ALDS Preview: Blue Jays vs Yankees

ALDS Preview: Blue Jays vs Yankees

Gate 14 podcast and folks, was it ever a doubt the Toronto Blue Jays will be squaring off against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series? And me and Avery, right when we hopped on this call, all we can really do is just laugh. I mean, was it ever a doubt? Was it ever a doubt that that was going to happen? Never in my mind. Never in my mind. Oh my god, dude. [ __ ] It’s It’s a bad matchup because they’re a very good baseball team and everyone I think is going to feel comfortable based on the way things played out. But I think I Yeah, man. I don’t know. I I just don’t like the M. They just smoke home runs all over the park. They’re a home run hitting team. I mean, team that but they but they didn’t do much of that this series though. No, they got crocheted which makes sense. But game two against Beao, I think they hit one home run. It was just Ben Rice. Yeah, like I feel I feel good offensively in this series. Yes, I do too. It’s the pitching. Oh, it’s the pitching that is scaring me offense wise. Listen, what we can hang our hat on as Avery is we have gotten to every single pitcher that they’re going to be trotting out there. We’ve rad off of Cam Slitler, rad off of Max Freed. Had pretty good success against Carlos Rodon. It’s going to be the pitching. It’s going to be what pitching staff shows up. Is it the the Dinger Blue Jays, the batting practice Blue Jays going to show up, or are we going to just Is it going to be a close game type? I I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I put that meme out earlier. I’m scared as [ __ ] I am scared as [ __ ] for this series. But how lucky are we, man? We’re talking about an American League Division series at the start of October for our Toronto Blue Jays. That That’s what I’m taking away from this so far. Yeah, it’s going to be awesome, man. Um like I went down to the park the last two days and today it was pretty packed, honestly. Not Phillies packed, but like 100 level. They got some people in there. So, it gets exciting for for some playoff baseball and like some takeaways. Shane Bieber threw a decent amount today. Oh, sorry. Shane Bieber threw today. Max Shers are threw today. And Chris Basset threw today. If Eric, how about little Sebass today? Yeah, he was like 92. It wasn’t the hardest we’ve seen him throw. And I’m I’m sure those guys don’t get up for that. And it like it’s kind of obvious, but yeah, of the two days I didn’t see we didn’t see Kevin Gosman throw. We didn’t see Trey Savage throw. And we didn’t see Eric Lowour throw. Okay. So, it’s like in my mind, I know they said games one and two are Gossman and Bieber, but I don’t know. Is there a pig? If Trey Savage is going to pitch in this series, why would you not give him a home game early? That’s what I was just I was literally just about to ask you that. Like, do you go Treya Savage, Eric Lowour, piggyback game two potentially? It seems like the best possible. They have done a very good job all year and it’s a ma like a manager’s thing of putting people in the best opportunities to succeed and Trey Savage game three or game four at Yankee Stadium is just not masterclass sorry is just not the best place for someone to succeed. So, like if you in my mind, I know you can set it up thinking about the games down the line, but you’re only going to have one person throw twice most likely, and that would be Kevin Gosman that you could line up. Uh, game one, game five, game one, game five. So, he gets his extra rest for game five if he gets that. And that seems to make the most sense. Like Kevin Gosin pitched great against the Yankees. Um, his last time out at Yankee Stadium. Seems pretty obvious to give him the two Yankee starts at this point, right? And yes, I’m with you. Yeah. And Shane Bieber, he’s done it. He’s been in the playoffs. I trust him a lot more game three at Yankee Stadium than Trad Savage doing it. So that’s how I would think about setting it up. If they just went GS and Beaver games one and two, I wouldn’t like put it past them at all. I would I wouldn’t think that’s a that’s a silly thing. I just I’m just thinking Avery like in terms of what makes the most sense, right? You don’t want Trey Savage who his first two big league road appearances were in a minor league stadium in front of 6,000 and against the Kansas Royals with 8,000 10,000 whatever that attendance was and then just throw him in the fire at Yankee Stadium in front of Johnny from the Bronx and [ __ ] uh Gordy from the like you want him in the best environment. That is what you do. and the you Savage Lower piggyback game two unfortunately makes the most sense instead of but again I’m not going to be angry if it’s Bieber whatever you have to win games period but god damn it I’d be scared as [ __ ] to go Treya Savage game three in the Bronx potentially if maybe the series is 1-1 or whatever it is like that scares the [ __ ] out of me I’m also thinking there’s a potential non-zero chance of Trey’s a bullpen guy in this series Okay. So, they set up