MLB Network | Harold Reynolds breaks MLB playoff picture: Blue Jays & Yankees still tied in AL East

MLB Network | Harold Reynolds breaks MLB playoff picture: Blue Jays & Yankees still tied in AL East

Let’s take a look at the uh American League standings. The New York Yankees tied for first place with the Toronto Blue Jays. I mean, that’s wild all the way back to tie the Jays. Um then you see we have a tie in the Central. This is a dream scenario entering the final weekend of the regular season. Let’s go to the Bronx. The Orioles will open up a three-game set against the homestanding Yankees who have won 5-0. Garrett Cole will get a little work in, huh? Oo. Any chance he throws in a world sir? All right. So, Harold, uh, you you ate popcorn in the last segment. Yeah, I know. I need some water. Hard to be Harold, man. Um, did you enjoy the segment? It was good. You know, I look at it this way. Two things. Um, lot of OPS and I get it. I’m not the big OPS guy. I thought the conversation was great. You guys were going back and forth. great points, but um to me, if I got a runner on, I I want Judge to drive in runs. At the end of the day, we got to score runs. Kyle Raleigh drives in runs. Sometimes his average isn’t going to be a base hit, but he drove in a run cuz he had a runner at third base and he did that, you know. So, those are the little things that Kyle Raleigh also does. But Aaron Judge is going to he’s having an incredible season. I hate it when we have these conversations. It reminds me of Hall of Fame. If someone Well, he’s not a Hall of Famer. Oh, you hate that player. Oh yeah, that that’s what it ends up coming down to. But I will end it with this. This is not a conversation if Cal Raleigh is not a catcher. It’s not a conversation. He can be a shortstop. He can be another outfielder. He could be anywhere on the diamond. Did you appreciate that comment that defensive metrics do not take into account the strategy that this man has to have in his mind to get everybody out including Aaron Judge when he walks up to the and I think you swayed Tom who’s one of the greatest writers of our time into think about man there’s narrative wow that does play I saw a little glimpse in the writer Tom Berduchi we see all these essays that he does we hear them we read them and I think he went h there is a little bit to say about the narrative right it was like it was like writer against BSER. Yeah, I had both sides of my brain just blowing up. But yeah, you know, I actually saw in my mind’s eye the times I’ve done Mariner games this year and I’ve seen Cal Raleigh do this so many times to go out to the mound, whether it’s a veteran pitcher or a young pitcher on his own and most times in baseball now when the catcher goes out, the pitching coach follows him out there. Right. Right. He goes out there, nobody else goes out there. He runs the game from behind the plate so well. Maybe not in the class of Y Molina, like the best I ever saw at that, but the way he not just plays catcher, but runs a game. Again, that’s something you can’t quantify. No. Right. So, I I do appreciate the narrative of what it means to be a catcher at this level. And I I think the other thing as I watch Mariner games, Dan Wilson, who was great catcher himself, he sits back and watches the game because he knows Cal’s got it, right? Yeah. And he’s almost like what Lou did with him. He’s empowered Cal. This is your job to run the game. You hit great because that’s what they’ve always been taught, right? Any any offense we get from you is extra, but you better take care of those 13 guys. And I’m empowering you to handle the best pitching staff we’ve assembled in the Mariner history. You got to handle these young guys. That’s his number one job. Not hitting 60 homers. That wasn’t expected. Run the game. So, not only did he master running a game, win the platinum glove doing it along the way, but now he’s becoming an I’m reminded by everyone else last year. Yeah, I know. So, this year he forgot how to catch. Now he can’t catch anymore. But now he’s an accomp. He’s added the defense, the mastering of how to run a game with an accomplished offensive weapon. He’s a weapon. And so, he caught Babe Ruth. He hit as many home runs as Babe Ruth could ever hit. It’s just cool. I I don’t know. But, but I just all the stuff we can all throw out there. I still just say to everybody out there, if he wasn’t a catcher, this would not be a conversation. Right. Right. Well, a conversation. Now, it need it needs to go to the AL East right now because the Yankees have a lot to play for and they’re kind of running into another one of these scenarios. Sandy Contra is the spoiler ace. Jack Lighter, a spoiler ace you don’t want to face right now. Trevor Rogers. Tom Bduchi 9 and two with a 135. It’s wild what this guy’s doing right now. Think about when they made the trade for him last year. Kyle Sters, right? Yeah. And let’s face it, he was bad. Like really bad. He was so bad, in fact, he has admitted that he actually thought he would have to find another line of work. He actually thought he could not pitch on a major league level. But you know what? Give the guy credit. He went home, worked really hard on his mechanics, on his body. He’s got his velocity back. He’s added some pitches. His pitch mix now is much different than it was before. This time of year, I know we all like to look at the schedule and say strength of schedule. You’re playing a last place team. If you’re the Yankees again in Baltimore, no. When you’re playing Baltimore and Rogers is on the mound, they’re as good as anybody. They’re 13 and4 when he starts. That’s what