes away from that power. [Applause] I got down and two here. And yeah, heel does look like a different guy. Yeah, totally different. Whatever they unlocked and sometimes it takes a pitcher a minute, right? Gets in the postseason on the road, rockus crowd, you just get out of your mechanics a little bit. looking for his first clean inning of the day. Home with an 02. It is that Guerrero takes ball one. [Music] Clean innings. One, two, threes don’t come a lot at a high percentage with with Heel, but he would take one right here. Guerrero serves a base hit the other way, showing off all the dimensions of his game. And the power in the first at bat, the opposite field base hit here. And see, that’s what you got to get a great player. That’s what you got to give up. And that’s why he’s such a unique star in our game. He has the ability to hit for average and power. Much like his dad, he never saw a pitch he didn’t like. And that one, you got to go with it. If you try to pull that one, you’re out. What was that like facing his dad? I know you had pretty good numbers against him, but could hit everything. Yeah, he could hit a ball that bounced. Going to have a pitching change here after the base hit from Guerrero. Heel is finished with two out in the third. 2025 American League Division Series on Fox presented by Booking.com. Here at the Rogers Center in Toronto, they have chased Luis Heel two and two/3. He gives up the two solo home runs and hands it off to the bullpen very early in this game. The Yankees not having the same luxury they had in the wild card round where they had deep starts in all three games. Tim Hill takes over and delivers a strike to Allison Barger. Well, Tim Hill, you see the unorthodox low 3/4 sidearm. Tough on lefties. Sinking action, get right-handers out as well. Here’s the deal about the Toronto Blue Jays that a lot of people are going to get to realize. Just like the Milwaukee Brewers, in this day and age of homers and swing and miss, these are the opposite two teams. They put the ball in play. It’s hard to strike them out. You’re going to have to beat them. They’re not going to beat themselves more than likely. This offense went from 23rd in the major leagues last year to fourth in the bottom line and runs scored. That’s put in play and it’s going to be an infield hit for Barger. There’s a perfect example. They just do not strike out. Barger puts it in play and has an infield hit. I’m telling you, in this world of exit velocity and the sexiness behind it, I get all that. You can cherrypick that stat all you want, but in the postseason, if you put pressure on the team by putting the ball in play, postseason baseball’s different than regular season. And guess what you can’t do? You can’t just flip a switch and all of a sudden put the ball in play. You are what you are. And that’s why the Blue Jays not only had a successful campaign are going to be tough if they continue to do that. Well, the real game changers when you you do that, but then you pair it with the ability to hit it out. And they hit it out already twice today. They’re hitting coach David Popkins. They weren’t at the very top of the home run leaderboard, but enough power when you look at all the other things they do. Speaking of that power, here’s Kirk. Kirk struggled for a lot of September and then game 62. The Blue Jays needing to win to hold on to the division. It’s a grand slam and a two-run home run. Right on Bran with who he’s been, whatever they’ve needed throughout his time in Toronto. Two on and two out. Kurt takes on. Well, the biggest thing that they do well too is they’re aggressive. So, you would think aggressive team at the plate would have a lot of swing and miss and wouldn’t put the ball in play. It’s the opposite. They are aggressive early, don’t take many pitches, put them in play. one and two. This is a guy right here that epitomizes what we’re talking about across this lineup as well as anybody. Things he does kind of become teams mo 280 hitter this year. One of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball. The Blue Jays leaned into that identity as a team that they really took off from late May forward. On a one-two, Kirk takes high. This team is still below 500 two months into the year coming off the last place finish last year. And the one thing he will do against left-handers is he’s not just pull oriented. He will go the other way. Another bouncer left side. McMahon takes his time and throws him out. So he’ll comes on for Heel and finishes the inning. It’ll be Aaron Judge to lead off the fourth for the Yanks. [Music] Judge leads off the fourth with a lot of first pitch success. If I’m Gauman, I’m not throwing a first pitch fastball here. This is what Judge loves on the first pitch attack and with power. Nick has all been aggressive so far today against Gossman. Oh, baby. It was a fast ball. Wow. On the knuckles. And it’s been a couple things guys have done against him in the postseason. Right. It’s breaking pitches down and away. And it’s those fast balls up and in. Well, I said I wouldn’t throw a fast ball, but he threw it in the perfect spot. And he’s been throwing a lot of fast balls in a perfect spot. And that’s five pitches and four outs with a two-run lead. This is perfectly executed. But that’s the that’s the matchup. and the scenario that Judge normally wins this battle. Bellinger. Yeah, the Yankees on the season are one of the most patient teams in baseball. Just to make a point here, I’m going to use the numbers. I don’t normally like to use these exact numbers, but 45% of the pitches they swing at on the year today, 68% which would be a season high. Yeah. And it’s because of the respect that he has for that pitch right there. They have not. Now, it works one of two ways. There could have been a lot of early action which changes the pitch selection of Gossman. But if you get early outs, it doesn’t change the pitch selection. He has a two-run lead which is not huge. But when you’re making pitches with your fast ball and spotting them, that’s the key. Spotting your fastball will always get hitters out 100%. It’s the mistakes that today’s style of hitting crushes. They crush mistakes. Ballinger the first guy to go up there with a patient approach has had three and 0. Strike one. Kevin Gosman in his fourth year with the Blue Jays. 13th year in the Big Leagues. Former first round pick of the Orioles. He made it to the majors a year after he was drafted. Bellinger’s view on his 3-1 pitch. It’s open. It’s an easy one for Guerrero. Two up and two down in the fourth. Make your voice heard. You can vote now to select the 2025 All MLB team presented by MGM Rewards. Your chance to be part of history and honor this season’s top performers. Terms and conditions apply. Go to MLB.com/allMLB for details. Six years in Baltimore after they drafted him and he was right at league average. Then he goes to Atlanta. Cincinnati. didn’t have much success either of those places. Becomes an all-star with the Giants. Earns this big contract that he’s got with the Blue Jays. He is their guy. Game one of the Division Series. That splitter career making pitch gets strike one on Ben Rice. And what that splitter does is just equalizes the left-handers that they put in the lineup. You know, that is a pitch that some lefties just cannot see out of the hand of a pitcher. And so far, he is not seeing it. And there are six left-handed hitters for the Yankees today. left on the year hitting 193 against Gossman. I mean, this is this is a video that you want to look over over and over again. The way he has pitched Ben Rice, Ben Rice has virtually had nothing to hit. I know it’s only a second at bat, but [Applause] I mean, I told you about his 53 pitch inning. He doesn’t even have 50. He’s got 40 in four innings. The one, two, four innings for Kevin Gosman. Yes, I am. I’m [Music] What made you decide to lift him when you did? Yeah, I just felt like a lot a lot of good swings were starting to happen. We’re coming to a tough part of the order where I like, you know, Timmy Hill through that to try and just hold it down, keep it keep it where it is. Never an easy call, especially with a guy, you know, as talented as Louie. certainly could have been capable of going through there, but one you got to make. Kevin Gossman very tough so far. How do you solve him? Yeah, you know, I feel like we’ve gotten a handful of good points off him. Made some good contact against him. Uh but, you know, he’s feel he’s attacking the zone. He’s using, you know, the the fast ball and the splitter and even the slider. Staying a little bit unpredictable enough anyway, but you know, hopefully we can stay after him and and and catch him. Aaron, thanks a lot, Joe. Back to you. All right, Kenny. Kevin Gosman against the hottest team in baseball. Four scoreless innings in a game that the Blue Jays really feel like they got to win. The one matchup where it’s going to favor them when you’re looking at the starting pitching. It’s Dalton Vo leading off this fourth. Lefty lefty against Hill. [Applause] Two balls, one strike. Var came over from the Arizona Diamondbacks a couple years ago. elite center field defense. He’s won a gold glove out there and home run power like never before this year. Serves this one to left field for Cody Bellinger and the first down of the fourth. I’ve always said postseason baseball if