Gossman, Bieber, Basset. See what’s up. Game four. You want Basset on the road? You can you can change your whole season splits with one good outing. Sure. But again, that’s not putting your team in a good spot, right? For for an older guy like Basset, it’s a put up or shut up time. Like, we got we got nothing left here. Yeah. And he’s never had a big league. He’s never had a playoff start with the Blue Jays. Like, this is You’re right. I mean, he’s our guy, but this is to put up our shut up time. Like, he could earn his entire contract, the entire road splits this year, can be forgotten about if he goes into the Bronx and just shoves. Well, like maybe he throws game two, you know? Maybe they they do it that way. I don’t know. I feel like lining Bieber up game three makes a lot of sense to me. Um like him on the road there. Okay. So, however it happens, it happens. But sucks today that the Yankees didn’t use like any of their guys pretty much. They used Bedar today. Yeah, but like wasn’t that bad. Wasn’t uh wasn’t a crazy tough outing. Um yeah, none of that. Cam Schiller pitched his ass off. That was super impressive. Wow. I mean I and I don’t know why people are on my throat on the internet. Like I literally from the get-go said, “I don’t care how you get there. Give me a game three.” And I think if you watch Cam Schlitler pitch tonight, fastball VO was up almost two miles an hour for Christ’s sakes. Breaking balls were unhitable. I’d like my chances more against Luis Hill heel. That’s how highly I think of Cam Schlitler. Is that a hot take? Like I think Cam Schlitler is awesome. He is He’s Yao Ming on the mound and he throws a hundred. He’s pitching way better than Lu Sil is right now. And I got an argument with [ __ ] Iggy on Twitter. It’s like I’d rather my chances against Luis Hill, Toronto Blue Jays, walk a lot. Like they just they put balls in play. That’s how you get to Luis Heel. That’s all I’m saying. Luis Hill can go out there and shove. He could throw he can go six innings one. I mean, it doesn’t matter. But if you if you’re asking me who I’d rather have game one against Gossman, it’s Luis Heel over Cam Schlitler. Man, Cam Schlitler is awesome. and he’s yeah, he’s put together some really good numbers and I don’t think like he’ll pitch pretty well against the Jays last time, but like the strikeout numbers have gone away from him since he’s come back. The walk numbers are as high as they’ve ever been. Um the ERA looks good, but then you look at like the X-fip, two full runs worse. He’s only had 57 innings for that, so it hasn’t normalized over full season. But yeah, I think Luis Hill game one would be a great start for the Blue Jays to get back to like way better than having and this is the thing like that is in my mind the biggest advantage you’re going to have all series is is game one pitching wise cuz game two Bieber Max Freed listen Bieber’s been great. Max Freed’s been insane, right? I mean game three Rhodon versus god knows who. This is the game one is the you got to jump on them cuz then you have four games left and two of them two of the remaining four games will be at home. Yeah, absolutely. Like it’s uh well this it would be classic this baseball team to to lose game one, win game two like the sky is falling. Oh, you couldn’t beat Luis Hill. So you get freed next time. like the maybe the bullpen’s pretty rested at this point uh because they don’t use them a lot and then you beat Max Freed, but I I feel good um bats-wise like I think the offense will be able to do what they’ve done kind of all season too. Like I don’t I don’t worry about that. I don’t think there’s a guy that on paper the games could play out and they could shut the Jays down. Absolutely that that could happen. But for sure, Garrick Crochet is not pitching in this series. And I think he’s no doubt better than any of the guys that the Yankees have. As as good as he’s up there with Scooble. Yeah, he’s as good as Max Freed has been. G Crochet pitched a lot better than him, I think. And I’d be a lot more afraid of uh facing a Gar Crochet game. Like two Max Freed starts. I we can get to Max Freed. We’ve been able to put a couple You’d have to keep them to a low score. I don’t think Freeze is giving up five or six. Like I think you can get two or three off off Max Freed. I think you have a chance of doing that at least. So, and then the bullpen, too. Like, sure, some of those guys have pitched better, but maybe there’s some some PTSD from what the Jays have kind of done to them all year. So, I feel good about the bats. Uh just how are we going to get them out? That’s the big question that I have. And how are we going to keep the ball in the ballpark? That’s the scariest thing. You know, you know what I’m thinking is like the worst possible situation and you’ll be on board with this. Aaron Judge breakout like legacy series. Like it’s the first one he ever has in the playoffs. It’s like, okay, now this guy’s 10,000 time MVP and then he just hit five home runs in a fivegame series. And let’s make it clear, Avery, Aaron Judge in the playoffs is a goddamn ticking