Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to bat Flips and Nerds, the Baseball
Speaker 1: Podcast with a British twist. I am your host this evening,
Speaker 1: Ben Carter. I am joined by Darius Austin. Darius, imagine
Speaker 1: not loving baseball couldn't be me. What did we see last.
Speaker 3: Night couldn't be me.
Speaker 2: It might be the best baseball game I've ever waved.
Speaker 2: I think it was. It was extraordinary from start to
Speaker 2: finish pretty much. There wasn't a moment that you felt
Speaker 2: like the tension and had dropped. I think the closest
Speaker 2: we got was maybe when the Chet hit the home
Speaker 2: run and it felt like, oh, maybe the boys are
Speaker 2: going to pull away here. But we can get into
Speaker 2: all of that. Yeah, it was. It was a tremendous game.
Speaker 2: Everybody watching it live was kind of losing their minds
Speaker 2: and they just sort of kept stacking things up on
Speaker 2: top of it as well. It was when you're like,
Speaker 2: already like that, this is ridiculous, and there did another
Speaker 2: six things after that that were also ridiculous.
Speaker 3: It was an insane game.
Speaker 1: It feels like we could do a five parta just
Speaker 1: on last night's game, and at some point I imagine
Speaker 1: there will be oral histories and stuff to talk through
Speaker 1: this whole series. But we thought, yeah, what an insane game.
Speaker 1: Let's jump on very quickly talk about some of the
Speaker 1: crazy things that happened. I cannot imagine being a fan
Speaker 1: of either at those two teams.
Speaker 3: I was. I didn't stay up late for it, Darius.
Speaker 3: I know that you did.
Speaker 1: I'll let you talk about what it was like to
Speaker 1: experience it life. I just watched the highlights this morning,
Speaker 1: made sure to get no spoilers, pulled them up on YouTube.
Speaker 1: I think it was a good forty minute package that
Speaker 1: m'll be blessed us with, and my heart was racing
Speaker 1: for about thirty eight of those forty minutes, just watching
Speaker 1: the highlights with absolutely no skin in the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Blue Jays fans who obviously are waking up devastated this morning.
Speaker 1: Dodgers fans who must be on cloud nine. I cannot
Speaker 1: imagine the rollercoaster of emotions. What was it like for you, Darius?
Speaker 1: I know you stayed up and watched it all.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What was your your heart rate like as that game
Speaker 1: went on, especially as the later when He's unfolded.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty high. I was thinking while I
Speaker 2: was watching it that I have been in this position.
Speaker 2: I've watched the Giants in Game seven against the Royals
Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen, and that didn't really feel like this.
Speaker 2: This was almost more nerve wrecking. It felt like, if
Speaker 2: people remember, I think it was Alex Gordon maybe hit
Speaker 2: the triple in the ninth after Bumgarner had gone in
Speaker 2: his heroic bullpen stint, and it sort of seemed like
Speaker 2: he was cruising and then suddenly this triple came out
Speaker 2: of nowhere. It sort of felt like that, but for
Speaker 2: about three hours instead of you know, five minutes. It
Speaker 2: was ridiculous. I was like, I don't actually, like, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously I'd prefer the Blue Jays one, but like, I
Speaker 2: don't have a personal stake in this. I'm not a
Speaker 2: fan of his teams. And I was dying. Yeah, the
Speaker 2: poor fans of the actual teams must have been absolutely
Speaker 2: hearts jumping out of their chests because there were so
Speaker 2: many moments as well. It wasn't like a bunch of
Speaker 2: scoreless innings. It wasn't like the the epic Game three
Speaker 2: were actually mostly you know, we're setting down the lineups
Speaker 2: and the pitchen's doing it stuff. I think there was
Speaker 2: traffic on the bases pretty much every inning, a lot
Speaker 2: of hits, a lot of close plays, a lot of
Speaker 2: you know, bang bang defensive stuff that you just think
Speaker 2: for actually a second, either way, this game could have
Speaker 2: been totally different. So yeah, but I felt emotionally drained
Speaker 2: by the It was a fantastic watch. Couldn't really believe
Speaker 2: that it went on as long as it did either.
