Blue Jays players speak to media ahead of World Series
Um he’s one of the top dogs and when he’s running hot, we’re we’re all running hot. So, it’s uh it’s going to be fun to have him back. Thanks, Nathan. I appreciate it. That’s Nathan Lucas uh live here at Media Day for the Blue Jays. Uh we’re on CBC uh YouTube. Are we on Tik Tok yet? Just waiting to get word that we’re live on Tik Tok. Are we live on Tik Tok right not quite live on Tik Tok? We’re on CBC YouTube right now and CBC News YouTube as well. You can see behind me we’ve got Addison Barger going live. Maybe we’ll jump in uh hear what Addison Barger has to say. Wait for our city TV colleagues to just uh step out of the way for a sec. Jump in and listen to what Addison Barger is saying. Really gave me the freedom to kind of work on skills and things that I wouldn’t usually do if I was in school for eight hours a day. So I would say that’s that’s number one. And um so I just had a lot of time to spend on baseball to be honest with you. Like um a lot of my days were kind of absorbed by baseball and and working on that to try to get here. So it really allowed me to work on my craft. Last question too. This is World Series World Series. You’ve been all over the world as a missionary kid. Can you talk about that as well? Yeah. Yeah. So growing up, um we spent, you know, a good amount of time in in different countries and just spreading the word and trying to help a lot of people. So that was a really good experience especially at a young age to gain some perspective on you know on life and the world you know and just knowing that um what you should be grateful for what you have you know because not not everybody is in a similar spot. So I’m just super grateful for everything that that’s going on in my life and I’m grateful to be here. Real quick if you could just tell us I mean talk about being in a World Series. How does how does the emotion change? How do the feelings change right now? I mean it’s here. Tomorrow’s the big day. No, it’s it’s a it’s a dream come true. Um, obviously I think everybody kind of says that, but uh it’s it’s something that’s really special. You know, you don’t know how many times you you’ll make it to the World Series in your life. Some people never do, so a lot of people never do. So, I think just being super grateful for opportunity and taking advantage of it by preparing the best you can and going out there and and competing. After your big home run in that Seattle series, you said it was like a dream come true. True. I mean, I know you hit a couple of home runs, but uh in game six, you said it was like a dream come true to be able to do that and help your team. Can you imagine I mean, I’m sure you dreamed about hitting one in the World Series. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, any way I could help the team win at this level in any game, but especially in the World Series is obviously, you know, it’s something you dream of. I mean, everybody does. So, we’re super excited. You guys open up. I mean, once again, home field advantage. This is a place where this team has played so well. 54 wins this season in the regular season. How important is it in a series of this magnitude with that team coming in to have homefield advantage to start? I think it’s super important. I mean, like you said, we’ve played really well at home. I mean, we all love being here. This is this is our home away from home at this point and we’re we love the fans. We love the energy they bring. You know, I think it helps a lot just knowing they have our backs and that we’re going to go out there and do our best and whatever happens happens at the end of the day. But, you know, we we do love playing here. Harrison, this is the last question I’m going to ask you, but it kind of being built as a David and Goliath. You guys again come in as the underdogs. You were the underdogs in the division series. You were the underdogs in the championship series. You guys battle back from an O2 deficit in that championship series. And now you’re facing the defending World Series champs, a stacked lineup. Do you guys like being that in that role of the underdog? Um, I think so. I mean, who doesn’t like being the underdog? But, um, I don’t know if we we feel like the underdogs necessarily a lot. I think we’re super confident in our team and our ability to win games. You know, we’ve done it all year. Um, obviously we were the underdogs, but we were the number one seed in the American League going into the playoffs. So, um, that’s not really underdogs, I guess. So, you know, we’ve done it all year. We’ve won a lot of baseball games. We’ve played good baseball. We have the ability to come come from behind like we we showed a ton. So, you know, I think our ability to never give up and stay in the game is super important in the World Series especially. And, uh, we have a good shot. All right. Thanks for that, Addison. That’s Addison Barger. Uh Toronto Blue Jays, I would call him a utility player, infielder, outfielder. He made some great defensive plays at third base. Some great defensive plays out uh playing in right field. Uh I’m just going to check. So we are live on CBC YouTube. Are we live on Tik Tok as well right now? We are live. We are up and running on Tik Tok. If you’ve got questions for us in the Tik Tok chat, please put your questions up. We are at Blue Jay’s media day right now. So, all of the entire team is available right now. David Schneider right there buried by some uh reporters, but uh he’s talking over there. We just talked to Nathan Lucas. We talked to Addison Bardro. Over in the corner is Miles Straw. And there’s the big man, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Uh he’s talking through an interpreter right now at media day today. Tito is the team interpreter. Maybe we’ll dump jump in here on uh Davis Schneider if we can get in. Uh no, you’re I look at look at that. We’re live right now on our social media and this is a very important man. So, I’m going to let you go and do your job. But, um, uh, David Schneider chatting there. It goes, let’s just walk down here and, uh, check out, uh, everything that’s happening here. You can see it’s just a frenzy of media. This is international media. People here in Toronto, from all over the world. This is the World Series. So, uh maybe that’s not surprising, but uh uh a lot of these a lot of these members of the media that you’re seeing right now are from Los Angeles, but they really are from all over the world. Lots of media from Japan here, of course, with Show Otani being a big part of this. Um and uh I mean, a lot of media from Latin America, obviously. We’re just going to make our way down and find some of these guys that are uh sitting here and have some availability to jump in and talk to them and uh see how they’re feeling right now. Got Isaiah IKF. Maybe we’ll jump in. Oh, he’s about