time bomb. Sooner or later, he’s going to go off, okay? Like this is a guy I mean he had no home runs in this series, no extra base hits, all singles. This is a guy who’s a ticking time bomb. He and I hope we’re not the [ __ ] ones pulling that time bomb cuz that’s the scariest part. Okay, absolutely. I’m scared shitless of Aaron Judge. I am scared shitless of Gian Carlos Sten. Okay. And like Jazz, this is a good baseball team and I I tweeted it and I think majority of our fans will agree with this. I don’t think this is a hot take. Please stop using the regular season head-to-head as a talking point on why you think this Jays team will beat them. Stop using it to dunk on Yankee fans. Stop using it for this and that. At the end of the day, that means [ __ ] all. That means [ __ ] all. We saw the Detroit Tigers blow a 15 and a half game lead against the Guardians. 15 and a half game lead. Face the Guardians got [ __ ] and and and bodied them. Bodied them in the series. Same thing could happen here. And I think this is was always Avery. This was always the move, my friend, to conquer to conquer our demons, to win our first playoff series in 10 years, to win our first playoff game in 10 years. You all, it was always going to be the Yanks. It was It was always going to come down to this and this will 100% test the team of destiny allegations that we bring with this team. The team of destiny if they can call this is in my mind I think this series, no disrespect to the Seattle Mariners. Awesome. Awesome club. Whatever. In my mind, this is our World Series. This game right this series right now. The winner of this will go to the World Series. I think I truly do. Brian Woo’s injured for the for the Mariner. Maybe this will come back to bite me. I’m not sure. But this is it right here, man. This series and that Dodgers Philly series. Those are the two ones that everyone’s looking at this this uh these playoffs. Everyone’s looking at Dodgers Phillies. Everyone’s looking at Blue Jays, Yankees. And folks, I’m fired up. I’m fired up. Am I nervous? 100%. I mean, let’s be [ __ ] I’m scared as [ __ ] Adrian. I know you are, too. I I Yeah, I hate I hate the matchup. I was I was begging for Boston to win. Um I think it’s a it’s they’re just so good at hitting. They’re the best hitting team in the league. Uh and that’s what you have to deal with for a pitching staff that’s not the best in the playoffs. Like I I hope we have some guys step up like an insane amount legacy to make this happen. I feel pretty pretty good. How can you not about the defense that we’re going to put behind them, which is always nice. And the things that I think the Jays do better than the Yankees, it’s like the Yankees could just clean it up and have a clean series, right? Like they they haven’t shown to be that good at uh I mean, we saw this Red Sox series, too. Like they can throw the ball around with the best of them. And it’s like hard or to like totally quantify that and to say that you’re the better team because you played better defense. The Jays do it really really well. Um there’s been so much [ __ ] talking back and forth, too. like it was all the regular season will never matter anymore because you had a playoff series, you had a chance to beat them five game series. So, here it is. Like again, I’m happy with how our bats match up. Yeah. Got to find people to get these guys out. And it’s like we’re looking at some playoff construction uh as to how this would go too. And like we probably want as many lefties as we can in the bullpen. Yeah, I think I think Fluardi, Lowour, and Little are going to Sherlocks to be in that bullpen. I think so, too. Going back to that defense point, I know everyone talks about, oh, like just put like we have the best defense, like they put it in play, we’re fine. Defense doesn’t matter if you’re giving up moon bombs, right? Like if this pitching staff decides to go the weeks where I was on like I hated my life mode and just is giving up a million moon bombs, it’s not going to matter how good our defense plays, okay? It’s not going to matter. All right. So, that’s the biggest thing I’m worried about right now. I think that’s the number one area concern for me is is the is the pitching, but here’s another stat for you, Avery. I know we wanted to talk about the bullpen in September. Toronto Blue Jays bullpen Erra RA, I believe, was like I think it was like four something. It was four something. But if you take away the Tyler Heinman 10 earn runs game, the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen erra is 253 in the month of September, which is one of the best in baseball. So the bullpen has been good. It’s the starters that are the scary point. 