Speaker 2: And obviously we had some incredibly unlikely heroes as well,
Speaker 2: which was pretty cool. And I think maybe the most
Speaker 2: remarkable thing about about last night was just who ended
Speaker 2: up saving that game for the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think we're going to get into all of that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's rare that a game lives up to
Speaker 1: the hype, especially a World Series Game seven at the
Speaker 1: end of a US series, that it has been as
Speaker 1: good as this one.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think it truly did deliver.
Speaker 1: I think we're going to try and just focus really
Speaker 1: on some of the things that happened in that game
Speaker 1: in this series as a whole. There will be plenty
Speaker 1: of time maybe for more of a reflection on you know,
Speaker 1: where this ranks among World Series games or among World
Speaker 1: series generally boring? Is this good for baseball chat? About
Speaker 1: whether the Dodgers are ruining the sport.
Speaker 3: They're not.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we have plenty of time for that in
Speaker 1: the off season, but I think right now it all
Speaker 1: feels very visceral and real, and maybe we'll just reflect
Speaker 1: on some of the stuff that happened. I know our
Speaker 1: podding colleague, Rachel was at both Game six and Game seven,
Speaker 1: obviously a huge Blue Jays fan who has supported the team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: since she was a little girl. I know she went
Speaker 1: with her dad. I think to both games must have
Speaker 1: been just an unbelievable experience. She might be able to
Speaker 1: jump in here and chat with us for five minutes
Speaker 1: about what it was like to be in the ballpark.
Speaker 1: If not, we'll try and make sure we can pin
Speaker 1: her down another times talk about that, because like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can only imagine the level of emotion and feelings
Speaker 1: and things happening if you're actually in the ballpark. But
Speaker 1: maybe we can go back and forth a little bit
Speaker 1: at the start here, just talking and throwing out some
Speaker 1: of the most insane moments from last night. We don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to stick to a certain order. It's almost
Speaker 1: hard to remember what order some of these things happened. In,
Speaker 1: but I think it's worth calling out some of the
Speaker 1: insane stuff that happened. Maybe we start, maybe we start
Speaker 1: at the end. Honestly, it almost gets forgotten that it
Speaker 1: was well to me, even though it was twelve hours
Speaker 1: ago or whatever, that Will Smith hit the game winning
Speaker 1: home run for a guy who had basically the biggest
Speaker 1: hit of the game, the go ahead home run that
Speaker 1: ended up being the difference. It almost feels like that
Speaker 1: will end up being like the fifth or sixth best
Speaker 1: remembered moment from this game. But wow, what an unbelievable
Speaker 1: moment for Will Smith. I guess we can combine that,
Speaker 1: maybe with just with that final inning and the game
Speaker 1: ending double play, and that in itself, like everything that
Speaker 1: went into it, the fact that Betts was the one
Speaker 1: to do it, having struggled all series, the fact that
Speaker 1: Bets and Smith swap spots in the lineup right before
Speaker 1: was at Game six, and that happened to you know,
Speaker 1: he was the guy gaming up the unbelievably clutch home
Speaker 1: run at the end. Almost the personification really of why
Speaker 1: this Dodgers team is so hard to take down, right
Speaker 1: because they have quality players up and down the lineup
Speaker 1: who can hit a home run at any time will
Speaker 1: get onto a less likely home run that was hit
Speaker 1: another time in this game, and who played really really
Speaker 1: good fundamental defense and that was on display, i think,
Speaker 1: especially throughout the final few unings of this game. But
Speaker 1: an underratedly difficult double play to end it by Betts,
Speaker 1: I think, going to his left having to then throw
Speaker 1: back across his body. Kaik obviously not a fast runner,
Speaker 1: but it was not routine. Yeah, what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on Smith's home run and then the Dodgers managing to
Speaker 1: close it out when it looked like it could get
Speaker 1: away from again in the bottom of the eleventh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Smith is I think, yeah hit. It might get
Speaker 2: a little bit lost in all of it, especially because
Speaker 2: obviously there was maybe an even bigger home run to
Speaker 2: tie the game a couple of innings before, which we
Speaker 2: can talk about any minute. But yeah, it was kind
Speaker 2: of a surreal experience to watch it because that ballpark
Speaker 2: was so loud and everybody was so hypes, and it
Speaker 2: felt like even when the Dodgers had scored most of
Speaker 2: the evening, you know, they got back up quickly, and
Speaker 2: this was the real sort of deflating you know, you
Speaker 2: could just hear the pin drop, suddenly the air went
Speaker 2: out of the room. Yeah, Smith definitely got all of it.