counts. So for the Yankees, they still have the number one seed in their sights as well. Mhm. In the American League. It’s a big weekend. It is a big weekend. It is a big weekend. And and the Orioles are playing the best ball they played all year. They finally put it together, but it’s late. the last month of the season. Give Tony Manzolino a lot of credit for that reason. This team has played a winning record since he took over. I thought for sure they would announce that he’s back. I thought for sure based on how well they played. It could be. But Mike Elias is going to do his due diligence and it could be he’s the answer, but we don’t know yet. Well, the answer in the booth tonight, um Dan Plesac, our our cohort in Toronto, he’ll be calling this game uh for Apple TV. It’s the Rays against the Blue Jays Hower against Bieber. And you see Junior Camroero taking hacks. This is one of those teams. It’s a scary team. If you’re the Blue Jays to face a young group that I if there if there’s a team that profiles as someone’s like, “Let’s ruin the Blue Jays end of the regular season.” Doesn’t the don’t the Rays fit that profile perfectly? Yeah, they do. And this guy right here can end it with one swing. He’s incredible. The Rays are playing great baseball. They got a combination of speed and power now that they haven’t had. They put it together. There’s a few teams that they had the es and flows of the season and in the last month we’ve had great baseball. Yeah. And it makes you go, “Oh, they’re going to be really good at the beginning of the year next year.” They’re a team you could pick. The Orioles, you can say that about you can say that about the Rays that these are guys that we would have picked to win the East at any other time. They got off to horrific starts, didn’t play great baseball, and now they’re playing like those clubs you would have expected to be playing like. right now as we head into the postseason, we’re wondering uh which pitchers are pitching with momentum. I think Shane Bieber fits the profile, but as you try to construct what John Schneider is going to do with his rotation, where do you go, Tom? Yeah, I’ve been really impressed with Bieber. You know, we just talked about Alcantara and coming back. It took him a half a season to get his command. Bieber’s got his command. Last time out, he took the ball into the seventh inning. I every time out, he’s gotten better and better. I trust him. Max Shers have been leaking oil late in the year here. You know, his last six or seven starts. Not good. One and three with a nine RA. Trey is Savage right over the top. Four seam fast ball split combo. Wow. Stuff-wise. I know he doesn’t have the experience, but there’s got to be a spot for him somewhere. So, what about Max? Well, is there a spot for Max Scherzer? Hitter. I mean, you start with Gossman. know that you trust the pedigree, the desire, the will to win, all that stuff. But right now, I’ve got Bieber ahead of him in terms of trusting as a as a starting pitcher. And can you trust Max out of the bullpen? You know, he’s done in the postseasons in the past. We’ve seen him close games in the past, but he wasn’t over the age of 40. You’re right. It’s a little bit different. Dale, I said the other day when he was throwing, he was pitching not for the rotation, but for the roster. That was the difference with with Max for me. Yeah. This is Jose Bereos and his elbow. They say he’s gonna get a second opinion to confirm the diagnosis for next steps or set. Uh Bereos was supposed to go to the bullpen and be a weapon. The Blue Jays are dealing with some questionable health right now. That’s a big blow, you know, because you weren’t expecting No doubt. Yeah, that’s a huge blow. But the bigger question for this team, Harold, okay, is what happens with Bo Bashette when he comes back? I think he I think he DHS. Yeah. All right. Who’s the odd man out? The odd man out is Luke’s right now. Santandere if he’s We We’ll see what Santandere does, but if he if he’s swinging the bat, he’s swinging it, but he’s going to be out there. Dalton Vo might be the odd man out. An outfielder is the odd man out. Bo Bashette is going to play and I think he’s going to DH. And I because I think defensively what you’re able to get from Gimenez and he’s got a bad knee. Yes. You can’t overlook it. Yeah. I don’t see Bette coming right back at the shortstop position. I do see him as a DH which means George Springer is going to have to play the outfield. Yeah. So I don’t think there’s a place an outfield with Santandere and Springer. Yeah. So I think that’s I think Springer’s gonna play center. I think the balls I think Santandere for me comes a big battle on the bench late in the game run around base there’s some guys you’ll pinch hit for they do have they use the whole roster there at Toronto really well really well yeah and the one thing you can do with Dalton is he could play different positions we know that he he could become a super Marjo has to play his home runs per at bat this year are crazy and who you playing him over probably Nathan Luks you said initially Nathan Luks is going to be the odd man out Lucas he’s going to be the odd man out yeah folks I got to remind You uh baseball fans, pay attention. Uh FanDuel wants to send you the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One. Just take a quick quiz on responsible gaming for your chance to win a trip for two. It’s fast. It’s easy. Could be your ticket to the Fall Classic.

MLB Network | Harold Reynolds breaks MLB playoff picture: Blue Jays & Yankees still tied in AL East

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