342 bullpen RA in September. Yes. But if you take away the 10 earned runs from Tyler Heinman because those good those those are tacked on to it. Toronto Blue Jays bullpen RA is good. Yeah. For the month September. Yeah. I wish there was a way to easily filter that out too. like the Yankees here in September. I’m maybe they had some position players pitched too or I don’t think so. The 513 RA for that’s Avery like I’m not going to go full fan 590 mode and like state the obvious but you get to this bullpen you’re going to win a lot of baseball games as of as the stats show you right now. And the Red Sox didn’t do that. Avery Red Sox didn’t do that. Nope. They let the Yankees get deep into games and that’s that’s not that’s a recipe for a disaster. So that’s kind of where I’m at with it. Like get deep into account and I’m sure Pop and Schneides and all those Lou and all those guys are working their asses off right now to [ __ ] figure out figure it out. But I do trust the bullpen. I am very very scared about starting pitching and Goss are giving up home runs as well. Like it’s not I mean we saw the Rays one a lot of hard contact. This is I can’t believe we’re even we’re doing a series preview for the [ __ ] ALDS and it’s Jay’s Yankees. I mean, we got blessed with this not having to play the Wilder and get the Yankees. Same amount of wins. The Yankees. No, don’t worry though. Don’t worry, though. The Mariners other side of the bracket has the Tigers. The F the Tigers. Don’t worry about that. That should be good. Hey, Scubble could win two games. Yeah, but he’s not going to go until game two though. Yeah. I mean, you got to you got to keep it close. So, good thing. I’m looking at Yankees bullpen how they set it up right now. Only one left-handed reliever, which is good for like our Addison Barger at bats that you don’t have to take him out for for those swings. Like a Dalton VO to do damage, I think. Um, so it’s only Tim Hill. Everyone else is right-handed um with how they’re doing. They put Paul Blackburn on there. I think they’ll obviously change that up. And like Tim Hill has has killed lefties this year, but um he’s not going to go more than an inning at any point. So I think that’s good for not having to platoon a ton. Um or sorry, not have to but like pinch hitting late in the games. Um you just have to worry about Tim Hill and once he’s gone, you’re you’re good into it. So there might be some turning around to that point. But uh we will see how that goes, too. And I would love if we had a left-handed starter. I I know we have Eric Lowour, but he’s obviously not doing that. Like it would have been great to do that to take them off. The one big thing doesn’t line up. That doesn’t line up that well, Dave. That’s scary. But you could bring in lefty relievers laterers in the game, later in the game, and take out those good lefty hitters on that Yankees team. I’d rather face the best way to do it. Dude, I was so I was so surprised Aaron Boon got bullied into his lineup today. I mean, Ben Rice looked awful today. It’s like Aaron, you’ve been they’ve interpreted you forever. Like you know why Ben Rice isn’t playing against lefties. You know why? You know why you have Paul Goldman there instead of Ben Rice. Why did you do that? It’s just like this is my thing. He let like Bronx Bomber or someone on Twitter tell him that’s why you play Ben Rice because Ben Rice hit a a home run off a righty the next day. He goes that’s why you play Ben Rice. There is zero correlation with that. zero. No correlation. But sure, keep I mean Aaron, go ahead. Tro trot out. You can you you have you have my blessing. Go trot out uh go trot out Ben Rice when the Jays have a lefty on the M. I’m fine with that. I mean, sure. He did hit a ball hard game two against a lefty, but it was just like a liner to the outfield, too. So, um that will be interesting. I mean, two left-handed starters. There’s so many good lefties in the playoffs, man, who who are throwing this year. Um, what are your like what are your initial thoughts on on not initial because we’re 20 minutes into this thing, but how do you feel? I’m scared. Uh, just so everyone knows, on Saturday, I will be wearing um uh Garmin uh to calculate my heart rate. I’m assuming it’s going to my heart rate’s just going to be absolutely [ __ ] Um, but I want to see what I’m at. Like it’s I’m scared. I’m I don’t know how you’re feeling, Abe, but like I’m obviously scared. This is a team I’m not going to downplay them. Like I’m not going to talk how their fans talk about us. Like they’re a good baseball team. There’s no denying it. They’re a good baseball team. There’s flaws with them. Like there’s flaws with us. We give up the long ball. They can’t really play that great defense or they can’t like their bullpen’s not great. Like it’s really you’re just picking your poison. If we face the Red Sox, we’d have to face Crochet twice. Auto two losses in a series essentially. Like again, there’s there’s pros and cons to the series. I’m excited for it. Um hopefully the next time we’re talking to you guys on Saturday, we’re like ecstatics like, “Holy [ __ ] we took game one. We finally broke the like no wins.” Yeah. No wins in the playoffs last 10 years. Now the Orioles uh drought is way longer than ours, which rocks. Have that over them. But like, yeah, man. I’m looking forward to it. I I really don’t know how to feel about it. I really don’t because I I’m a Buck Martinez guy. I will say that’s going to look really