Speaker 2: Shane Bieber kind of looked like he was cruising that
Speaker 2: inning and then suddenly the ball was out of the
Speaker 2: park and the ballpark was silent. I think Rachel Thomas
Speaker 2: it was one hundred and twelve decibels in the earlier
Speaker 2: in the evening they flashed up something on there. So
Speaker 2: if you're thinking to watching on TV, was it really
Speaker 2: loud and there, Yeah it was. It was really loud,
Speaker 2: fantastic atmosphere, So yeah, it did. It kind of felt
Speaker 2: like the Dodgers were just going to find a way
Speaker 2: even though the offense didn't really click ever in this series.
Speaker 2: You know that the most they scored was six runs.
Speaker 2: This is a team that averaged more than five runs
Speaker 2: a game in the regular season. So the bnja's did
Speaker 2: a fantastic job to limit them the way they did.
Speaker 2: And there was definitely, as I said that that point
Speaker 2: when home earlier in the game, he thought three nil
Speaker 2: already that this could be it. You know, just really
Speaker 2: struggled to score runs and you didn't think that they
Speaker 2: were necessarily gonna be able to do it. That evening
Speaker 2: and they you know, exit out in dribs and drabs
Speaker 2: and solo homers and sacrifice flyers, and yeah, it was
Speaker 2: it was not a Dodger's like offensive performance. But the
Speaker 2: thing about this lineup is they've got so much quality
Speaker 2: up and down it. And yeah, a guy like Bets
Speaker 2: is struggling, a guy like Freheim of struggling. It's okay,
Speaker 2: we've got tiny, We've got Will Smith. Yeah there's there's
Speaker 2: guys everywhere who can hurt you on this team. And yeah,
Speaker 2: an unreal moment for Smith to just hit that home runner.
Speaker 2: Guess he'll be a Dodger's legend forever now. But then
Speaker 2: the bottom of the inning up, he doesn't get more
Speaker 2: tense than having the tying run on third base, as
Speaker 2: in the bottom of the eleventh inning and games set
Speaker 2: the World Series.
Speaker 3: Hats off.
Speaker 2: I'm sure we want to talk about Yamamoto because the guy,
Speaker 2: the guy pitched the night before this. It wasn't like
Speaker 2: he's on the short rest. You know, he's said a
Speaker 2: day or two off. It's came out. He pitched in
Speaker 2: those six fantastic innings that I before, after throwing a
Speaker 2: complete game earlier in the week and he's just back
Speaker 2: on the bound and not not for like a couple
Speaker 2: of pitches. Is this was the third inning he was
Speaker 2: out there, and it looked like, you know, they weren't
Speaker 2: going to get the ball off him. Yeah, Flad coming
Speaker 2: up the first guy in that inning was not the
Speaker 2: guy he wanted to see. I don't think he hit
Speaker 2: a pretty authorestive double to set that up. But then, yeah,
Speaker 2: that double play, I think people I saw it live,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, like, I think that
Speaker 2: they're going to tie this game up when the ball
Speaker 2: got hit, because I didn't think there was going to
Speaker 2: be time. And people have made a lot about Bets
Speaker 2: and his unreal transformation into one of the best defensive
Speaker 2: short sobs in baseball in his mid thirties. Pretty crazy
Speaker 2: thing to do. And yeah, I think that just typified
Speaker 2: what he'd done because he did make it look pretty easy,
Speaker 2: even though the amount of tension there was. That ball
Speaker 2: was not you know, a week out in the middle,
Speaker 2: and he just scooped it up and stepped on second
Speaker 2: and made a pretty clean throw to first. It was
Speaker 2: kind of seamless. So yeah, hands off to Mooki Betts,
Speaker 2: who's really struggled at the plate and just, yeah, a
Speaker 2: Moto World Series MVP. What more can you say about
Speaker 2: a performance like that? The dude don't like, Yeah, you'd
Speaker 2: probably have to tear him off the mound if they
Speaker 2: were going to get him out of that game because
Speaker 2: he wanted to be the guy who was closing that out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was the best individual pitching formats across the world too,
Speaker 1: as I can remember since Bunar, and arguably even better
Speaker 1: given he went out in Game seven on zero days rest.