to do something. So, we’ll we’ll come back to him. But you got Shane Bieber here. Ernie Clement, we got to jump in on Ernie. Ernie, how you doing? We’re live on our our social media networks. uh multiple networks on YouTube, on Tik Tok right now. I mean, this is a guy who maybe I mean he if he didn’t win the MVP of that ALCS, maybe you should have been the runner up. Anyways, I mean Vlatty obviously is some pretty big shoes, but uh I mean you were hitting up a storm all throughout these playoffs. I mean uh you’ve been such an integral part about this. Just talk about I mean how how big a deal it is right now to be sitting where you are playing in a World Series uh playing the way that you’re playing right now. Yeah, I I think he could have given it to, you know, any one of our guys uh in our lineup or, you know, Trey had a great uh a great series. Uh Bees pitched really really well. It was it was truly a team effort and that’s you know, why we are who we are and and why we’ve made it this far. So um you know, it’s it’s one through nine in our lineup and uh you know, we’re really proud to to say it’s a it’s been a team all year. Ernie, we were just talking to Addison Barger just about playing the role of the underdog. You were the underdog in the division series. You were the underdog in the championship series. You became the heavy underdogs after going down 02 in the championship series and here you are now facing the defending World Series champs. You’re the underdogs once again, but I I get the impression that you guys kind of relish that role. Yeah, it’s great. Um I think we play our best ball when when our our backs are up against the wall. So, um yeah, I guess you can kind of use that as fuel and uh you know, just kind of try to keep rolling. It’s uh it’s going to be really fun either way. Yeah. I mean, and a lot of the talk is about just how this team is such a contact team. you put the ball in play, something you’ve done quite a bit throughout these playoffs. Uh I I mean, how important is that to the makeup of this team? The fact that you don’t strike out a lot, the fact that you get bats on balls. Yeah, it just makes it really hard on opposing pitchers and, you know, we run those starters pitch count up when we’re following balls back and, you know, working counts and um I just we’re just going to keep trying to do that and and make it as hard on them as possible. And and the and the even kill with the temperament. I mean, you guys never let the highs get too high, the lows never get too low. I mean, that’s that’s also a big part of the makeup of this team. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, it’s it’s just a bunch of, you know, buddies going out there and and playing for each other and, you know, having a good time doing it. So, um, yeah, we definitely don’t make it, you know, too much and and, you know, when things don’t go our way, we we bounce back really, really well. So, um, you know, we’re definitely not phased by any, uh, anything that doesn’t go our way and we will bounce back for sure. Thanks, Ernie. I appreciate that. That’s Ernie Clement. He’s been a star for sure for the Blue Jays in these playoffs. Let’s walk around and see if we can jump in on some of these other players that are talking. Uh we’ll try and get to everyone that we can possibly get to uh as we make our way uh through the this frenzy of media. As I said, there’s Max Scherzer, Mad Max Scherzer. Um became a big part of this uh American League Championship series starting game four and we saw how fiery fiery he can be. I mean, when Josh Titer walked out to the mound and he stared him down and he called him uh he called him down and said, “I I’m fine. I’m fine. Let’s go.” Um uh we’ll get to Max if we can uh in a bit, but let’s walk down. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Thanks, guys. You see the media is so polite. Everybody’s so polite here. Um got Braden Fischer and Louis Varand here uh talking to the media. Jeff Hoffman over there. I mean, incredible uh finish for Jeff Hoffman in game six. in game seven of that championship series. Obviously pitching the eighth and ninth inning of game six through 35 pitches. Was able to come back in uh game seven uh and pitched the ninth there and get the save as well for the Blue Jays uh in that clinching game. And he’s the one that you saw on the mound celebrating with his arms raised in the air. Who else we’ve got? Uh Kevin Gosman. Obviously a big uh a big crowd around Kevin Gosman. We’re going to try and get in on some of these guys. Maybe we’ll jump in on Louis Varland if we get a a second here. I mean, Louis Varand has been a big part of that bullpen for the Blue Jays. Uh, I mean, he throws some heat. He uh he’s got a 100 plus mileph fast ball. Um, and uh, obviously the Jays have relied on him heavily throughout these playoffs to come in in relief. And he pitched obviously in uh, both g uh, games six and seven as well. So, um, a big part of closing out those two games when the Blue Jays took the lead on that George Springer home run in game seven. Um, let’s uh Oh, sorry about that. Let’s make our way down. We got Chris Basset. Now, you Chris Basset hadn’t pitched in a while. Chris Basset uh came in in uh game seven and he was able to pitch an inning of baseball to keep the Blue Jays in there. I mean, just incredible the fact that he actually hadn’t pitched in a while. Got Ty France sitting here. Hey, real quick. We’re live on all our social media platforms here. Just wanted to quickly just talk about just the moment being here being in a World Series uh with this team. How does it feel right now? Yeah, it’s pretty surreal. Um this is such a great group of guys and um you know being now this is my seventh year in the league. Um I haven’t experienced a group like this just how close they are and everybody leans on each other and uses each other and um you know it’s a special group so I’m not surprised that we’re here. Um, but you know, it it’s it’s been a lot of fun and it’s been a great ride so far. And you haven’t been here that long. I mean, you just came over the trade deadline. I mean, when you think about uh just coming into a team like this, how what was that like coming into this group? Yeah, I mean, anytime you’re traded, you you never know what it’s going to be like, but um they embraced me right away, you know, accepted me as one of their own and um you know, kind of we hit we hit the ground running after the trade deadline. So, um it’s been, like I said, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s a special group and you know excited for this next week and a half, two weeks. Having had the opportunity to see what this team I mean you weren’t here for all those come from behind victories but you’re here for some of them. 49 come from behind victories this year and then you see what happens in that uh championship series against Seattle. Um