good. That’s I’m a Buck Martinez guy through and through. Him not being on the internet, so I obviously understand. I really wish he didn’t say that quote. Should we disavow that? Should we disavow that quote for Absolutely. We’re disavowing the Buck Martinez quote. Yes, we like to disavow the Buck Martinez quote. You can’t use it against us. You can’t use it against Gate 14 fans. I hate to say it, Buck, but that’s that’s on you, pal. It’s on [ __ ] you. That quote is on you, my friend. That’s what that that’s on you. You can’t do it till it’s over. You can’t do it. Like, if he would have said that after the Jays won the series in the playoffs, I would have been I would have been right there with him. Yeah. [ __ ] yeah. Put the ball in play. Yeah. Against those bump. But like saying it in goddamn August, it’s like brother brother man or September. It’s like come on now. They’re just it’s just adding to the bookmarks and the ammo. It sucks. Yes, it does suck. Uh sucks even more is like there’s no way we Bob Bashett’s playing. No chance. He was wearing a leg brace today. He was wear He might as well have been on crutches while he was out there playing catch. Like wheelchair down. That’s how Bob Bashette looks. And like we’re out. We’re out. One of our best hitters. Great, man. That’s That’s never good. So, uh Yeah, it’s not great. I mean, I’m glad we do get Nathan Lucas for a game one. Do you think there’s any chance they throw Will Warren? If I’m the Yankees, do you trust Will Warren? I I Let’s be clear, Avery, that Rogers center atmosphere is going to be [ __ ] wild. I It will be great. Luis Heel and Will Warren, I think they’re kind of they’re both [ __ ] in terms of like mental like that game is going to be a hell hell for a guy like Luis Heel who walks a lot of guys. Those fans will get are going to get on you quick. Like you better kind of carve up the first two batters or not get a let the ball get away from you because we’ll get on you. And I’m asking the fans, we got to get on these [ __ ] man. And I obviously they will. I’m not I mean we our fan base threw a [ __ ] beer cannon at at a guy. Yeah, we we can’t be doing that. We can’t be doing that obviously. But um listen, I’d rather I’d rather Will Warren. I mean that guy’s been an absolute potato his last like four starts, but I’m not going to get picky. I’m fine with Luis Hill as well. I am. Yep. It’s the big leagues, man. It’s Who do you want? I This is like hell. I why can’t we just face the I mean why can’t we have the gauntlet the Yankees had last year? Royals Guardians World Series, you know what I mean? What what what when are we going to get that? Dude, nothing nothing ever comes easy. I think I would take Heel over Warren to be honest. Really think so. I think Heel could just explode for like a walk fest and that would be that would be best case scenario. balls in play, walk fest, offheel, um some blue jays like chaos ball to make it happen. I think Will Warren could maybe get it under control a little bit better. Like he’s problem was was the injury and that’s why he he was off the tracks there. But um yeah, like roster-wise, we’ll see how that comes out. What is that? Saturday morning. We’ll find out. Morning. They said like 10 or 11 a.m. 10 or 11 a.m. That makes sense. So anyone you think that might be left off the roster? John, I might have a hot take here. A I don’t know if Max Sher’s on this with how many pitches he threw today. I really don’t know. No, it felt like I was going to comment on this. It felt like Max Sherzer was the best teammate of all time by throwing all the innings so he could like get everyone ready. Like that was his last thing. That’s what it felt like to me. Like walking off into the sunset. Not like that. It was, hey, we need to we need to cover all these innings to get these people ready for the playoffs. And you’re probably not going to be on the playoff roster, Max. So, if he was off, I wouldn’t be that surprised. Would you? I I was going to say I don’t I like again, this is a team that [ __ ] rakes a they hit the long ball and Max Sher gives up the long ball. He can’t get out lefties. This is a team with awesome hitting lefties. Yeah, I think it’s an awful matchup. Like I don’t like this is the worst case scenario matchup for Max Sherzer who can’t get out lefties, doesn’t have a secondary pitch to get guys out. This is like this is it. This is the worst matchup for him. I I I think he’d even understand it. I I don’t know how he makes this postseason roster. I really don’t. Yeah, I don’t think putting him in the bullpen makes much sense. Oh my god. Like I know he has pitched out of the bullpen before uh in the postseason. Yeah, they said four times he’s done it. Really? Yeah. Um, I read that. I could have been wrong. I mean, I could be just reading um things that people are lying about, but that is what I read. Um, yeah. So, I don’t think it makes sense either. Like, I’d rather Eric Lowour throw over Max Scherzer right right now against That’s not That’s not really that hot of a take like against the against the New York Yankees. Who