you’re on the mound or your manager you want stressless outs. Like you don’t want stress and so far you couldn’t pick a better start for Kevin Gman. He has had no stress and I mean you feel fresh as you can be right now and typically every postseason inning feels like two two and a half innings because there’s so much more attention to detail and obviously so much more adrenaline. Yeah, that one inning there that was four pitches long. That’s like just getting rid of a whole inning. Here’s Satan Dair ripping a ball down the line. Foul. The Blue Jays we talk about offensively number one in average, number one and on base percentage. The defense is really good. The question for the Jays is, do they have enough pitching? They have the worst erra of the playoff teams. The guy they trust most is doing it so far today. Santandere missed extra bases by just a couple feet. That’s the big question for the Blue Jays. Big question for the Yankees. the back end of the bullpen. Starting pitching has been remarkable lately outside of today with heel. The offense number one in baseball. Do they have enough in the bullpen? They’re going to have to tap into just about everybody to get through this game. That’s outside. Tim Hill who was freed from the Chicago White Socks last year. Camila Deval gets loose outside. Dropped out. Missed away. Ball two. [Music] Santandere the longtime Orio inside. He’s ahead three and one. 30 years old out of Venezuela. some really low years in Baltimore, but he got to come out on the other side of it. Getting through his own injuries, being part of their return to the postseason a couple years back in a 5-year contract here in Toronto. Didn’t do a whole lot in the regular season. Fresh chance for him here [Applause] on a 3-1 from Tim Hill. Santandere takes strike two. Call there on the sinker. [Applause] This is way above the league team average of pitchers per at plate per at bat. Sky high to center field and Gisham casually puts it away. Two gone in the fourth. Play the Fox Super 6 MLB playoff challenge. Download the Fox Sports app right now and enter for free for a shot to win your share of $10,000 in cash prizes. see the Fox Sports app for details. So, the stress that the Blue Jays provide for the other team is when they get runners on, they’re really good. And they’re average and ability to put the ball in play. You almost feel like the Yankees need something flukish to happen to get them going. They do rely on the home run, but as you mentioned, it’s not just the home run that gets it done for them. They just haven’t had any action at all other than the single by Aaron Judge. Whole thing dowsted by Gosman so far. Jenz here with the bases empty and two away. Tim Hill trying to do something Luis Hill couldn’t and that is get that clean stressfree inning you’re talking about. You look up funky lefty encyclopedia got a picture old Tim Chopper Chism and there’s that clean inning. On to the fifth we go in game one. Good day sunshine. Good day sunshine. Good day sunshine. Now you got Philly’s Dodgers tonight on TBS. Mariners Tigers on FS1 as Jean Carlos Stanton starts the fifth for the Yankees against Kevin Gau and lifts the first pitch to right field. Yankees stay aggressive. Nathan Lucas, one pitch, one out. Said that a few times today for Gau. It’s time for a game break. Hello Kevin Burkhart. Second number 13 [Applause] Kevino had three hits over the first three innings of that game. They had nine runs already three innings into the game. Chisum takes low. Really, the Brewers are like the National Leagues Toronto Blue Jays or vice versa. Absolutely. I mean, the Brewers are doing I mean, they’re they they’ve shocked everybody with what they’ve done this year. Nasty. I mean, these last two pitches, that’s who Kevin Gosman is, right? Look, I mean, again, we could probably find a way to show you every pitch, which is hard to do, but none of them are down the middle. I mean, he has spotted his fast ball. First pitch out. Splitter is dangerous. Digs this one out down the line. Lucas makes the play. And the Blue Jays are taking all the things that made them a 94 win team and putting them on display here in the first game of the postseason. [Applause] You just wonder if the Yankees can get something to drop if it changes that momentum for him. But right now, everything is clicking for that guy and his team. Not that the Yankees are on their heels, but they’re going up to the plate going, “We don’t get many pitches to hit.” And that’s usually the opposite. They draw all kinds of pitches to hit because of their patience. Ryan McMahon takes a strike. Do you disagree? Agree. The approach today way more aggressive than they normally are. Um, I kind of agree. They just aren’t executing. They’re swinging at pitchers pitches. So, it’s different if you’re aggressive, but kind of they call it a coffee can. You know, you just want to stay in the coffee can. Selectively aggressive. Yeah. Like that pitch right there. Let’s say you’re aggressive. You go to hit that pitch, it’s an out. And so, credit Gossman right now for making all the pitches against a really good offensive team and staying away from the middle of the plate. One mistake he made to Chisum on that base hit in his first hit back. Has not given up a hit since. Nine in a row retired. That’s outside. Whenever a pitcher looks comfortable, it’s not a great sign for a hitter. the hitter and the pitcher when they stand in the box and on the mound, somebody knows they have the advantage. Right now, Gosman knows he has the advantage over the Yankees. Hardly broken a sweat today. And when it’s the opposite and you’re on the mound, you got to fake it. And it’s a learned trait cuz it’s not easy. Especially this time, there’s nowhere to hide at this time. Any hitter that gets super aggressive in the postseason advantage pitcher. Any pitcher that gets too rattled or gets out of his comm command advantage hitter dugout center field makes a sliding play of the zone. A couple tremendous defensive plays in this inning for the Blue Jays. First and right it was Lucas and then in center it was Vo. The Jays one of the top defensive teams in baseball this year and their ace the beneficiary today [Music] out in under 30 minutes here at the Rogers Center as we get the call to the bullpen sponsored by AT&T. Camila Dval comes on to pitch for the Yankees. It has been all Blue Jays here in game one. Solo home runs from Vlad Jr. and Alejandro Kirk and five scoreless innings from Kevin Gman takes over as 91 and two come up. Well, a lot of these moves the Yankees made didn’t work right away and they’re getting trying to get this guy going. He was lights out in San Francisco and you saw 99 miles an hour. Got a good slider. Ernie Clement leading off for the Blue Jays. Wrapping one on the ground to a drawn in McMahon for the first out. Time for our home team profile sponsored by Wayfair. We’ve touched on this a little bit, but the Blue Jays after finishing in last place last year. It looked like more the same this year. They were below 500. They were eight games out near the end of May for the best record in the American League since the best team in the American League at home at 54 and 27 this year. And as John Schneider told us, it’s when they leaned into that identity of being a bat-to- ball team, an on base team. And the next part of that was, hey, if we’re going to be more station to station, yeah, we’ll have pop, but if we’re going to be more station to station and on base, we also got to run the bases better cuz they were terrible at that last year. And the guy at the plate right here, a leader in so many ways, has led that charge as well as their best base runner. That’s George Springer who out of no one from Deval jumps out of the way. Springer’s 36 years old. He’s in his 12th year in the major leagues. It looked like he was just headed for, you know, the lower part of his career that he had seen his best days. He bottomed out at 220 last year, but the most improved hitter in baseball. Well, poo the top of the leaderboard, John, for OPS on base plus sigen, Aaron Judge, show Otani, George Springer. Yeah, he’s dominating right-handed pitchers. I mean, he has just had a field day against right-handed pitchers staying on the ball, controlling the strike zone. And when you see majority of right-handed pitchers, you know you’re going to have a good year when that success rate’s there. That’s the one hole inside that ball is supposed to break. As a right-handed hitter, when it backs up, it locks you up. A breaking ball that does not break. Look at how it spins backwards and it’s always going to lock you up. Too bad you can’t perfect that as a pitcher. On 2-2 Springer rolls it to short for Vulpi. Two up and two down here for Deval. Started to pitch a lot better towards the end of the regular season. Six straight scoreless outings for him. Didn’t pitch in the wildard round. They’re getting deployed here trying to keep this tight. Here’s Lucas. [Applause] Couple good defensive plays in this game. One. This game has been played crisply. No jitters. Like this is the two teams that you would expect this kind of game in this kind of series. They tied at the end of the year and that tiebreaker went of course to the Blue Jays and down the stretch they were really good both of them. Both interesting though because it’s not like your neck andneck