is there something different about the makeup of this team in in terms of I see guys in the locker room I after a big loss it’s kind of the same kind of thing. Guys are playing cards. After a big win guys are playing cards. It seems like there’s a a lot of camaraderie. Is that is that something special about this team? Yeah, I think that’s that’s one thing. You know, we’re with each other so much throughout the course of the season. And um you know, you’re going to lose a lot of games, you’re going to win a lot of games, so you you want to try and stay as even as possible. And um I think that’s one thing these guys do a great job of is you know, no matter win or lose, um you know, it’s the same to them. And um you know, do losses hurt? Yeah. But we we find a way to move on and and worry about the next day. So, um, and and it went to show this last series, you know, you get down, you lose the first two games at home, this team could have very easily rolled over and kind of moved on, but um, we didn’t. We kept fighting, kept fighting. And, you know, that’s one special thing about this group. You know, we talked about it with a lot of these guys in here, but I mean, you came in to the American League Division Series as the underdogs against the Yankees. came in against Seattle in the championship series as the underdogs and especially the underdogs when you were down 02 in that series but battled back. Um it seems to me like uh this team relishes being in that role and now you’re facing the World Series champion LA Dodgers. I don’t think there’s any intimidation here. Uh there’s no intimidation factor with this team. No, I mean not not on our end. Um you know, we we’re just like I said, we’re treating it like another game. Um, you know, this is a special group of guys and you know, every single night it’s someone different that gets the job done. So, um, you know, we’re going to go out and play our game and, you know, whatever happens happens, but um, whether we’re the underdog or, you know, we’re the favorite, it didn’t really matter to us. We’re just going to go out and play baseball and, um, you know, let the cards fall where they fall. I ask you about the white panel hat. Everybody wearing the white panel hat today. Is there something special about that hat? Every I mean, it’s a good luck charm. I It’s been working. So, um, you know, we’re kind of sticking with it, but, um, you know, I personally, I think it’s one of our cooler hats. So, and wearing it proudly. Here we go. That’s Ty France, uh, talking to us. Say, thank you for doing that. I appreciate it. Um, uh, let’s walk, let’s make our way down. Again, we’re live here on CBC YouTube, CBC Tik Tok. Making our way through uh, Blue Jays Media Day here. We’ve talked to quite a few of the players. uh Addison Barger. We talked to Nathan Lucas, uh Ernie Clement. Uh we’re going to try and get in on some of the other guys over here. There’s been big crowds around some of these tables. Of course, as you can imagine, the media clamoring to get uh to the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., of course, George Springer is another one that’s popular. This is George Springer right here. And he is got a massive crowd around him. Looks like people are just setting up shop here and uh sticking around. And I mean, obviously the hero of game seven with that big home run. Uh, but let’s see if we can get in on one of the other guys here. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s table right over here. And you can see the massive crowds around Vladimir Guerrero Jr. We’ll just stick our mic into one of these. Let’s uh see if we can get into George Springer. I’m going to ask my cameraman Joe to try and get a shot here if we can. Um, it might mean raising the camera up or I’m going to try and get my mic in. Yeah. I mean, it makes you feel good, you know. It means that you you uh you did something cool. You guys scuffled a bit getting to find who you were and your identity and everything else. Bo hits a home run home in Texas. Yep. And it was like the lights went off that night and you guys started going into Yeah. I mean, I I just think, you know, as the season kind of progressed, you know, we we we we weren’t struggling to figure out who we were. We were slowly figuring it out. And a moment like Bo, you know, Bo was actually hurt that day. um comes off the bench, you know, hits a huge homer, believed we won the game, um kind of just propelled us into playing how we play. And I I think, you know, us as a team, we kind of, you know, looked at ourselves and said, you know, we can do this. Um and, you know, believed in oursel as a team and, you know, here we are today. So, the first guy home run is a big Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it is. Had a few days now to kind of let what happened in game seven sink in. Have you really had a chance to realize the magnitude of that moment, your home run, what it meant to this fan base, what it’s going to mean for decades to come as people, you know, consider that one of the greatest moments in the history of this franchise? No, I haven’t yet. You know, I think there’s still a job to be done and there’s still, you know, a very good baseball team on the other side of that line over there. Um, so I’m kind of, you know, putting my efforts into that and I’m, you know, sure once it’s all said and done, I’ll I’ll look back on it and, you know, I’ll I’ll do do some reflecting at some point. Still a chance to hit a bigger one. Yeah. I mean, there’s there’s, you know, there’s some there’s some more at bats uh ahead of me. Um, but again, it’s just a a huge moment for us as a team. So, I I couldn’t be happier. George, you’ve been a World Series champion. You’ve been a World Series champion. How different in any other in any way is uh is it worth playing with the Blue Jays, these players? Uh yeah, I mean this is this is what why I’m here. Um this is special. Um I love these guys in this locker room and and just to just to be around them and to you know to hear the stuff that they’re saying just you know how excited every everybody is it it it means a lot. George, you’re one home run away from Frank Robinson and Joe Deaggio. That’s like, you know, that’s the kind of stuff you you dream about, you know, and and never get close to. What does that mean to you that that you can actually surpass them in in the like the people I grew up with thinking are the greatest players ever? Um, yeah. I mean, they they they’re certainly in that realm and, you know, have have they’ve they’ve earned all of that. Um, yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t I haven’t really put a lot of thought into it. I I think it’s a huge honor. Um, it’s cool. Um, again, I’ll I’ll probably do some reflecting at some point. Um, and I’ll I’ll go from there. George, this team’s division series lastic when you were down, but people