Speaker 1: Like you say, I don't know if that's happened before.
Speaker 1: I think probably last time it did would have been
Speaker 1: like the nineteen twenties or something. It just isn't something
Speaker 1: that has been done, never mind in modern baseball, but
Speaker 1: just since starting pitchers were, you know, given days between starts.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely unbelievable what he was able to do. And
Speaker 1: like you say it, it almost felt like if that
Speaker 1: game went thirteen, fourteen, fifty innings, he was just going
Speaker 1: to be like, I'm good, leave it to me, I've
Speaker 1: got this. We saw him in god, what would have
Speaker 1: been Game three that went eighteen innings? Right, he was
Speaker 1: warming up to come in to pitch, right, And that
Speaker 1: was again on maybe one day's rest because he pitched
Speaker 1: Game two, didn't he? So I mean, this guy clearly
Speaker 1: just wants the ball in his hands in the biggest
Speaker 1: spots and could care less about, you know, whether they
Speaker 1: will have his best stuff, just wants to be out
Speaker 1: there doing it. And an unbelievable tip of the cap
Speaker 1: for his World Series performance. I was among many who
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily think he was the picture that maybe we
Speaker 1: all expected when he first signed that contract. And this
Speaker 1: whole season he's been unbelievable. But this postseason has just
Speaker 1: got to a whole new level. And yeah, they will
Speaker 1: tell stories and write books and make films about some
Speaker 1: of his feats in this series. And look shoheo. Tani
Speaker 1: is special and always will be and had a massive
Speaker 1: role to play in this game and in this series.
Speaker 1: But really fitting that the Amamoto got World Series MVP. I
Speaker 1: just am out of words to describe what he was
Speaker 1: able to do in this series. You know, finding that
Speaker 1: groundball when you did it the most, just just summed
Speaker 1: it up. What an unbelievable athlete. Yeah, what an amazing
Speaker 1: performance in this series. Let's get back I guess a bit.
Speaker 2: Sorry go on that did also remind me there was
Speaker 2: the moment it didn't really come to pass. There wasn't
Speaker 2: enough time to dwell on it, but there was a
Speaker 2: moment during that inning where they cut to the ballpen
Speaker 2: and Clayton Kersher was warming up in the ballpen. Yes,
Speaker 2: and I thought back to our conversation about what are
Speaker 2: we going to get Clayton Kershew blows save in the
Speaker 2: World Series. It did career. Fortunately it was taken out
Speaker 2: of Dave Robertson's hands, but there was there was definitely
Speaker 2: a moment there where I thought they're going to tie
Speaker 2: this up and they're going to have to bring Cursher
Speaker 2: in because nobody else is left.
Speaker 1: It did feel for a moment that we were getting
Speaker 1: to that inevitable moment where Kershel comes in with option
Speaker 1: A and the save in Game seven of the World Series,
Speaker 1: in the final game of your Hall of Fame career,
Speaker 1: be blow it final time in the playoffs to endjo
Speaker 1: illustrious Hall of Fame career. So I'm quite glad that
Speaker 1: didn't come to pass, but it did feel that was
Speaker 1: really going to be on the cards for a moment there.