race. It was a roller coaster. Yeah. The Yankees out ahead by eight games in May like we just touched on and then the Blue Jays led by as many as five with two weeks left in the season. Yeah. No, this has been the streakiest year in all of baseball that I can remember across the board. Vulpi and three ground ball outs for Camilo Delva. An encouraging postseason debut for the Yankees. [Music] Gosman’s gotten his outs today. Perfect blend. That’s what’s making him so tough. And look, I reiterate again. This bottom part of the lineup has to get on base for Judge. Otherwise, the Yankees are going to have a hard time mounting any kind of rally against Gosman. the under Anthony Vulpi taking a strike. Gossame retired 10 in a row. Yankees got a single from Judge in the first inning, a single from Chisum in the second. That is it. And it’s been a lot of aggressive approaches, a lot of quick outs. In fact, five first pitch outs for Gauzeman taking this pressure cooker of the postseason and making it. This is as low stress as I remember seeing in the postseason. No, this is I I can I can easily say of all the games I’ve watched and done here now as a broadcaster, this is the greatest execution early on to a first start in a postseason I’ve ever seen. Wow. Like I I just can’t think of a m one or two mistakes. It hasn’t cost him. He’s getting a leadoff hitter out. He’s not afraid to throw strikes with his fast ball. He’s going in, out, up, down, and then here comes the splitter. And that’s why he’s keeping the Yankees scoreless. home with an 02 to Vulpi. He lifts that one up to left field. Back goes Santandere to the wall and it’s off the wall. That thing kept on carrying and Vulpi’s into second with a leadoff double. That pitch left up with two strikes and Vulpi just misses getting it out of here. Now he went with that rarely thrown slider and it was flat. And this is what I thought that the Yankees need. They got to get a leadoff hitter on. They got to create some kind of stress. See how the ball’s spinning and doesn’t break. And that’s not right on Q. He’s been absolutely perfect until that pitch. And now a leadoff double. And at least turns the lineup over. That gives Judge an opportunity to hit with uh this series being totally dependent about how many guys get on base when Judge is up. Tying run at the plate in the form of Well, who cranks a line drive, base hit to right. had to be sure that it would fall. And so Vulpi just takes third. But the Yankees after getting just two hits over the first five innings, none over the last three have back-to-back hits from the bottom of the order in the six. And what happens is when you get a runner on to lead off the inning, you’re pitching out of the stretch. Timings change and then pitches change. So hitters, the hitters are momentum type offense, right? When they see somebody break through or they see an opportunity, it creates a little bit of momentum. And now this was just a safe move to make sure he didn’t get double off. Now you’ve got first and third inning. Unless some miracle triple play, you’re guaranteed to see Aaron Judge with some runners on. Get a word from Pete Walker. And we get a word from Capital One. With the Capital 1 Venture X card, you earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy and turn all of your purchases into extraordinary trips. Capital One. What’s in your wallet? Trent Gisham, the guy at the plate here, who has come out of the middle with nowhere to have a big year, came over in the same deal that brought him Juan Sto. He hardly played last year, hit a buck 90 as the bullpen gets going with Mason Flu Hardy. Sodto goes to the Mets. It’s part of the reason Gisham’s gotten the opportunity that he’s gotten. And he has doubled his previous career high in home runs. He’s hit 34. It’s incredible. It’s incredible the transformation in a couple years to what Trent Gisham has meant to the New York Yankees. Best chance for the Yankees today. Tying run aboard. Go ahead run at the plate. Gisham takes the ball. And you know with when they didn’t resign Sodto, that opportunity opened up for Gisham to play every single day. They had tightened up their defense and certainly you can see the production right there is self evident of why the Yankees are still a lethal offense. Trying to string it together here the way they did in Boston against Boston to finish off the wildard round. Did it without the power. Did it with a bunch of singles. And over the last month of the regular season, the Yankees hit 290 with runners in scoring position. [Music] This was not the team, even though the narrative still seems to exist, that has to hit home runs to win. [Applause] Double from Vulpi. Single from Wells. Two and0 on Trent Gisham. Here it comes. Ball three with Judge waiting on death. Well, with Aaron Judge, we’re going to show you why it’s so important to get runners on. When the runners are on, they have to respect and not walk him as much, right? Multiple runners, one runner on, he gets walked a lot. So, if he happens to get the bases loaded, there’s obviously no room to to put anybody else. Got the call. Three and one. First stress of this game for Gauzeman. Gisham is always cool and calm. Is up there waiting on this 3-1 pitch. [Applause] fouls it off and it’s three and two. You know, when you see Gris in the batter’s box, he’s flat, his back foot is all the way legally to the end of that batter’s box. And hitters are used to being in the same spot. It gives them a little more length against the fast ball, but against the splitter, it is getting the pitch at the worst part for a hitter. But when you’re that far back, you’re going to have to really recognize a mistake. I foul ball four. Ball four to load the bases for Aaron Judge. And a potential pivot point in this game and in this series right here. Doublebarreled action in the bullpen now as Varin joins Fardy. Two to nothing Blue Jays. Judge comes up nowhere to put it. All that freedom that he had with nobody on. You’re you’re fearless with your fast ball. Now you can’t be as fearless. You have to tell yourself, I’m going to make a great pitch here. Get a ground ball double play or something. But now the stress goes through the roof when you’re facing a guy like Aaron Judge with the bases loaded. One for two with a single today. Five hits in the postseason, all of them singles. One of the greatest home run hitters of all time. At the plate, takes a fast ball for a strike. Just a perfect pitch right there. But what Aaron Judge has become very comfortable hitting with two strikes, hitting the his pitch, laying off the pitch that used to get him out all the time. One judge takes in the dirt. What a stop by Kirk. One of the many ways he’s valuable for this team. Well, Aaron Judge would love to get a hit, but at this point in the game, he has to make contact somewhere to drive in a run. They’ll take a fly ball, but getting a run in right now imperative. You don’t pass the baton to anybody else. Here comes Judge. Takes low. He’s ahead two and one. The fourth 50 home run season for him. [Applause] the batting champ as well. 331 average on a two-1 from Gauzeman. Judge swings and misses. He’s ahead of a splitter and it’s two and two. Ground ball foul just wide of third. [Applause] He’s only thrown three sliders on the day. Does a good one of those get him here? Uh, I haven’t seen the ones that he doesn’t have the feel for the one that turns a corner. So, that high splitter right there was not intended to be in that spot. He got away with it. I don’t I don’t think he will throw the slider to Judge. Another 2-2. It is a splitter and Judge watches it calmly. The count is full. Sliders are the ones that have given Judge such a hard time through the years and Gossman not really possessing that today. Base is loaded, nobody out. Three and two on Aaron Judge. Fouls it off. I mean, that’s just a perfect pitch with no room for error. That leaks over the middle of the plate and it’s a four spot. I mean, he tied him up with a fast ball 3-2. You just can’t do any better than that. But the great hitter that Aaron Judge is, he spoils it. And that’s what’s frustrating for pitchers, especially when you’ve thrown a bunch of pitches in this inning. The eighth pitch strike through that previous pitch set up this aggressive. His hips are open. He’s got nothing to get to the barrel of the bat. He was committed way too soon. And obviously a ball for you can’t in the moment when you’re trying to make something happen say at home that it was easily takable. Yeah, it’s just the stress in the postseason. That’s what happens. And it has snowballed on him through the years. Jason, of course, great pitching this time of year inside on Cody Bellinger, but the chase has gone up. The strikeouts have gone way up and in a key spot here, it’s a strike out of judge. Now, the one thing I noticed in the last two hitters, he’s pulling the split. When you pull the split, it doesn’t have the right action. Starts moving the wrong way. The one to Bellinger is down away ball two. So now, if you’re a hitter here and Bellinger’s just he’s got to keyhole one, if he sees fast ball, it has to be you can’t just swing. It has to be in the only spot you want it to swing and drive the ball right here on a two-0 count. Cody Bellinger is ahead three and 0. That is great discipline cuz if he was super aggressive and he was