are calling this David. Um, I mean, I don’t really think we think of anything besides just go out and play. You know, our team understands who’s on the other side of that line, and that’s a great baseball team. There’s there’s absolutely no denying it. Um, everybody over there can play the game. So, you know, for us, it’s just about kind of staying in the moment, you know, being being who we are as a team, and we’ll honestly see what happens. Is it intimidating? That is George Springer, uh, talking uh, here at Blue Jays Media Day. Just behind us here, we got Shane Bieber making his way through. uh obviously making his way to his table, but that was George Springer we just talked to uh reflecting on that big home run saying he yeah he’s hasn’t really had a chance to kind of consider you know just the magnitude of that moment and what it’s going to mean to this fan base for decades. It is considered one of the biggest moments in Blue Jays history already when you can pair it to the likes of Joe Carter’s walk-off home run in the World Series and Jose Bautista’s Bat Flimp home run. I mean that no doubt will rank up there with those big moments in Blue Jays history and he says one day he’ll look back and I’m sure uh he’ll have time to I mean just like Jose Bautista was in the building when he hit the home run. He’ll be coming back to Toronto for years to come. Uh and Jay’s fans I’m sure will always remember. But yeah, big moment. We’re at media day here for the Toronto Blue Jays the day before game one of the World Series. We’ve got all of the Blue Jay players available and we’ll just kind of take a pan around the room here. You can see all of the players are available. There’s a massive frenzy of media here uh taking this in. Uh I mean media from all over the world. This is international media. It’s the World Series and uh it draws a big crowd. But uh we’ve got media. You can hear uh the media behind me doing there and we’re doing ours. It’s uh it’s everyone. But let’s see if we can get in. There’s Andreas Gimenez that’s talking right now. Let’s see who else we can get in on. Uh maybe Tyler Heinman, the the the team’s uh magic man, the magician. Um he calls himself the clubhouse magician. Maybe uh we’ll see if we can slide in there at some point and talk to him. Uh but again, Tyler Heinman has a crowd around him. Uh who else? Bob Bashette. Actually, there’s a there’s one we definitely want to try and get in on is Bobette. Uh again, I haven’t seen the official lineup yet, but obviously Bob Bashette is somebody that uh you know, a lot of people he’s he confirmed himself at the Champagne celebration after uh that big game seven victory the other night. Somebody asked Bobette if he would be ready to go and Bobette said he would definitely be ready to go. So uh um we’re expecting that he will be in the lineup, but uh that I don’t believe has been confirmed as of yet. Uh we got um we’ll try and get a mic in there if we can. Uh oh, are you sure? You sure? Uh the media is so gracious. Thank you. Everybody’s so good. We’re going to try and stick our mic in there as soon as we can and maybe get some word from Bob Bashette. Uh he might be live on the radio right now. Uh here we go. He’s getting some questions right now. Yeah, I’m feeling I’m feeling good. Um, good enough to go out there and help the team win. So, um, I’ll try to do more things today to show the organization and Schneider where where I stand and what I’m physically capable of doing and then, you know, how I’m used will be determined by them and, you know, I’m just doing what I can do. What role, Jabbo, do you think that you would be able to play if you’re back in the lineup for this series? that’s still being determined. But um you know I I think people know that I’ve taken some ground balls at second base I’ve obviously hit and so um whatever they think that I will be a positive contributor to the team will be where I’m at. And uh yeah, I mean my job is not to come in here and be a hero. It’s uh to do my job and help the team win. And so whatever whatever that role is, I will um I’ll be ready for it. How tough has it been for you to sit out these last two series? I mean you must be chomping at the bit to get back in. Yeah, I mean um all I’ve been thinking about is this moment. Um so I mean I’ve said it before. I think it would have been a lot more difficult if we had lost to not have had an opportunity to be in it, but we’re here so all that’s in the past and I’ll just be ready for what whatever opportunity comes my way. What what has your base running what’s your base running been like? Um, it feels good enough. I can It feels good enough. Is there Is there a part of you that learning to trust that you have to first or something like that in there? No, I I feel like I will be able to run the bases fine. How do you feel about? Yeah, it all feels good. I mean, obviously, you never know. Um, World Series is a whole different animal, so there’ll be um emotions that I’ll have to control. Um, you know, I’ll have to make adjustments for sure um throughout the series. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I I feel good. I feel good. Bobett, he tells us that he feels good. He feels he’s good to go. Obviously, a lot of decisions still have to be made about what role he would play if he returns to the lineup for this World Series. Would he be somebody he says he’s been taking ground balls at second base? And we know that Bo Bashette has been their shortstop all season. Uh and Andre Gimenez, who’s uh just right over here, has been playing exceptional defense for the Blue Jays at shortstop. And uh so potentially he believes maybe he would come back in and play second base. Um, obviously uh he could play uh DH as well, but that would mean shuffling things. George Springer has been the DH for the Blue Jays throughout these playoffs. So, he would probably have to move back into the outfield and uh and that would allow Bo Bashette to slide in as their DH. But again, those are decisions way uh out of my hands. I have not I’m just throwing these out there as possibilities. John Schneider will sit down with his coaching staff obviously and make those decisions. But again, we’re live here on CBC’s YouTube, CBC Tik Tok. Uh, and we are at Blue Jay’s media day. All of the players available right now to the media. And again, if we just want to take a quick look around the room here, we’ll show you it is a frenzy of media, international media from all over the world here uh to to try and get in and talk to some of these players. Um, we’ve even got uh CBC Radio Canada here. There he goes. There we go. We are live right now and uh yeah, having some fun. Uh we’re going to try and get in on some of these other players. This is Shane Bieber there. Uh obviously will factor in heavily to the Blue Jays starting rotation. Uh he has been um he’s been slotted in as their number