Speaker 1: And I will say one of the very cool things
Speaker 1: I think about a game seven, and this one in particular,
Speaker 1: given the just ability of the teams on displayers, it
Speaker 1: becomes like this crazy Avengers. You know, all stars, guys
Speaker 1: just coming out of the bullpen, no matter what, to
Speaker 1: pitch where you get, you know. I think glass Now
Speaker 1: came in, Blake Snell came in for the night, obviously,
Speaker 1: had the Ammamoto on the Blue Jay side, We had
Speaker 1: Bassett came into the game, obviously, had Beaver come into
Speaker 1: the game. Like all arms, whoever we need, you have
Speaker 1: to be ready to go, which is just yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Yay Savage, he came in, didn't he? I mean I
Speaker 1: love that about that, Like there is no tomorrow. You
Speaker 1: just got to throw everyone out there. We're going to
Speaker 1: see all of your best players, all the stars of
Speaker 1: this series out there one more time. So that I
Speaker 1: think is a really cool element of these, Like when
Speaker 1: I'll go home games, it's like you just got to
Speaker 1: you got to throw it all out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't remember one call at this, probably because
Speaker 2: we've never seen a team with talent call at this,
Speaker 2: but just show here. Tony tier, glass Now, Blake's and
Speaker 2: Mooto pitched in the same game and then the blue
Speaker 2: Jay's three shares and Beaver and your savage like this is, yeah,
Speaker 2: don't you just don't see this even in the World Series,
Speaker 2: it like it hardly ever happens that you get quite
Speaker 2: this volume of it. But it was remarkable to see, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: We should probably talk about the ninth inning, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be interested to hear what what it felt like
Speaker 1: for you watching live. When I was watching the highlights,
Speaker 1: they were kind of making this big point in the
Speaker 1: top of the ninth about blue Jay's up by one.
Speaker 1: O'tarani has to bat this inning. You know, it was
Speaker 1: kind of like, we've got eight nine to one, no
Speaker 1: matter what, Otny will come up with a chance to
Speaker 1: tire the game. If someone gets on bass a chance
Speaker 1: to win it. And even during the the at bat
Speaker 1: that ended up tying the game from Meggy Rojas, they
Speaker 1: were talking about like, you cannot let rohats get on
Speaker 1: base here, you cannot walk here, but you do not
Speaker 1: want to have o'tony come up with a chance to
Speaker 1: give the Dodgers the lead. And I'm sure it felt
Speaker 1: like that a little bit watching it was like a
Speaker 1: just skip to the bit where Atani comes up and
Speaker 1: its game on the line, and he has to hit
Speaker 1: a home run to tie it, and almost people forgot
Speaker 1: that there were two batters to come before them, and
Speaker 1: especially Mickey Row who hadn't had a hit in a
Speaker 1: month before this game. He did get one a bit
Speaker 1: earlier in the game, didn't he but hadn't had a
Speaker 1: hit in this game and is never really has never
Speaker 1: really been a home run threat in his career. No
Speaker 1: offense to Mickey Row, who we've all come come to love,
Speaker 1: but certainly a sup utility at best. And it just
Speaker 1: felt like, so that's baseball, that he would be the
Speaker 1: one to turn on the pitch after a really good
Speaker 1: at bat and stick it effectively, no doubt, over the
Speaker 1: left field fence to tie it off. Jeff Hoffman, who
Speaker 1: to that point Colorado Rockies legend, by the way, to
Speaker 1: that point, had been lights out in the series and
Speaker 1: in the entire postseason for the Jays. Yeah, could you
Speaker 1: believe what your eyes were seeing? What was going through
Speaker 1: your mind?
Speaker 3: Is that night?
Speaker 1: Thenning unfolded and Rojas came to the plate, and it
Speaker 1: Twani stood watching him in the on deck circle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think you're right. Nobody was even
Speaker 2: really looking at rows, they were thinking about O'tarani. I
Speaker 2: think somebody in one of the baseball chats said, who
Speaker 2: writes so tany scripts? It felt like this was going
Speaker 2: to be another WBC moment. You know, Otani comes up
Speaker 2: two out s bottom of the ninth to save the
Speaker 2: Dodger season. And even looking at the other guys, you know,
Speaker 2: and Rica Hernandez, you know, he's always had this postseason magic,
Speaker 2: he thought, or maybe he's going to do it again.
Speaker 2: And then Will Smith he was up after Tarni. Rowhaus
Speaker 2: was the guy nobody was looking at, certainly not to
Speaker 2: tie the game. He thought, oh yeah, maybe if they
Speaker 2: let one of these guys get on, then then Ty's
Speaker 2: got a better chance to drive somebody in. But nobody
Speaker 2: was thinking he's going to take Jeff Offman deep, I
Speaker 2: mean Rowhouse h one home run off a right handed
Speaker 2: starting picture, right handed picture full stop. I think this
Speaker 2: this season just unreal that it was sehim. He stepped
Speaker 2: up of ninety four ops he had against writes this season.