looking to just do damage, you swing at that pitch and that’s why you throw it. If you’re Gman, you’re thinking, I got him. Got to think he’s aggressive. Tying run at second. Go ahead. Run at first. Three 0 pitch. No, four. All four. And the Yankees are on the board with a bases loaded walk from Cody Bellinger. [Applause] He has been the one guy who has looked calm and patient for the Yankees today. You just wonder if the count were different and he was pounding a strike in that area, put pressure on the umpire. It was a ball, but he would have put pressure on the hitter to swing at it, too. So now the hitter who’s had virtually no chance again. So I wonder if Rice can even think about sitting on a split finger. And you wouldn’t tell most hitters to say you can’t do that. You got to think fast ball and react. Well, the splitter has given him nothing but trouble on two strikeouts. Well, there’s a guy that there’d be to do that against. It is Gosman who throws it more than anybody. It was a splitter and he went after it and still couldn’t get it. Yeah, I’m surprised a little bit by that after a four pitch walk. Wells at third, the tying run. Gisham, the go-ahehead run at second. Bellinger at first. The 01. Rice takes in the dirt. And see that’s the fourth one now. The fourth splitter that he is pulling. So, if Rice has a chance, because the split goes away from left-handers, when you see it start turning towards the left-handed hitter, that’s not what Gauzeman wants. Here’s one. One popped up. As good as a strike out for Kevin Gosman. Infield fly rule in effect. Bargers got it two-way. That’s going to do it for Kevin Gauzeman. Of course, so much pressure on the managers this time year. We’ve already seen it in the wildard round. That sensitive spot of when you make the move, when you go to the bullpen and with two gone here in the six, John Schneider goes to the pen with the bases loaded and two out. The right-hander comes on for John Carlos Stanton at a 2-1 game. His career against Kevin Gosman comes to the plate. Gauzeman finished. He faced one more than the minimum through five. Runs into trouble here in the sixth. It’s Lewis Varland on to face Jean Carlos Stanton. He’s taken him deep as well in his career. And he takes ball one. Well, not the curve ball you saw right there. A fast ball, a sinker, and a slider. Tying run at third. One ball, one strike. Curve been the best pitch for Varin who they got at the deadline for Minnesota. [Music] The bullpen took shape on the fly for the Jays this year. Really good down the stretch. Stanton on one. Fouls it back. Strike two. 100 from Garland. again up to one of the one. Yankees get one but only one. [Applause] Lewis Varlin preserves the line for Kevin Gosman. Middle six in game one. 2-1. Opportunity right there. They were one of the best teams in baseball this year getting guys in from third with less than two outs. And they had Judge up there. Bases loaded, nobody out. He struck out. Bases loaded, one out for Rice. He popped out. And then Stanton strikes out to end the inning. And they get just the one. Glad leads off. takes ball from Dval. Deval worked the one two three fifth inning. Back out there for a second inning of work. He’s very well rested. Hasn’t pitched since the last weekend of the regular season. Guerrero two for two in his first game of the post. Remember we said how important contact is in the postseason and win, right? And that inning typically during the regular season bases loaded, nobody up out and judges up. I’d hate to think what the statistics would bear on that for on average. That’s inside. That more than one run is going to come out of that more often. Yeah. Run expectancy. You can find all those charts and cross reference situations, but bases loaded, nobody out. Judge up. That’s looking like a big inning more often than not. Deval home with a 2-1. Guerrero swings and misses. 96 cutter looks good. Deval’s gone two innings only once this year. Visit the Giants in early July before they traded him to the Yankees. But on a day like this where they only get two plus from their starter, here Boon will extract everything he can out of him. They do have Luke Weaver ready. Three, four, and five coming up here. I wonder if Weaver would be for the next hitter, the left-handed batting Barger. That’s a highf fly ball to left field, but got under it and got it off the end of the bat. And so it’s easy for Bellinger. And the first down to the six as they get the lab for the first time today. Pitcher profile sponsored by Wendy’s. Kevin Gosman gets judged to go after that one. And then Lewis Varand up to 101 to strike out Stanton. [Applause] You don’t think the postseason environment can get into your blood? How about Varin who averaged 9394 as a starter in recent years, touching 101 there. That ball scrapes the sky as it flies out to left center field, but retired. Two gone in the six. Well, that was a big momentum inning uh for the Blue Jays. And usually sometimes the offense will respond and take advantage of it. But so far so good for Gal. He’s kept them at bay. And the Yankees are always dangerous when they’re only one swing away from tying a game. [Applause] But the Blue J Blue Jays bullpen, which I think if they do their part in this series, they have the best chance of winning this series if they are flawless and shut down the Yankees. Alejandro Kirk, look out. That’s a slide of it popped out of his hand. No ill intent. And it is going to be Varin to go back out there for the seventh inning. First big move for John Schneider works by the way. He calls on his reliever with Cosman on the ropes there and he gets out of it. Kirk one for two with a home run in this game. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] left-handed batting. Varos’s on deck. We’ve really good against left-handed hitters and out there waiting for the call. Go one and two on Kirk. [Music] [Applause] the one two smacked to first and caught by Rice. That’s a scorcher down there. But that’s six up and six down for Camilo DVA keeping his Yankees in this game [Music] today waiting for their chance to watch their team in the postseason. Blue Jays today trying to win a game in the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Three consecutive wildard round sweeps. The fans here think that they have a team. Then the championship drought. Jazz Chisum leads off and takes a strike from Lewis Varlin. Chisum one for two, singled in the second, lined out in the fifth. 31 home runs this year, just the third 3030 season in Yankees history. Bobby Bonds, Alfonso Soliano, and now J Chisum. So even though he missed a month with an oblique injury, month plus with an oblique and then didn’t run for the first month that he came back from that as he was dealing with a groin, still racked up those numbers behind one and two. [Applause] Var stays alive. Nothing but off speed so far. You feel like this 100 mph fast ball has got to come into play right here. One and two. He’s got two great secondary pitches. See what he goes with. Fast ball. Miss and it’s two and two. Chisum, McMahon, and Vulpi. 6, seven, and eight for the Yankees. They break through in the sixth, but leave the bases loaded. And now Chisum to open seventh. Chops one up the middle. That’s short. It’s Himenez. It’s the opening day of the division series and it continues tonight 6:30 Eastern on TBS. Dodgers and Phillies and then Tigers Mariners on FS1 at 8:00 Eastern. We got a bunch of starved franchises, starved fan bases in the American League this year. Mariners trying to get to the World Series for the first time, trying to get to the championship series for the first time since the Yankees ended that record setting 2001 season for them. McMahon, how about the Tigers who best team in the world for half of the summer and then saw a 15game lead disappear but survived the Guardians to advance. Yeah, they sure did. And you can make the argument that uh they may have the single best left-handed pitcher in the game right now going for him. Austin could have made that argument if they would have gone on with Crochet. But [Applause] that’s Eric Scooble 14 Ks and his wild card start. That’s a pretty good lefty right there too. Max Freed will start game two for the Yankees tomorrow night when the series shifts in their favor, at least on paper in the starting pitching matchups. One, you know, we said it earlier, say it again. This is a game one that look in a short series game one, you got to win it all the time. 75% of the time you do, you go on to win the series. But especially the way the pitching lines up, the game the Jays got to get down. Man lays off and it’s two and two. [Music] man who’s had a couple good swings today on this 2-2 chops it foul over from the Rockies at the deadline. He is one of the best defensive third baseman in the game and you saw that the other day. Kind of earned his pinstripes going into the dugout against Boston and there is some pop in there as well. Another two-2 and a line drive base hit to right field. McMahon’s first hit of the day is put the tying run aboard in the seventh. Time for Fox Foresight powered by Google Cloud. 