three starter. We’ve seen Kevin Gosman uh as the number one starter. Treya Savage has started in the number two spot and Shane Bieber has been their number three guy. Um I’m not I don’t have any reason to believe that that would change moving into this series. So far it’s worked. Um, but let’s see who else we can get in on. This is Tyler Heinman, Blue Jays backup catcher. We’re going to just jump in and uh see what we can get here. Think it’s uh Sorry. Okay, we’re going to let we’re all right. We’ve got uh this gentleman here from Playball uh with MLB is he’s got something set up. So, I don’t want to step on his toes. Let’s let him do his thing and we’ll try and get in on uh some of the other guys here. Oh, sorry. You see, it’s just tight, tight, tight quarters here as we try to make our way around. You know what? Here’s Blue Jay’s hitting coach, David Popkins. Let’s I’m going to jump in on this and uh maybe throw a couple of questions to Popkins here. Now, David Popkins has been watching Bobette in the batting cage. Um he’s, you know, he’s had a chance to take in his sessions and to to see how he’s looking. I mean, I’ve seen a little bit of it. Hey, David, quick. Oh, sorry. You guys jumping in there? All right, quick question. We’re uh we’re just live on our social media here, but I was just going to ask you, you’ve been watching Bo in the cage the last few days. He’s been taking full BP with the team. I mean, how do you feel that he’s looked uh in your opinion? Yeah, he looks looks dangerous. Yeah, he looks very dangerous. I think just his progress that he’s made, the work that he’s put in is he’s he’s put himself in a in a pretty good spot right now. I’m sure as a hitting coach to have that bat returned to the lineup. I mean, a guy that led the team in RBI’s and batting average, he’s a dangerous guy. could drive in runs against a team that’s probably uh I I mean a pretty formidable opponent in the defending uh World Steelers Champ. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. Yeah, he’s he’s incredible. Um he’s a clutch performer as well. Um he there’s no moment that’s too big. He’s a guy that’s been born around this game with his dad. He’s he’s built for for a series like this, moments like this, and I look forward to watch him watch him play. Uh if he does slot back in, how what role do you see him playing? I mean, I know it’s decisions still have to be made, but what do you think? Yeah, that’s not that’s not my my call there. That’s that’s a big putting you on the spot here. But anyways, big skippers call. Um, but whatever whatever role he’s in, he’s going to help us. I knew you know that. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. That’s Dave Popkins, the Blue Jays hitting coach. Obviously watching very closely uh the last few weeks as Bo Bashette has kind of tried to um rehab from that sprained knee that he suffered back on September 6. Hasn’t played in a game since September 6 because of that sprained knee, but it looks like he will return uh for the World Series. And uh I mean we haven’t gotten confirmation from that so don’t mark that down as official but he did uh say after game seven that he expects to be in the lineup for the World Series. And we’re waiting to get word from the Blue Jays on how that will work how that would work if if it is indeed going to be the case and where he will slot in. But uh let’s see uh if we can jump in on some of these other players here. I want to get into uh Tyler Heinman here if we can. He’s still busy. Alejandro Kirk here doing some media. He’s been swarmed by media. You got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still with a swarm of media around him. Maybe we could try to get in on some of that. Uh looks like he might be doing some Spanish speaking media right now. So, uh let’s see who else is available down here. Miles Straw. We haven’t talked to Miles Straw. Um, I wonder if we can get in on him. Oh, he’s he’s about to do something. So, we’ll let uh we’ll let Miles do his thing. Addison Barger here doing some uh live TV behind us um for MLB, the MLB Network. So, he’s come off the podium to kind of work some other angles. All right, let’s make our way through here and see who else we can get. Hey, how are you? Good to see you. Good to see you. Let’s jump in uh on Andreas Mz. Let’s get in on Daltton Vo here. Daltton Varo looks like he’s got some step in here. Uh know what kind of player he is because obviously when we go to New York, those fans absolutely love him. Dalton, after a season of so many injuries, you know, to finally get to this point, what does it mean? It’s a blessing. I’ve said it from the get-go. It’s pretty cool. It’s It’s an awesome experience. Uh obviously leaning more on George over here of kind of for advice of how to be able to kind of go through all this stuff, but um one of those things where you get here not many times, so I’m going to enjoy it. I know it’s a team game, but a lot of the eyes are certainly on George, maybe if Bo comes back and and Vlatty and everything else. Does that live leave some room for the rest of you guys to go, okay, all the eyes are on those guys now. We can do our part. Uh I think we’ve done it all year, though. Like you look at our lineup like everybody’s helped us win every way. It doesn’t matter if you came up for a couple days like Leo Jimenez where he came up for a couple days, helped us win a couple ball games, but it’s just one of those things where one through nine. We’ve done a really good job of being able to kind of help our team win anyway possible. And you’ve had to navigate different people in left and right beside you and you’re going to go to Dodger Stadium, a huge huge outfield there. Uh talk about what it’s like to play with all the different pieces in the outfield. It’s definitely hard because obviously like coming up like when I got traded over here obviously had Kevin in center, George and right and whenever I played center it was a lot of like whip Maryfield and left. So obviously understanding kind of the communication um throughout the season like obviously there’s been different pieces in the corner but now having all that time all the season kind of with them they obviously know like what I’m looking for and how my hand signals are. So we’ve done a really good job. I’m really excited that Addison Barger has done such an awesome job in right field of kind of filling in for us cuz obviously he’s not an outfielder, but he’s learned how to play outfield really, really well. And how do how do you think that old man George Spear will do when he gets out there? Uh, obviously we’ll see what happens. But, uh, he’s known me since I’ve gotten here, so he knows kind of what I need to do. And obviously, he always tells me, “Hey, you got all of right center.” But we all know that’s not true. D, you’re sitting right beside Bobette here and there’s a lot of talk about whether