Speaker 2: If you were making the list of like who would
Speaker 2: you want in baseball, not just on these teams, who
Speaker 2: would you want in baseball to come up in the
Speaker 2: bottom of the ninth of the team down by one.
Speaker 2: Micguil Rohas would be very very far down that list
Speaker 2: against especially against the writing this is not a thing
Speaker 2: that should happen. But this is what makes baseball great, right,
Speaker 2: and this is what makes it so hard to predict.
Speaker 2: Anybody can be a star at any point. And I
Speaker 2: don't don't know if there's ever been a better personification
Speaker 2: of that than Rohas being the one to tie it,
Speaker 2: and to tie it on a home run with just yeah,
Speaker 2: really really shocking, not a wall scraper, as you say,
Speaker 2: just yeah, definitely got all of it. And I could
Speaker 2: not believe it. You know, I was just waiting for
Speaker 2: the Iffman could get him out. I did not think
Speaker 2: this was going to be the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it took me back. I actually it took me
Speaker 1: back a bit to the would I Davis home run
Speaker 1: off Chapman for the Guardians back in that series against
Speaker 1: the Cubs in twenty sixteen, but in terms of like
Speaker 1: unexpected source of power. But I almost think like in
Speaker 1: that moment, we all knew that, like Davis was a
Speaker 1: tying run and this was you know, he just had
Speaker 1: to get hold of one.
Speaker 3: It would tire the game.
Speaker 1: It almost felt like we forgot here that Rojas was
Speaker 1: able to swing the bat and could do something with it.
Speaker 1: Just yeah, folklore instant for Dodgers fans obviously, who I'm
Speaker 1: sure couldn't believe their rise. Broadcast, couldn't believe their Ryes Stadium,
Speaker 1: couldn't believe their rise. It felt like an absolute pin
Speaker 1: could drop. But yeah, what a moment for Rojas. And yeah,
Speaker 1: like you say, what an insane display of what makes
Speaker 1: baseball so great in that moment. And then the bottom
Speaker 1: of the inning, I'm gonna mess up the sequencing of
Speaker 1: exactly what happened in what order here. I think Vladdy
Speaker 1: doubled to lead off right and got himself in scoring
Speaker 1: position with no outs. Then there was the bunt over
Speaker 1: to get into third, which is a pretty good bunt
Speaker 1: and actually very well fielded, but it was that smell
Speaker 1: at that point. Who or am I confusing this with
Speaker 1: the eleventh thing? Now?
Speaker 2: Sorry, I confusing this to the eleven So I think
Speaker 2: I think Vladdy bloody looked like he got one. That's right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: deep fly pinch run. Of course, the I KF which
Speaker 2: is why he was in the game. And then I
Speaker 2: think Barja walked and then there was a little bit
Speaker 2: of bench clearing action, just just a little cherry on top.
Speaker 2: Why not having the benches clear as well? World Series
Speaker 2: Game seven when well, I think it was not remotely intentional,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it was still quite quite intense.
Speaker 3: That in the ninth inning.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that. I thought that was earlier in
Speaker 1: the game. Maybe, yeah, you might be right.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think now, maybe I'm thinking of a
Speaker 2: different thing. So this is what this is what last
Speaker 2: night was like. There was so much going on.
Speaker 3: I knew this was going to happen. I think the
Speaker 3: bench clan was a bit earlier in the game.
Speaker 2: But there was a hit in the ninth it was
Speaker 2: it was Young Motor hit Kirk. Yeah that the hit
Speaker 2: by pitch roblet Ski, wasn't it. Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking
Speaker 2: of that one. Yeah, So Yamo Motor hits Kirk and
Speaker 2: loads one out and then one out, which I think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I get And again then you thought the Blue Jays
Speaker 2: are going to are going to win this again. And
Speaker 2: Andy Paes comes into the game, and first there's this
Speaker 2: ground out, which is they get they get the force
Speaker 2: at home barely, and there's a replay moment where Will
Speaker 2: Smith's foot he reaches for the football ball and it
Speaker 2: lifts up and it comes off the plate and just
Speaker 2: in time, just before Isaiah kind of flaffer can get home.