43% chance for the Yankees to score two plus runs the rest of the game. Blue Jays, as bad as the back end of the pen was at times, have the fewest blown losses or blown lead losses in the majors this year. Have not blown a lead since September 1st. That’ll do it for Varin. Back into the pen they go with a tying run on here in the seventh. The regular season, but it’s the Blue Jays on a pair of solo shots with a 2-1 lead from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk. Sir Anthony Dominguez comes out of the bullpen to face Anthony Vulpi. Dominguez was so good in the postseason for the Phillies a few years ago, traded for the second time at the deadline in his many years. the Orioles to the Jays and he’s in with a strike out. Four seam fast ball, but he’s got a really good breaking ball and splitter. Those are the two pitches where the league virtually hits nothing against. So if he can get ahead, those are his kill pitches. Gave up seven runs in his first five games with his new team. Just one one over his last 19. And again, we’re talking about this Blue Jays bullpen that for a lot of the year was a problem, but they last blew a lead September 1st. There’s the guy looming at the back end. The biggest question and Hoffman two on Vulpi. Well, John, we’re talking about this Yankees lineup. You got to set the table for the guys at the top. They’ve done that today. Four of the five hits have come from the bottom of the order. Yeah, they’ve done their part and uh get a pinch runner. Yeah, Cababayro with a pinch run for big man. Interesting. So, he goes in there mid at bat, the major league stolen base leader, Jos Cabayro, weapon picked up at the deadline for the Yankees. And what a time to do it, representing the tying run here. Surprised he didn’t do that earlier, I guess. [Applause] Now goes to two and one. Cababiro comes in. Ki swings and misses. Two and two. [Applause] [Music] 49 stolen bases this year. Second time that he’s led the majors. Dominguez fires and takes that three. Perfectly placed fast ball. [Applause] Well, this is a perfectly placed fast ball and I anticipate some sort of stolen base in the first two pitches here. If you’re thinking about getting aggressive and putting a runner in scoring position, his next Well, he’s not ready to do it right now, but maybe after this pitch. Cabiro dancing over there and they check on him. Cabiro says, “I try to make them hate me. Try to make the other team just hate me having to deal with me.” Boon said, “We did when you were on the other side playing for the Rays the last few years.” Well, they had trouble putting on his oven mitts because that’s that’s what they’re using to slide with. Swinging a miss by Wells. Splitter. Everybody’s got one these days. Yankees catcher one for two. It was a rough second season, but he’s been at his best lately. 290 over the last month. Tie and run at first. Two gone in the seventh. There he goes. A bouncing by the first. Not an easy one for Brad Jr. Seventh instruction. Toronto. Blue Jays up 2-1 [Applause] [Music] during the postseason. Check out the largest selection of authentic jerseys, caps, t-shirts, and more at mlbshop.com for your favorite postseason team gear. Luke Weaver, the new pitcher for the Yankees. Dalton Vo bats for the Blue Jays and takes ball one. Weaver pitched in game one against Boston. He faced three hitters. They all reached base. Didn’t retire a batter and took the loss in that game. And for Yankees bullpen where it’s a big question, Weaver’s got to be good. Yeah, Weaver uh sneaky just really good stuff and run into couple bad trends, but he was a big big part of last year for the New York Yankees. Here’s their closer by the time they reached the postseason. Cabierro, as you see, stays in the game in place there, but it’s three and0 from Weaver. 12 runs, 10 innings from the start of September through the first game of the postseason. [Applause] A green light and a foul ball. Well, so far so good for the Yankees bullpen today. Tim Hill, Camilo Dval, three and a third scoreless innings after Luis Hill wes two and two/3 [Applause] on a 3-1. Varo takes four and has a lead off one. Well, for the Blue Jays, getting to the postseason has not been the problem. They do it for the fourth time in six years, clinching the division and the top seed in the American League. But they’ve lost their last seven postseason games, three consecutive wild card sweeps. They try to win a postseason game for the first time since 2016. And then they set their sights on winning it all. Back-to-back titles in ‘ 92 and 93. They hang championship banners in blue. The division title banners hang in white. Those are nice, but folks around here think that this team is special. They could add a third blue one. Baro at first for Santandere. He’s had a couple long at bats today. Ball and a strike. I was part of that uh 600 years ago 1992 blue banner. What was that like pitching here? Oh man, it was I I loved it cuz obviously the dome conditions are perfect when you pitch. Santon Bear with a base hit to right field. Baro heads for third with Judg’s throwing issues. They’re going to push the envelope. Judge still dealing with that sore elbow. And there was no question Baro is going to turn the corner in advance. [Applause] [Music] A judge went on the injured list at the start of August with a sore elbow and for the first month or so after coming back exclusively DH, but that log jams him. You can’t have Stanton in the lineup if that’s the case in a perfect scenario. So judge the best lineup puts him back out there in right field and they will deal with what they have to with his arm issue. Miles Straw to the game to pinch run at first. And we get a quick word from FanDuel. Make baseball come alive when you bet live this season with FanDuel. [Music] Fernando Cruz is ready and Aaron Boon probably can’t get to the three batter minimum fast enough here. Weaver’s faced five hitters in the postseason. All five have reached. Andrea Jimenez [Music] [Music] [Applause] pitch cal issue. [Music] Well, tomorrow a Fox NFL double header with Dak and the Cowboys taking on the Jets or other regional action. And then in America’s game of the week, Justin Herbert and the Chargers take on the Commanders. Check your local listings for the games in your area only on Fox. Jimenez, by the way, a decent buncher and Blue Jays blunt more than any team in baseball. They play a little small ball here. try to squeeze in a run. Although at this point, the idea of giving an out to Weaver doesn’t sound like a great idea either. Now, I’ve said it a million times when I was an active player sitting on the bench watching a lot of games, going a double play to second base gets us an extra run. And you don’t want to think like that, but if you don’t put it in play, you you go from an inning where you can score a run to much like what the Yankees did, bases loaded, nobody out, only got one. And that was on a bases loaded walk. You know, Blue Jays, the best team in baseball, getting guys in from third with less than two outs. Infield pulled in. Strike one. Home run from Guerrero in the first. Home run from Kirk in the second. Nothing to insense. Ronaldo looking for insurance. Weaver looking for an out is 01. Get on the ground and it’s three to one Blue Jays as Andre Jimenez drives in Dorton Voel. Bottom of the order getting the job done for the Jays. [Applause] And it’s an instant replay for Luke Weaver. Three hitters. They all reach. 3-1 Jays. Still nobody out. Cruz comes into the game. Postseason. Follow all the postseason action. Download the MLB app. The number one app for live baseball. Fernando Cruz who they could not get in there soon enough. Weaver just didn’t have it again. Cruz has we saw a great splitter from Kevin Gosman. Fernando Cruz also has one of the best splitters in baseball. Yeah. Fast sinker slider splitter. It’s Clement. Two on, nobody out. Cruz is trying to get Clement to show his hand there. See if he’s squaring. Top of the order and Springer on deck. Running the bank here. Walking two singles against Weaver. He does square and he bunts it back to Cruz who will go to third in time. Over to first. Not in time, but they get the lead runner. [Applause] That was a great job by Cruz. I mean, he bounced off the mound. What you’re trying to do as a hitter, you want to bunt it to the third base line. It’s indefensible. The runners will get over, but the high pitch allowed him to bunt it more towards the pitcher. And you work on this play a 100 times in spring training, but when it’s in the postseason, it ain’t spring training. Then you also wonder about Cruz who goes a million miles an hour at all times on that play but does a good job of harnessing it and getting it over to Cabier. Top of the order in Springer is hitless here in game one. Got a chase on that splitter. The number one swing and miss pitch in the sport this year. [Music] Fernando Cruz, a 35-year-old from Puerto Rico. Didn’t get to the major leagues until he was 32, drafted as an infielder. And that be that may be why if he gets out of this jam, you’ll see why. pretty excitable. Yeah, some say emotional. Let’s go over 1-1 to Springer. That’s ball two. Kansas City drafted him. He had a few seasons there as the infielder. Could not hit and so they converted him to pitcher. Had a brief stint in the Cubs organization, but then was away from baseball, at least affiliated baseball for two years. went to Indie Ball, said, “I’m going to give it one more shot.” Went to Mexico to pitch. And that’s where the Reds discovered him and gave him his first chance just three years ago. Here’s his two-1 pitch. Springer fouls it off. And they got a chunk of Wells. Ow. He gets it. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] They do a great job firing this crowd up here. Yeah, they don’t need a whole lot, but uh they do a good job. Yeah. Uh 40 plus thousand sellout. Every post game of this division or every home game of the divisions here sold out in less than 30 minutes. Two and two on Springer lays off and the count goes full. One thing about Cruz is you can save your catcher’s arm cuz when he’s done delivering the pitch, he comes over halfway to meet the pitch catcher to get the ball. That’s how that’s how into it he is. Straw at second. Jimenez at second. Clement at first. The payoff pitch. Springer takes ball for him. Yankees weren’t able to take full advantage of their bases loaded opportunity in the sixth inning. Let’s see if the Blue Jays can capitalize on theirs. Nathan Lucas comes up. He better be able to pound a fast ball for a strike if he wants to get him to continue to chase on that split cuz that split has not been close enough. Base is loaded. One gone. Seventh inning, first pitch. Lucas takes out shot [Music] in a team four of contact. Guys, this is the guy with the best contact rate right here on a one pitch. Big ball two. Nowhere to put Lucas and Guerrero Jr.’s who’s on deck. This is easily the pitch of the night right now for the Blue Jays to either put severe distance between them and the Yankees. And this is the putaway inning you want if you’re the Blue Jays. Two three strike. [Applause] Under the circumstances, this should be the best pitch you’ll ever get to hit in the postseason. right here. It’s a 3-1 from Cruz. Lucas swings one to the right field corner. It’s down. It bounces to the wall. This place explodes on a two-run double from Lucas. [Applause] Well, he didn’t miss it and it was a cookie right there at the top of the zone. And that’s what you’ve got to do to take advantage of the stress and the situation. Toronto showing why five runs when they score five runs they’re virtually unbeatable and why they’re so good at home. Three in the bank here in the seven still just one gone. Smelling uh something that’s they’ve not had nearly a decade to get their first postseason win since 2016. And now they’re going to get greedy. Guerrero Jr. coming to the plate. Already two hits today, including a home run. And I mean, typically you wouldn’t pitch to them in this situation with a base open, but down 51. They’re going to choose to see if they can get a couple chase or a ground ball with the drawn in infield. Ball one. The Yankees bullpen that gave up just three runs in the wildard round has given up three runs in this seventh inning. And it’s two guys that they have to have performed for Weaver and Cruz. That’s outside. Ball two. [Applause] Glad Guerrero Jr. set the tone today with a home run in the first inning. A diving play. All the questions swirling. Can Guerrero find it? Cuz he has really struggled the last month. And anytime they’ve been in the postseason, he has struggled. [Applause] Ball three. So far so great in his first game of this postseason chance. Still don’t understand why they’re not putting him on. It’s three 0 count. Nothing good can happen here. But they’re going to pitch to him. [Applause] Wow. A three 0 center cut fast ball that he lofts to right center field. Gisham will make the catch. It’ll bring in Springer and make it six to one. Not only did they not put him on intentionally, they didn’t even try to stay away from that was right down the middle. [Applause] There’s that nearly unbeatable record you’re talking about. 71-4 when they get five runs. That’ll do it for Cruz. Paul Blackburn will come into the game six to one. The Blue Jays have exploded for five runs over four runs here in the seventh. Been all Blue Jays so far today. Couple of early home runs and they’ve strung it together here in the seventh. Six to one they lead. Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal. Game one in this best of five. Paul Blackburn is on to pitch. Addison takes a strike. Yeah, the two opportunities each team had for a big inning, one ex one did it. Uh the Blue Jays did it erupt here and the Yankees are going to look back at that bases loaded, nobody out in a two to nothing game. Five to right field. Got it off of the handle. Judge is back to put it away. Yeah, the Blue Jays do what the Yankees couldn’t. They score four times in the seventh and a big lead to the eighth near you. Go to playball.org and follow at playball on social media. This is the big lefty Brendan Little is really good down the stretch for the Blue Jays and is one of four left-handed relievers that they’ll carry against this left-handed heavy Yankees lineup. It’s a recipe for success. get the lead, turn it over to the bullpen and isolate the left-handed hitters in the in the lineup for the Yankees. Top of the Yankees order. Trent Gisham has walked today, but is 0 for two. Couple defensive changes. Isaiah Kinder Fa, the former Yankee, also a former Blue Jay, born again as a Blue Jay, is into the game at second. Clement moves over to third and straw after pinch running. Stays in left for Santandere. One ball, one strike on Gisham. The Yankees team that came back in the standings to finish in a tie. Won 13 of their last 15 games back to midepptember. Came back in the wildard round. They were the first team in the four years of that format to lose the first game and then come back to win the threeame series. They’re looking like they’re going to have to do it again. They’re going to have to be the comeback kids again. But the way the pitching is lined up, they got to like their chances to do that. From here on out, it’s going to be nothing but those guys that we saw dominate the wild card round. Yeah. And look, I mean, it’s not impossible to get short outings and win a playoff game. But it sure does help when your starter can go six, right? We got O Gman get into the sixth. You look at all the success early in the postseason, it’s been dominated by pitchers getting deep and cutting down the usage of the bullpen. Well, the Yankees didn’t get that performance of length and now they’re going to rely on those three pitchers to do that moving forward. Two-2 to Gresham is grounded to short. Jimenez knocked it around last tosses over to first for the first down of the eighth. Hello Ken. Hello Joe. One thing to keep in mind here as well, the Jays pitching is not set up so well going forward. Treya Savage tomorrow. Maybe he’s Cam Schlitler from the other night and maybe he’s a rookie making his fourth start. We don’t know. Then you have Shane Bieber in game three at Yankee Stadium and a likely bullpen game possibly involving left-hander Eric Lowour for a good amount of time. But that’s a lot of questionable things going on for a team that wants to go forward. Judge here with the bases empty. Yeah, I think the starting pitching edge for the Yankees is wider, is greater than is maybe being given credit, especially when you see the roster come out today and Basset isn’t in there. Yeah. So, the next two games, you got a guy who’s made three starts in the major leagues and then a guy who’s made seven starts the last two years. Yeah. You still got to put yourself in position to create that stress, right? The Yankees have to be better if they get their scoring opportunities uh and cash in like they didn’t do tonight. Ball two. Go. And Judge in his first big spot. Bases loaded. Nobody out in the sixth inning. Struck out on what would have been ball four. One last box for him to check. Big October shaped box. The last two October. 165 average. And he struck out more than 40% of the time. [Applause] green one. He told Chris Kersner of the Athletic, he said, “I don’t think they’d name me the captain if they didn’t think I could handle it.” And he said, “I want this burden. This comes with the territory. This is what I signed up for. Into center field he goes with a base hit. His second of the game. Cut off by Varo. Judge turns the corner, heads for second. He’s got a hustle double. His first extra base hit of the postseason. And you’re right about it. I mean, it can be very unfair on him, but he still needs that breakthrough moment. And as much as he at times is ready for all that comes along with it, the most unfair part of baseball is the postseason is the last impression. You know, the individual things, most players will tell you, I’m giving them up to win a championship. So, he’s not going to win a championship for the Yankees. But if he takes his walks and he does what he’s capable of, the rest of the team is what’s reason why the Yankees are so good. He by himself, that’s a too big a burden to carry. Cody Bellinger who knocked in the lone Yankees run with the bases loaded walk in that sixth inning got jammed little two out. We’re talking about who’s coming for the Blue Jays. A much sure lineup for the Yankees coming in the starting pitching. Max Freed, what a season he’s had. His first one in the big contract. freed 19-5 with a 286 and then six and a third scoreless innings in the wild card round. Rodon got overshadowed because of what bookended him, but he was good and he’s been great this season. And Cam Schutler with one of the greatest performances in postseason history. I’ll say I mean he didn’t he didn’t look like he was sweating. He didn’t look