or not he’ll be back in the lineup. What would it mean though to have that bat? I mean, the guy led the team in RBI’s and batting average. He’s a threat. Uh, and you’re going to need all the threats you can get against that that other team. So, I mean, what do you think about having potentially Bo back in the line? Yeah, it’s awesome. Obviously, he’s been on the bench feeling all the stress and anxiety of not being able to play. Um, but I’m so excited that he’s hoping to be able to be a part of this lineup because obviously we want him to enjoy it as well. And obviously, uh, it’s a kind of a big piece of our lineup. Um, but obviously we’ve done well without him, but it’s one of those things where you add that bat and it’s just a total different lineup. Kind of being built as David verse Goliath here. I mean, you and you guys are obviously David in this scenario. Defending World Series champs. That’s a stacked lineup led by Show Otani. Uh, but you guys were the underdogs in the division series. You were the underdogs in the championship series, particularly after going down 02, and you battled back. What is it about this team that seems to relish that role of the underdog? Done it all year. Um, nobody picked us to win anything. So, it was one of those things where everybody in the clubhouse knew that we were a winning team and we just had to show everybody what we had. And so, I think overall we’ve done a really good job of not trying to do anything more and just trusting our lineup, trusting the guy behind us, passing that baton like we’ve done all year and just going out there and having fun. Like, that’s kind of the big thing of our lineup and our clubhouse is like we’re such a close, tight-knit group and it just go out there and enjoy it, have fun, and whatever happens happens. Thanks, Dalton. That’s Dalton Varo, Blue Jays center fielder. Uh, obviously saying the guys are just going to go out there in the World Series. They’re going to have fun. And, uh, obviously there’s no doubt this is the biggest stage. They’re going to they’re going to for most of these players, I mean, some guys have played in the World Series before, like George Springer. But for many of these guys, this is a first. And, uh, there’s no doubt these are the moments that you dream about as a as a player to be able to play at on the biggest stage, the World Series. Let’s jump in and see if we can talk to Joey. Uh, are you just jumping in here? Uh, I was just gonna Joey, I mean, just talk about, uh, the feeling right now in that clubhouse. How are guys feeling playing on the biggest stage in baseball? It’s special. I think everybody’s, you know, as excited for it as they are grateful for the opportunity. Um, I think when you look up and down the lineup, up and down the roster, um, you know, the different stories and the different characters that we’re fortunate to have in this clubhouse, whether it’s George, Vlatty, uh, Miles Straw, Ernie, everybody. I mean, I said it earlier today, but I think this is the the best group of guys I’ve ever been around and and possibly the easiest group of guys you could root for in this game. So, um I know we’re ready for it and I know everybody’s excited to get the games going. I’ve had an opportunity to see what it’s like. I mean, I always hear the players talking about we don’t let the highs get too high, don’t let the lows get too low. And I’ve had an opportunity to walk in that locker room and see what it’s like after a big loss and what it’s like after a big win. Can you describe to our audience what it’s like in the locker room, how you guys maintain that even keel? Well, the scene in the locker room after a big win is always going to be positive. Um, there always a couple main stays of what might be going on after a win for a select group of pitchers, what might be going on for me and the positional guys. It most always involves us playing cards. We’ll play cards maybe to celebrate. Uh, we’ll play cards to maybe, you know, deal with the loss. Um there’s always music playing. There’s always some choice beverages after a big win. Um but everything, but it’s pretty similar after a win as it is after a loss. Um and I think kind of our veterans and our our leadership um and our clubhouse culture have led the charge with that. Um you know, after a big loss, Bassid will walk in, he’ll say something. Um and guys will just say stuff, you know, as everybody’s kind of getting undressed. Um, and I think that that veteran leadership, whether it’s Gauze, Bass, George, uh, Vlatty, Max, that’s, you know, why we built and why the team built this group the way they did. Um, and kind of that pairing of youth, uh, with the leadership from the veterans has been special. Um, and I know I’m excited to show up to the ballpark every day and and everybody gets there early so we can kind of spend some more time with each other. And I see the I see the the card games happening after both wins and losses. Seems like David Schneider’s a big part of that. Uh he’s a big card player. Uh Miles Straw is a big card player. Ernie, I would say Miles and Ernie are the Sharks. Um but no, they’re they’re they’re all good at them. I’m I’m not that good. I I don’t really partake quite as much as everybody else, but I’ll play here now and then for fun. Um but yeah, I mean, when you have Sunday games and guys are getting to the clubhouse early to watch football and hang out with each other, um I think it’s a good sign of, you know, the team and the culture being in a good spot, which it is. So, it’s been fun. That’s awesome. I just got to know, what’s the game? What What are you guys playing? Poker. Uh, no. We’re playing 13. And so you get uh 13 cards or if it’s three people, I think it’s 17 cards each. And you try and get rid of all your cards before everybody else. And you can play them in uh kind of like poker hands. You can play like pairs. You can play runs of three, uh, runs of four. Um, and the twos mean the most. So if you have a two, you have a good card. And you just kind of try and trump people’s cards that they throw and work your way down so you have no cards left. So, um, I didn’t know it when I first got up here this year and everybody was playing it and going crazy. So, I had to kind of learn on my own. I got the app so I could kind of practice a little bit when I wasn’t at the field. Uh, but now I got the hang of it just enough to play with the guys. So, there’s an app for 13s. Yeah, there’s an app for it. Unfortunately, everybody at home, check out the app for 13s. That’s some inside stuff. Thank you so much, Joey. I appreciate it. Joey Laido, obviously here at Media Day talking to us about uh playing cards in the locker room. And uh I’ve I’ve said that so many times. You see the guys after the games. Cards is such a big deal for this team. And uh maybe we should get down. We haven’t talked to Miles Straw yet. We could see see if we can get Miles Straw. Apparently, he’s one of the sharks according to Joey Laidito. So, we’ll maybe get down and talk a little bit to uh Miles Straw. Here’s uh the media just pouring into this place. Uh but let’s see if Miles is available down there. It looks like another CBC crew has cornered Miles Straw. Uh, it’s uh Jamie Strashen from CBC The National with his mic in there. I’m gonna see if I can just slide my mic in if I can get in there. Oh, sure. It’s like double teaming uh with the CBC news coverage. Two CBC cameras. Let’s let Jamie do his thing here and we’ll come back to Mile Straw. We got to talk about the car truck. There’s David Schneider though. We haven’t talked to David Schneider. Maybe we could we should see if we can get in on that. Uh oh. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. Are are I’m just Are you guys waiting to jump in? I’m going to let uh some other members of the media jump in here. They put me next to your management and the job that Schneider has done this year. You’re a guy that’s bounced in another Just jump in on David Schneider here. I’ll try and get a question in, but let’s hear what he has to say here. Ship with him and that relationship. How has that helped you or what’s your impression of how he’s done this year? Yeah, I mean I feel like managers get whenever something bad happens on the field, they get it’s all the manager’s fault. Like the players just it’s all it’s a player’s fault just as much. Um but you know, it’s all in hindsight, too. If like Schneider makes a good decision, no one talks about it. But if he makes a bad decision, then it’s like all headlines. But um he he’s a great manager. I feel like everyone loves him. The connection he has with his players is big. And um he trusts every single guy up and down the lineup, pitching staff, bullpen. So when you know a manager loves his players and trusts you, then you know he puts everyone in a good spot to succeed. And I feel like that’s what a good manager does. Yeah. Davis, uh I we were just uh talking to Joy Laidito and he was talking about the card games that happen. Doesn’t matter if it’s a win or a loss. Never let the highs get too high. Never let the lows get too low. Always see you in the middle of the card games. Said you guys are playing 13s. Uh he said that the card choke sharks are probably Ernie and uh Miles. Is that true? Can tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, I love playing cards. I just love being with the guys. Um Shane plays cards with us, too. And I feel like we just love being around each other. And um I we see each other more than our family. So like we just love being around each other, love what we do. And but Miles and Ernie always are the guys taking not money, but just like, you know, making us lose in cards. And um it’s just a fun group of guys to be around all the time. And Joey was saying that uh you guys will get together on Sunday afternoons, play cards, and watch football in the clubhouse. Yeah. Um we get here whenever football starts at 1:00. We’re getting here at like 12:00 12:30 and for a 7:30 game. And we just love being here. I love being here. And um I love the city, love the fans, and you know, it’s our job, but I love I love my job. So how does that translate to what we see on the field? I mean, this is a team that won 94 games this year. Uh, team that won the American League East division, team that is now playing in the World Series. How much a part of that is the camaraderie in the locker room? I think it’s a lot. Uh, like I said, we love being around each other. We want everyone to succeed on the field and off the field. And, you know, we all pull for each other no matter who’s up, no matter who’s pitching. And, you know, that’s what makes a good team a good team is pulling for each other. And no matter who’s who’s doing what, um, we want everyone to kind of do their job. And we just love love each other. like I said before and um you know it’s it’s just a fun team to be around and a fun team to kind of go on this journey with and you know hopefully we can get four more wins and you know be one of the legendary teams at Toronto. I love it already some legendary moments. So uh thanks for doing that Davis. That’s Davis Schneider. Uh oh losing his phone out of his back pocket. My cameraman Joe letting him know. Uh we’ll see if we can jump here uh in here. I see uh my from the Raz and Mocha show’s got something going on there. So, we’re going to let him finish up, but we’re going to jump in on Miles. Hey, Miles. I mean, we’re hearing a lot about you. We’re talking about you with some of the other guys. Apparently, you’re a bit of a card shark. Uh, on 13th of our show. Well, actually, it was Joey and Davis who called you a card shark. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that Yeah, that’s good card player. I guess we got a few of them. I think Basset Basset’s the big card shark. But, uh, I like You’re passing it here now. You’re saying it’s not me, it’s it’s Chris. It is me. But if you run if you want to take it to another level, go to Basset and ask him about how how his year has gone with cards. I mean, Joey was telling us about 13s. He’s like, I had to figure this out by downloading an app. How did you get so good at 13? Um, I either started playing this in Houston or Cleveland. I want to say it was Houston and then kind of went to Cleveland, played there for several years, and then now we’re here playing. So, kind of just passed the the game around a little bit and uh it’s kind of our clubhouse game we play a lot. And we’ve talked to this with a few of the guys. I mean, you guys will get together, watch football, play cards, even, you know, hours before a game. Oh, yeah. It happens every day. I mean, it’s happened, you know, facing two elimination games. That’s just chilling, playing some cards, you know, try to keep your mind off things a little bit. I think it uh in some aspects, I think it helps in that in that way. So, um I think it’ll be a good way to kind of slow the things down and uh kind of keep the nerves off a little bit. That’s actually uh incredible you say that because I’ve been in the locker room after some of those tough losses in these playoffs and after some of those wins, it doesn’t matter. You’re still breaking out the cards afterwards. Yeah. Win, lose, or draw. And I like to think sometimes it could be a bad look, but I mean, that’s who we are. We’ve gotten here doing that all year. You know, we’ve had games where we get blown out like 10-0 and we hop in there and play some cards. I know it’s sometimes it’s not the best look um to be kind of all about the even kill, never letting the highs get too high. And that’s I think that’s why this team’s done a really good job this year that we are who we are. I mean we’re not going to switch up because of one thing went bad or well. So um you know our team is our