Speaker 2: His foot comes back onto the plate. But we are
Speaker 2: talking fractions of a second here, so so easily could
Speaker 2: have been different timing and ike to a dreadful lead
Speaker 2: off the third base.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I think screenshots came out,
Speaker 1: didn't they if he was like a couple of feet
Speaker 1: off the bag at third, maybe out of fear of
Speaker 1: having another game set ending and being doubled up getting
Speaker 1: too far off the bags.
Speaker 3: Obviously the inn field was all drawn in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if he was just a moment
Speaker 1: where his mind went blank and he kind of forgot
Speaker 1: that it would be helpful to be a bit further
Speaker 1: down the line when a ground ball wins the game.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't far enough off the bag. And then
Speaker 1: I think as well, he chose to slid into home,
Speaker 1: and I think, actually, if he sprints through home rather
Speaker 1: than sliding again, it was so close, maybe that's enough
Speaker 1: to beat it out. And then there was the awful
Speaker 1: moment where there's instant replay has his foot lifted off.
Speaker 1: As you said, it's like, oh my god, the World
Speaker 1: Shows is about to end on instant replay.
Speaker 3: In New York.
Speaker 1: Fortunately, they decide that Will Smith kept just enough toe
Speaker 1: on the base right before kind of for Leffer's. Yeah,
Speaker 1: foot crossed over. So that was insane, Yeah, to get
Speaker 1: us to two outs. And then as you say, Andy
Speaker 1: Parters comes into the game, and I.
Speaker 2: Mean watching this live, you could see that Hernander's just
Speaker 2: had the terrible ball. So any Clement, which you know, again,
Speaker 2: any Clement I think set the record for hits in
Speaker 2: a postseason, which is just ridiculous sentence to say. I
Speaker 2: know the postseasons longer now, but still only Clement come on.
Speaker 2: So only Clement hits this deep flyball to left field,
Speaker 2: and you can see that key K is just not
Speaker 2: he's not under it, he's got it wrong. He's kind
Speaker 2: of scrambling, he's looking over his shoulder, he's running towards
Speaker 2: the wall. It's like, I don't think he's going to
Speaker 2: make this catch. And out of nowhere, Andy Pye's he
Speaker 2: comes barreling into the frame. He reaches up, he gloves
Speaker 2: the ball, and obviously he runs directly into Hernandez and
Speaker 2: somehow still holds onto the catch to save the game.
Speaker 2: I was I think I actually shouted out loud at
Speaker 2: that point because I couldn't believe that Pie hasn't made
Speaker 2: that play and he literally choose to come into the
Speaker 2: game for Tommy Edmund to play center field, and immediately
Speaker 2: the ball finds him and he saves the Dodger season. Unreal.
Speaker 1: See, I think, like you say, Nana's completely misulger saying
Speaker 1: it off the bat. I you know, it kind of
Speaker 1: look like a fairly routine flaball. And I know everything
Speaker 1: Clement has hit this playoffs has just found grass, and
Speaker 1: so wouldn't have been a shock if he just hit
Speaker 1: one that found the gap. And like you say, the
Speaker 1: minute the camera pans you see Hernandez first tracking towards
Speaker 1: left center, then effectively running at a dead sprint backwards.
Speaker 1: You're like, he's not got this. He would have had
Speaker 1: to have performed an unbelievable basket catch or bring that in.
Speaker 1: I look like he wasn't even going to get a
Speaker 1: chance to do that. And then Pahez and smartly, I
Speaker 1: guess maybe Paez goes high to catch it up in
Speaker 1: front of the wall. Thereby at least there wasn't the
Speaker 1: awful you know, like clash of arms, is that both
Speaker 1: gloves go for the ball. He was well above Key
Speaker 1: k Hernandez as he made the catch, and then how
Speaker 1: he managed to hold on. I do not know one
Speaker 1: batter into the gay having just been brought in in
Speaker 1: case they need a stronger rhyme in the outfield. I
Speaker 1: don't think Tommy Edmand makes that play. I'll say that.