like he was nervous. He looked like he’d done that a 100 times. He looked like a taller version of Jacob Deg Grom. just letting it eat and painting at the same time. Now, you may be sitting there rolling your eyes. Best outing in postseason history. It was the first outing in postseason history. Eight scoreless innings, 12 strikeouts, no walks. Yeah. And with a season on the line, no less. For a kid who started the season in double A and was not throwing anywhere close to 101 even a year ago. Development story, success story in the Yankees system. One-1 to Rice. Leeches out, flies it to center field. Varo’s going back onto the track. He’s got it in front of the wall to the bottom of the earth we go. The Jays are three outs away from taking the first game in the division series. Sponsored by Google Cloud, the official AI partner of MLB. Catch a game like never before with Google Cloud AI. and by Strauss, the official workware partner of Major League Baseball. Back in Toronto, the Blue Jays got a pair of early home runs from Guerrero and Kirk and then a four-run seventh on the verge of taking game one. Paul Blackburn stays in and Kirk leads off the eighth one takes outside for a ball. And so the two teams that had to figure out how to navigate the buy, which you’re going to take 10 times out of 10. Yep. The Brewers and the Blue Jays looking like they’re going to go two and 0 today. And with the offense is clicking cuz that is the thing you worry about most. Can your bats stay hot with that weak layup? Well, the early going. The National League had the hardest time figuring it out. Uh with the exception of the Dodgers. American League had done pretty good as of re recent memory. But it’s part of those things that over time I always thought would work itself out because in the beginning it’s such a culture shock to have those six days off. [Applause] Blue Jays said that they took a little something from uh the Dodgers. You mentioned the Dodgers after the delay last year went and won in the division series against the Padres’s. What they did was try to simulate actual games. They brought in fans and played scrimmages. Blue Jays did that twice this week. Close one to deep left field. He’s got his second home run of the game and his fifth the last three games. one on Saturday, two in game 162, two in game one. He not necessarily known for the power. No, he’s not known. He’ll be known after this postseason though. [Applause] Marshall snips into left center field. That’s headed for the run. Marshall flying to second with a double. He’s on for the third time today. Well, extension and gets up in front of the ball and hits it on a line. [Music] That got a quick and a little kiss from Alejandro Kirk. the 15 home runs that he hit during the regular season. That was a careerhigh. Needed three over the last two days to reach that. And now he’s got the fourth multi home run game in Blue Jays postseason history. Straw hacks the first pitch foul. We’ve seen everything that made the Blue Jays the top seed. Yep. Saw the starting pitching from Gauzeman. We’ve seen great defense. Bat ball, put it in play, take advantage of the bases loaded situation last inning and the power [Applause] one. They have u I believe more two strike hits than strikeouts. So that tells you what it means to pitch against them. I think if you’re Max Freed and you’re watching this game, obviously right-handed pitching is different on how he’s going to approach them as a left-hander, but you never want a team feeling great and getting in a groove like this. Straw joins the party with an opposite field base hit. They hold Varial at third. Straw came off of the bench as a pinch runner. His first time at the plate, gets a base hit. Well, for more on Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, here’s Kenny. Well, Joe, when the Jays signed Kirk out of Mexico for $30,000 in 2016, it was only because one of their former scouts, Dean Dillus, was assigned to check out another catcher playing for the Tauros de Tijana. Dillus preferred Kirk, but he knew the catcher squatty build might turn off Jay’s officials. So, he told them, “Promise me when he gets off the bus that you will not call me until you see him hit.” Kirk listed at 5’8, 245 lbs, became a two-time all-star and a postseason hero today. And he’s saying the other day, my whole life the other players look better than me. Kenny mentioned the get off the bus. He always loses that. But Alejandro said, “Then I let my bat do the talking for me.” I mean, some guys are hitterish, right? You hear that term, that means they just know how to hit. don’t have to be mechanically sound in every way and look perfect as your body, but when you can hit, you can hit. Tony Gwyn, obviously the best we ever had, and he got up there, he wasn’t exactly looking like the great athlete he was, and he showed it at the plate. BJ’s checking to see if this one hit him. They want to challenge and they will. [Applause] The hitter’s telling you right away that that nicked him. You get two challenges in the postseason. [Applause] Toronto has challenged. The previous play is under review. I have not used one yet. Might as well take a look at this here. Free play reviews presented by Zoom. Back to New York. They’re going to get a good look. Problem for the replay room is the ball is the same color as that glove. Yeah, that won’t be the view they were going to use, but you can see when he took his hand off the bat that he felt like he got nicked. Right here is I think the best view. You can see just enough of that batting glove catching the end. Maybe, you know, with the call on the field being that it wasn’t it, I don’t know if there’s enough there. They’re all watching it like us. Not going to get any closer than this look. The field is confirmed. The batter was not hit by the pitch. Toronto will have one challenge remaining. All right, Sach’s call stands. Call confirmed. And Andre is saying, “Well, then what did I feel?” What do you mean confirmed? That is a really good actor. Paul Blackburn just over to the Yankees a little more than a month ago. He was with the New York Mets. They cut him loose. Yankees picked him up. Pitched in a handful of games the last month. And here just trying to cover the last outs of this one. Preserve the pen for tomorrow. [Applause] Swings away. Swats it to left and he’ll take that any time over a hit by P. Jimenez to second with an RBI double. Second here of the day for Andrez. [Applause] [Applause] biggest difference in tonight is the location of all the hits that the Blue Jays have had and the lack of location that the Yankees have had. In other words, they have been pitched to much better. [Applause] Ernie Clement chases and it’s 0 and two. Bottom of the order for the Blue Jays in this game. Awesome. Yeah, you’ve had the home run from Guerrero and a double from Lucas out of the two spot. They’re five through nine in the order. Eight for 18 with four extra base hits chips one into center. That’s Gisham for the catch. Here comes the throw home. Straw who can fly is in standing. A nine spot for the Blue Jays in game one. And the latest example of the Jays doing what they have to to get the guy in from third. It’s too good of a pitch for two strikes. [Applause] First out of the fifth hitter that he faces and Springer taking a ball. Brewers get nine against the Cubs. Blue Jays get nine against the Yankees like they averaged against the Yankees in that season turning four game sweep back at the start of July. Just something about this place for the Yankees. Part of that is the team they’re playing is pretty darn good. Well, you know, Springer wants to get in the hit parade. He’s had such a great postseason career. his overall numbers. An MVP yet to get a hit tonight on a two- pitch. Smacks a foul. Reggie Jackson, Chase outly George Springer. That’s the list of guys with five home runs in a World Series. He did in 2017 the MVP for the Astros. VPA [Applause] number 38. This is a 2-1 game in the sixth inning. And you go to the top of the six. That’s where the Yankees cut it to one. had the bases loaded, nobody out, and settled for just the one run. The two innings since then, the Blue Jays with a fourth spot in the seventh and three more here in the eighth. Turned it into a blowout. One Jeff Hoffman who is the closer for these Blue Jays. And John Schneider not going to mess around. And it’s also a spot to get him a little bit of work in a low pressure situation, postseason game, but not a situation where you can blow it. Yeah, it’s interesting. It’s two schools of thought because they had the long layoff, you could see why you want to get him in, but at the same time to get the Yankees look at him in a situation where normally he wouldn’t pitch. So, um I I understand, you know, pitching him in this game just because he hasn’t been in game action for a while. [Applause] It’s all looking up for the Blue Jays. 91 the bottom of the eighth. Two home run day from Alejandro Kirk. 12 hit output for the offense. One and two on Lucas. Taps the curve foul as Lucas’s double that started the fourun seven. The only thing cold in Canada right now has been the Yankees. It’s 75° today. Defense is okay today, but the offense not there and they have not been able to slow the Blue Jays offense. 