team. I love these guys and uh I mean you know after game one I’m sure we’ll be playing before and after the game. So we’re looking forward to it. That’s Miles Straw who’s been another one of the guys that’s been a big factor in these playoffs. Thank you Miles for that uh for the Blue Jays. uh just uh uh just it’s incredible to hear those stories in the locker room about uh about the camaraderie about how this team has come together. Chemistry is always such a huge part of any sports team and you can just hear it talking to any of these players. They uh Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said it after that game seven win when somebody asked him about his teammates. He said, “They’re not my teammates. They’re my family.” And you really kind of get that impression when you walk around and talk to these guys. Are you heading out, Shane? Are you done? Shane Bieber, tell her they let me off the hook. He’s off the hook. He’s done. Shane Bieber’s out here. I What’s up? You want to Well, we’re we’re live right now on all our social media. I mean, how how jacked are you right now going into game one tomorrow? I can’t wait. Uh excited to to watch Trey get the ball out there tomorrow. Um this is going to be a hard fought series, that’s for sure. We’re excited for the opportunity. I can’t wait to see what these guys um are able to bring tomorrow. That’s incredible. A 22year-old starting game one of the World Series. He just uh I we hadn’t uh I hadn’t even heard that. I guess John Schneider must have just made that announcement. I didn’t heard it either, but everyone kept telling me that. So, hey, we’re breaking the news right now. Break the news. No, everybody was telling me that. So, we’ll see. We’ll see. That’s That’s incredible. 22 years old, a month in the big leagues, starting game one of the World Series. I hope you’re right cuz the story writes its own. I I don’t know if you’re making me nervous now. I’m going to get in trouble. This is live all over. It’s on the internet now. Thanks, Shane. Good luck. I appreciate it. That’s Shane Bieber. Uh I thought he I don’t know if that was breaking news or not, but that was uh that was fun. Looks like Treya Savage is going to get the start for the Blue Jays in game one. 22 years old. Uh one month in the big leagues. That is huge. But uh there’s Kevin Gosman uh who obviously is the normal number one starter for the Blue Jays. um and uh did pitch an inning in game seven, which would uh be a legitimate reason for the Blue Jays to say, “Hey, he pitched on a on a few days rest to come in and give us that inning in game seven cuz remember he also pitched in game five.” Uh but uh it looks like they want they’ll hold him off until Saturday to play in game uh two or maybe potentially game three and Shane will start on Sunday or on Saturday. But uh again, I haven’t had an opportunity. The roster may already be out there, but we’ve been here in this media um this media frenzy here. Andreas Gimenez walking by here. Uh the Jay Shortstop. Looks like this is starting to wrap up. We’ll see if there’s any other players that we can grab, but uh that was fun getting Shane Bieber. Uh feeling like he might be getting in trouble by breaking some news live on CBC. Um I’m not sure if I still have Julia in my ear right now. Uh you do, Julia. any questions that anybody wants to ask online? Have we Julia have if they have you can you see if they’ve uh released the uh the starting uh rosters, the starting pitchers? Looks like Trey Savage isn’t in here. So, obviously he’s the guy that’s going to be the starting pitcher. Here’s Jeff Hoffman still talking. Maybe we can jump in uh with Jeff Hoffman. Oh, Jeff Hoffman’s getting pulled away. They’re all See you later, Jeff. That’s Jeff Hoffman, who’s the Jay’s closer. Big uh save in game seven of this series. couple big innings in game six as well to get the Blue Jays uh through the finish line. So, uh looks like everybody’s being called away. Tyler Heinman’s getting ready to go. The clubhouse magician, Tyler Heinman. Do you bring any cards with you, Tyler? Not Not out here. Yeah, I can’t do any magic tricks. No, we can’t have any sponsorships or anything out. Can you like make that disappear or something? Yeah, I can try. Right here. Ready? I can drink it or put it in here. There you go. Another trick by Tyler Heinman. The guy’s got incredible tricks. How you doing? Blue Jays uh pitching coach Pete Walker right there. Joel Galant from uh Rogers Sports Net. We are live right now. I mean uh it looks like we’re just wrapping up here. Everybody is making their way out. But that was that was fun. We got to talk to so many of the Blue Jays players here on this live. We got to hear about the antics in the clubhouse, the card playing, the the card sharks, Miles Straw and uh now I’m trying to remember who the other card shark is. He says it’s Chris Basset, but uh Miles Straw and Ernie Ernie Clement are the two card sharks that I heard about. Potentially Chris Basset as well. That’s uh Miles Straw kind of passing the buck a little bit. But um the Jay’s players have left the room and uh most of them anyways. We got a one or two still kicking around. You got David Popkins, the Blue Jays hitting coach, is still sticking around. But, uh, a lot of the media is now streaming out of this room. And I think maybe we might, uh, end this live pretty soon, Julia. But, uh, uh, any questions, uh, from, uh, our Tik Tok audience? Anything? Um I had Yeah. Yes. Um but ones that are super consistent. So people we we had to address the underdog issue so many times uh with so many of these players, but uh they say it’s a lot of it has to do with the camaraderie of the team, the way that this team is just so tightly knit like a family. And uh they don’t mind being the underdogs. It’s clear they’ve been the underdogs all season. This is a team that won 74 games last year. Bounced back this year when nobody thought they were even a playoff team and won 94 games. Won the American League East division and they were they continue to be the underdogs even when you move into the division series against the Yankees. They were the underdogs against the Mariners. They never seem to have a problem with that being in that role. And that might have a lot to do with that camaraderie in the locker room. But uh I think we’re going to we’re going to end this live here. Uh, Julia, does that work for you? Okay, we’re going to end this live for YouTube, for Tik Tok, for on CBC News and CBC Toronto. Uh, thanks everybody for joining us. This has been a lot of fun and uh we’ll be back for many, many more, I’m sure.
Fresh off their American League Championship Series win, Toronto Blue Jays players are set to speak to media at 1:45 p.m. ET. This comes two days ahead of the World Series, where the team will be playing for the first time in 30 years.
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