are you taking out of the bullpen for Max Scherzer? Like, that’s the question. There’s no one, Abe, like this is not like this isn’t a slight on. There’s really no one. No. like he’s not there in front of Nance or Fischer or hell no Yariel’s got great numbers against righties like the may Yariel maybe I know I talked about this last time too but Yariel was one to one strikeouts to balls in a prolonged period kind of the second half he wasn’t that great um so maybe him but again I I’d probably have Yariel Well, over over Max um at this point. So, I think that wouldn’t be that much of a shocker. And you have five starters that would be on your roster. Um but Lowour would maybe be the pen guy. So, that’s Gosman, Basset, Beaver, Yavage, Lowour. I don’t think it’s even a hot take, Avery. I would be more comfortable Eric Lowour starting a playoff game than Max Sherzer. Like that’s just how he has been pitching. I Max Scherzer’s done this to himself. He had such good will a month and a half ago when he was we were talking like wow Zeno game two like Zeno game three and then he kind of just fell off the face of the earth fast ball vo down breaking balls everyone’s like sending to outer space. It’s a weird spot to be in because this is a guy who who’s the most decorated playoff pitcher on the roster. World Series champ. um a guy who the moment will never get too big for, but at some point the arm’s not going to catch up to the mental. Yeah. He’s not going to be nervous for it. Sure. He’s he’s going to be amped up for it. The arm’s not going to be Yeah. Yeah. It’s not going to The off speed’s not going to be like Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know how many years we can go back for Max Shers or like turning back the clock to make make it a thing. 2019 with the Knots would be cool. It would be cool to have him do. Yeah. I I think it’s Max. I I don’t see how he fits right now. Yeah. I don’t see how he fits and I I don’t know where they put him to and how they he understand. Think you’d have to understand. I mean, he’s he’s not the coach. Like I he knows that the [ __ ] he just came off a 10 run oneing start the other day. Like that that was one of his most recent appear. It might not have been Did he get hit around on the inner squad today as well, Dave? Um he gave up a home run to Josh Rivera and he excuse me and he gave up a triple to Son Brown. Rivera he should have been out like there was young umps umping it and I think it should have been strike three. Max tapped his head after the guy called it a ball and then Josh Rivera hit a home run right after. Um I really wish you didn’t tell me he gave up a moon bomb to goddamn Josh Rivera. Okay. It was it was like first row but Josh Rivera was a guy traded for Nate Pearson. him and Panango, I’m pretty sure. Demon Ross. Yeah. And then Desan Brown, uh, the OBJ kid, hit a triple. Varo just joged to it. Like it was he might have caught it. That was kind of right away, but Okay. He, uh, made Santandere look silly. Um, he diced Well, that’s not really hard to do. He diced up Santandere a couple times. U, he was like decently sharp at times today. I thought it’s just like a what do you have for me, Max? one inning. What do you you know, it’s just like, listen, can we hit I would put Max in that bullpen. Make him go like, listen, we’re going to simulate a baseball game here. Let’s see what you got in the [ __ ] tank. I want your fastest VO right now in this bullpen and let’s see what the [ __ ] you have. That’s what I want from Mad Max. Um, we will never get it, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, listen, it sucks that this is going to be our memories of of Max Scherzer. His last ever um regular season start with the Blue Jays was 10 earned runs in like an inning, but it’s for the betterment of the team, right? That’s kind of the reality of it, Dave. And we get uh four:00 starts both days. Yes, four o’clock starts feels pretty good. Playoff game time at least, not a one:00 start. That’s not I I feel for the Guardians fans. one o’clock games all through the week. Like, how are you supposed to show up to that if you have a regular job? That sucks. So, happy with four. Uh maybe they keep I know I asked for the dome open, but maybe we can find a way to to blow the wind in uh for the Yankees if we if we close the dome. Wind turbines. Wind turbines going in. Oh, man. I um I I I don’t like again I I I’m done enjoying the division now. Like that was awesome, but I’m so [ __ ] scared. What? Like I believe, you know, like I believe in this team, but I’m scared obviously. I mean, it’s the it’s the god. It’s the Yanks. Yeah. And you got to go to Yankee Stadium. I mean, albeit every single factor if you are taking a step back and looking at it, the Jays are in the advantage. Three games at home. if you go full five lineup pitcher matchups. Didn’t use any bullpen arms this week in meaningful games. Aside from Bobette, like if Bobette was fully healthy, I genuinely think this series is like a pick them as they say, like minus 110 each side. Like a coin flip. Yeah, the Jays are big