10 ERA Yankees in this ballpark. [Applause] Hand it off to Freedom tomorrow who led the majors with 19 wins. [Applause] Now the one two to Lucas. Rolls it up the middle. Pass bro into center. You just can’t put these guys away. Lucas knocks in his third run of the day. They’ve got double digits in game one. [Applause] [Applause] That was a better pitch, but better hitting. [Applause] [Music] 10 runs on 13 hits and only two strikeouts. Ball on Guerrero. Two hits, two runs knocked in. That includes a home run. [Applause] Nothing more than to get this season into the next round and get his running mate back to get Boette ready. Guys arrive as the hope, the new faces of the franchise together in 2019. B still out with that knee injury. That’s for the Blue Jays is if they do advance to the championship series that Bette would be ready. [Applause] H [Applause] Blackburn having to wear it. Deals a 3-1. Vlad pokes another base hit to right. A three day for Guerrero Jr. A 14 hit day for the Blue Jays. And they’ve batted around here in the eighth. You know, people are going to wake up, they didn’t see the game, look at final score and go, “Wow, this was never a game.” This was a great game for a long time and a chance for the Yankees to do something similar. And once it was two to one, they didn’t capitalize. Toronto’s took them taken over ever since. Coming up when we finish, stay tuned for the postgame show on Fox presented by Strauss, Kevin Burkhard, and the guys back in Los Angeles. To recap, not just this game, but to look ahead to the Mariners and Tigers. It started 8:38 Eastern on FS1 and take a look at the action across the rest of the majors. 9-3 Brewers final score in the first game in Milwaukee. Dodgers and Phillies are underway. Scoreless in the second. First at bat today for Isaiah Connor Falefa [Applause] signed a two-year contract with the Blue Jays before last year, but then got traded to the Pirates at the deadline. Brought back here to Toronto the end of August this year. It’s another versatile piece that helps John Schneider do what he does, moving pieces around defensively. So many interchangeable pieces, [Applause] maximize the matchups, maximize the defense. One and two [Applause] to second and Chisum. To the ninth inning we go. Backto back four-run innings for the Blue Jays. It’s Kirk his second home run of the game. A blowout for the Blue Jays in game one. [Music] The second postseason game in Roger Center history with the top open and go to 2 and 0 in those games. Much less drama in this one. They won it on a walk-off first time that it was open. Jeff Hoffman is on for John Carlos Stanton and that’s a good sign in the first pitch. 97 with his fast ball that has been down the last month. 94 95. Yeah. Well, he’s got a wipeout slider that he’s going to use. I don’t know how much he’ll show him that in this inning, but signature pitch for him. Stanton climbs the ladder, sends it way up. Ernie Clement into foul ground to put it away. One gone in the ninth. That’s a lot of decisions. Nine and seven. Yeah. I mean, and 33 saves. Is that right? 33 saves. Top five in the league. Wow. Big issue for him, home runs. 15 of them allowed this year as the most in the American League, but only gave up one run in September. Mentioned the velocity was down. The issue in September kind of became more command. He walked more guys. Overall though, they’re trying to capture a little better feeling about their guy at the back end here. Chisum fouls off 97. They were hoping that some of the mechanical changes he was working on during the week off and just simply having the week off was going to help. And first signs are promising. All of three pitches of them. That’s inside. tone set by a couple guys in this game for the Blue Jays. Vlad offensively with the home run in the first inning, the defense in the second inning, the pitching from Kevin Gosman. I mean, he just cruised low stress until the Yankees put the pressure on in the six. You got to give him credit and give his manager credit for leaving him in there for the majority of that inning to only give up one run. And then Varand came in and struck out Stanton. That’s uh maybe a little lesson learned from last time they were in the postseason. There’s that slider. Two and two. And Schneider talked about, you know, learning from taking out Barios in Minnesota earlier than some thought. That was the last postseason trip for the Blue Jays. It was his first as a manager in 2023. And it was a 000 game in the fourth inning. Briio issued a leadoff walk and he took him out. Kikuchi came in and gave up two. They lost that game two to nothing. And we asked him about it today and he said that that’ll stay with him for the rest of his life. But he said, “Look, that’s kind of what life is about is going through things and learning from him.” Hoffman fires a 3-2. There you go. Uh thank [Applause] So, the Yankees will try to wipe this one clean quickly from their memories and send their ace to the mound tomorrow and Max Freed. Another four:00 start time. Freed veteran for the Yankees. Trey Savage, his fourth major league start for the Blue Jays. [Applause] Pop fly left field. Miles Straw two gone in the night. Mentioned tomorrow’s game pregame will begin at 3:00. First pitch at 40:08. Same shifts to New York Tuesday and Wednesday. And back here next Friday if game five is necessary. This one was tight over the first six. Jays though four in the seventh, four in the eighth. Caviierro. [Applause] They’ve ended one drought. First division title in 10 years for the Blue Jays. About to end another with the first postseason win in nine years. [Applause] They’re saying don’t stop there, though. The goal to this team, the hope for this city is that they end the drought that matters most. They’re looking for their first world championship in 32 years. Just to give it perspective, 17 batters the last two hitters. Took the Yankees to the sixth inning to get their 17th batter. And it gets away from Hoffman. Scary 97 gets Cababiier who was able to avoid the worst. Oh [Applause] Cabier will take second. No contest and strike on Vulpi. 10 runs on 14 hits in this game for the Blue Jays. A run on just six hits for the Yankees. [Applause] Strike two. And there goes the bat. Look out over there. Right into the Blue Jays dugout. We got strays going everywhere. [Applause] always wondered. He’s never a good enough hitter to figure out how that can happen. They talk about throwing the barrel of the bat at the ball. Well, he threw the barrel of the bat. Tar to get a little more grip. Good idea. And a torpedo bat. all the rage early on this season. Remember when that feels like it was nine years ago. They’re getting the Yankees down to their last strike. Yeah. Yeah. Just misses. Hoffman will try it again. Away. Two and two on Vulpi. Scored the lone run in this game for the Yankees. has continued to relative to what he’s done in the regular season produce in the postseason with that double and run scored. He’s reached base in 17 of his last 18 postseason games on a two- two from Hoffman. He’s down and the Blue Jays say here we are a statement win in their first game of October. [Music] It’s the first postseason win for Toronto in nine years and it’s a resounding one, 10 to one over the New York Yankees. They certainly wanted a game like this and you’d know that this crowd was into it early with the two home runs, but then man oh man did they flex their philosophy and what they do at the plate about as well as anybody from the seventh inning on. Early home runs from Kirk and from Guerrero. And then to your point, the four runs in the seven, four runs in the eighth. to rack it up against the Yankees bullpen a 10 to one finish for Josh Snider’s club. He gets his first postseason win as the skipper. He’ll send his kid to the mountain tomorrow literally. But the kid trainer Savage makes his fourth postseason start against the veteran Max Free. Coming up after the break, we’ll get you to the studio. Kevin Burkard and our allstar crew. Derek Teter, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, and Dantra Willis. They got more postseason coverage on the other side of this break. Jays 10 Yankees won. We’re back with game two tomorrow. [Music] God bless you. Double pro. He just man [Music] love what you give to me. You know that I go like the way she just want I swear to God she do. Give me love again. Give me love again. If you give me love again, I will never go. I’ll give you comfort. Give me love again. Give me love again. If you don’t give me love, you make me feel comfort. [Music] Comfort looking. [Music] Yeah, I’m confus [Music] I see her face you I could tell a foolh because of you by call me big fool man. See the way she be like I’m 40. Give me love again. Give me love again. If you give me love again I will never give me love again. Give me love again. If you don’t give me no make comfort. Think I’m comfortable. [Music] Comfort [Music] looking again. [Music] Double [Music] bless [Music] you. [Music] I see you. [Music] [Music] My mother [Music] too [Music] This mech. [Music] surprise you sh [Music] Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music] Another concrete sort of [Music] Which you My sh I’m you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] That was my [Music] [Music] Lord, [Music]
October 04, 2025
MLB playoffs 2025 Quarter-finals
New York Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays Full Game
MLB Full Game