dogs. Yeah, Jays are minus 150. Just so everyone understands, like the Jays or No, the Yankees are minus 150, Jays are plus 140, right? Plus 130. The Toronto Blue 13. So yeah, so the books, again, I we don’t use I don’t care about gambling odds, but yeah, the Yankees are favored, and that’s the home run thing, obviously. Um, and the pitching thing, but yeah, I I’ll ask you this. Who is your one guy that you think is going to be that playoff hero for the boys? Oh, man. He’s had such a big moment year, and it’s Nathan Lucas. You think so, dude? He’s He’s come through in like every big moment. It’s felt like. Really? I I was going to say different. I You know who I’m going to say? Dalton Vo. Okay. I’m I’m cool with that, too. Dalton Bar. What was your reasoning on Lucas? It just felt like all year he’s come through. Uh he’s come through in the big moment. And guy who [ __ ] he’s a thousand years old too. The rookie who’s 31. That was like classic message to you. He’s our own Luis Heel, bro. Yeah. It it’s why we love him. feel like moment’s probably not going to get too big for him. He’s mature. Um I think I think he’s just been great at getting it done this year. As simple as it is. And um we talked about like Ty France being the hero. Maybe I think we Nathan Lucas kind of done it all year, dude. Kirk, right? We need those guys to be actually good. Like Okay. Okay. I I tweeted like like obviously you’d say Springer, obviously you’d say Vlad. Obviously, by the way, Davis Schneider looked insane in these scrimmages, dude. He did. Maybe like again, we talked to him and he knows like the pitcher like he knows the pitchers really well. Maybe he just knows the guys, but holy [ __ ] that ball he hit off of uh East Lucas into like the second deck was insane. Yeah, we do have to comment on who he faced for the home runs. Um Bowen Bowen’s first time back on the Roger center mound in a long time. First batter. He looked good after that. Bowen was like 91 and then after the Davis homer was 93s. So really still not 95s but I don’t know what he’s really been dealing with. They’ve kept his rehab on the down low. But yeah, Davis smoked a couple baseballs. I don’t know if Ty France is going to be on on the postseason thing. He played to he played today. Really? He swung today, too. Um, Kirk swung today as well. Obviously, he didn’t play yesterday. He didn’t catch. Ernie was the only regular who didn’t play and obviously that guy’s banged up to hell. He’s He’s broken everything in his body at this point. He didn’t even play game one in the scrimmage. No, he was the like Barger played game two, got some at bats. Um, yeah, the only person I can think of who didn’t play was Ernie. Uh, obviously Bo didn’t play, but but he’s totally injured. So, Ty France played today a little bit as well, but um yeah, I’m super excited for this Yankee series. I I know people all the teams have um kind of done this scrimmage thing before the AL or all the division series games, like all the teams kind of did this, but if you got to go today, you got to sit as close as you could possibly sit for $10 and you watch Max Sher pitch five innings today. Like that’s not the coolest thing and just a great way to kind of give it was $10 to Jay’s car and Bieber. You watched Shane Bieber and you watched Basset pitch today too. You watched three starters pitch today in some capacity. You watched Vlad play for $10 with as close as you could sit. I thought it was a really cool thing. I thought it was a cool idea. So many more people showed up today than yesterday. I think it was kind of too close and they didn’t really know what was going on for for day one, but they showed up today and it was really cool. So, um we don’t have anything planned for pregame stuff for uh game one or game two, which I I’m disappointed about, but we make it to the championship series, we’ll get something for for game one. We could just even just tweet out a bar we’re at, though. Yeah, we could do that. We could find a way. But I I can’t wait for the city to have play. We’ll drop it like it’s like a a popup concert. We’ll just be like here this time. Be there. That’s it. See See you there. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what we can do. But um I’m excited, John. This is how in my mind I think it’s going to line up for the Yankees. Heel Freed, Rodon, Schlitler, Freed. Makes sense. Makes sense. Slitter once. That’s a great I mean those are great pitchers. All those Yes. They have they have a chance to put something put something together that’s going to be pretty good. And I I do like from our side, I like Trey against the lefties. Yes. Like I know they’ll play all the lefties cuz he’s a right-handed pitcher. Makes a ton of sense. Uh I just think the splitter will be hopefully the great equalizer in that he can get those lefties out. I’m gonna I’m gonna say something here that I I I I’m not going to be shocked if we see Trey Savage start game two. No, I’m gonna put my I’m going to put my line in the sand. I’m not going to be shocked if we see Trey Savage game two. I’m not. And they’ve never seen him before. They’ve never seen Treya Savage. They’ve never seen him before. And putting him in Yankee Stadium for a start feels insane. Like the Red Sox had no choice. They had to pitch early today. They had to pitch him. They They weren’t going home. Do or die. You know, you’re playing all three games on the road. So, they had no choice. We have the choice as to where you put Trey in if you truly are are going to start him. And I and I think you are I think you expect like three innings from Trey. I know you’re going to want more than that, but I think Trey can give you three good innings. Don’t be scared about an early hook. Don’t be scared about an early hook. Like don’t be mad about an early hook, Trey. And then Eric Lowour comes in. Yes. Or something. Or like Brennan Little comes in right away next. I know everyone’s going to say, “Oh, that’s brutal.” But if you find the pocket lefties that are coming up next and you think Trey’s done, then you go to a like Fluardi could come in at that Fluardi could go two as he’s kind of done. I don’t know if that’s the ideal thing. You’re going to kind of have to piece it together. I I do think you go you Savage. It’s like, hey, you got three lucky to get four, five, we hit the jackpot. I I just don’t know if we’ll get any more than that. But that’s what I’m expecting if Trey Savage does indeed get a game two start. Yeah. Anyways, by the way, we will be wearing I’ll be wearing the Blue Jays dot jersey. Um, it’ll be taped. I’m not spending $300 on a custom jersey, but it will be there will be me in a Blue Jays jersey. And by the way, I want to address this. People thought I was coming at him in the tweet and you probably couldn’t like obviously you can’t tell the tones of a tweet, but I was just saying like even though he’s cringe, like I think my parents online are cringe. I think Oh, dude. The worst Facebook users of all time. Exactly. So that was what I was saying about Blue Jay’s dad. Like his content’s not for me. The way he posts is for like like older people, which is fine. I just in my in my opinion the way what he posts is cringe and that’s fine. Like I I still I don’t hate him. No. Like it just Yeah, that that’s what I was trying to say with it. But anyways, I mean he got really sad about that, but we addressed it. Yeah. He’s like, “You’re you’re propping yourself out to pull me down.” I was like, “That’s not what I was trying to do.” But whatever. Like I mean that’s how it came across. I have haircut tomorrow 3:45. The Springer. The Springer. The faded mohawk. We’re going to be ready to go for game one. Looking as good as ever. All right. All right. I We’re so the offseason I got to shut my [ __ ] mouth is what I have to do. Like Yeah, that’s I’m right there with you. No throwaway thoughts in the offseason anymore. Yeah, I’m Yeah, that’s I’ll be honest with you, Avery. Not great. But I me saying that did save George Springer, I think at least a little bit. It did. So, I’m fine to cut my hair a little bit. That’s all good. All right. Well, game one, folks. Saturday, our Toronto Blue Jays host the New York Yankees. Yeah. I mean, folks, try to be as uh grounded. Even Keel. Yeah. Job’s not finished after a win is possible. Uh, we will see you all there. Game one, I’ll be there. Avery will be there. Alto, Curtis, Cam, Avery’s brother, Evan. Um, now it’s time to put up our shut off. I mean, I’m trying like the next time we talk to you guys, man. Uh, will be after game one. A media pod right after. Kind of like a therapy session or a little bit of a celebration that they want to play off game. I’m not sure. Um, but listen, put up our shut up time. Put up our shut up time, man. And, uh, we’ll see what happens. I know the atmosphere will be electric, but if I can give anyone piece of advice, stay grounded and, uh, enjoy this, man. And who on this team who is going to step up? We’ve dealt with fake airplanes. We’ve dealt with guys thinking they were gonna sign here and just [ __ ] ass reports. We’ve lost playoff games up 8-1. We’ve scored one run in 18 innings. We deserve this. This team is different. In my mind, this team is different. And I believe and so should you because this team got us [ __ ] here in the first place. This team won the division. This team won 94 [ __ ] games. This team had one of the best records against teams above 500. This team was great against the American League East. Second best record against the AL East, I believe. Believe. That’s all we can do now. It’s out of our hands. It’s in their hands. All we can control is how we cheer for this team. And they deserve it. So, let’s have ourselves a weekend. Let’s [ __ ] ride. ALDS, man. ALDS. Love you guys. Gate 14 forever. We will see you Saturday. Make sure you like, subscribe, leave a comment below. Biggest weekend of our lives. Love you guys.

The Jays and Yankees battle in the ALDS.

Gate 14 is the most electric Toronto Blue Jays podcast on the planet. Join Johnny & Avery as they navigate the ups and down of 162. New episodes drop twice a week, so subscribe now!

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