Speaker 1: And then there's this again, the shock silence of oh
Speaker 1: my god, did he catch that?
Speaker 3: He did?
Speaker 1: We're going to the tenth and at that point, yeah,
Speaker 1: Blue Jays fans must have been wondering which which god
Speaker 1: out there had it out for them, because it just
Speaker 1: felt like whatever they did, I just found a way
Speaker 1: absolute and sanity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was That was really the way it felt.
Speaker 2: It didn't feel that the Dodgers had controlled the game,
Speaker 2: but it just seemed like every time there was a
Speaker 2: moment that the Blue Jays could have taken it away,
Speaker 2: they just sort of clung in there and and things
Speaker 2: broke their way.
Speaker 1: It was I mean, yeah, there were other moments too
Speaker 1: that we could talk about. I think a few unbelievable
Speaker 1: defensive plays that force out a home I guess to
Speaker 1: start with that was Rohas as well, right where he
Speaker 1: kind of stumbled and then through the I kf probably
Speaker 1: should have beat it out, but still to kind of
Speaker 1: make that play stumble, get the throw home strong enough
Speaker 1: and accurate enough to get the out I thought was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: There were two amazing defensive players of the Blue Jays
Speaker 1: that come to mind. I think varshow and center field
Speaker 1: had a diving catch that if he had misjudged, would
Speaker 1: have scored at least one run, possibly two when they
Speaker 1: were runners on base. I think that was the sack
Speaker 1: fly the first that's right, bases were loaded.
Speaker 2: It was one of those where Vartio is running in
Speaker 2: and if he dives and if he misses it, it's
Speaker 2: going to go, you know, right past him to the wall.
Speaker 2: The bases are going to clear. Might want have been
Speaker 2: a triple as well if he'd missed it. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it was absolutely crucial that he caught that ball. And
Speaker 2: Varsio has been like that all postseason. He's made some
Speaker 2: remarkable players for the Blue Jays. Really saved a lot
Speaker 2: of runs, I think, and a lot of them he's
Speaker 2: done where you don't really realize. I can't remember which
Speaker 2: game it was earlier in the week, but he sort
Speaker 2: of got one, I think the Freeman hit and when
Speaker 2: it came off the bat, you were like, well that's double.
Speaker 2: Vartio sort of caught it like it was quite a
Speaker 2: routine play, but I think he covered the colossal amount
Speaker 2: of ground to get there. And it's one of those
Speaker 2: where if you have a bad sent fielder out there,
Speaker 2: they're not getting it close to the ball, and if
Speaker 2: they are, they're making some sort of spectacular diving attempt
Speaker 2: and he just got it on the run. So yeah,
Speaker 2: really underrated how Goodton Vartio is out there, and he
Speaker 2: really showed up this season. And then we have the
Speaker 2: flat first base, which was extraordinary.
Speaker 1: Such a good play, and that that was Edmond right,
Speaker 1: and again they were runners on base at that point, right,
Speaker 1: and it's scolded down the line and Vlad lays out
Speaker 1: makes the catch and he had an unbelievable defensive series,
Speaker 1: didn't he. I'm thinking back, there was a double player
Speaker 1: in this game where he made a great throat of
Speaker 1: second and they doubled up Freeman at first when Ottani
Speaker 1: was running and he wouldn't have had time to go
Speaker 1: to the bag and throw. He had a not double
Speaker 1: player in this series, but the play where he came
Speaker 1: off first base, picked the ball and then made a
Speaker 1: perfect strike throw to third for an out. I think
Speaker 1: it's easy for us to, well, I don't want to
Speaker 1: speak for you, for me to look at Laddie and go,
Speaker 1: that's a guy he's only ever going to give you
Speaker 1: value with his bat because he is a larger human
Speaker 1: being who is not the most flexible guy in the world,
Speaker 1: but he has turned himself into an asset of first
Speaker 1: base right and he I think save the Blue Jays
Speaker 1: runs multiple times this series with his glove and deserves
Speaker 1: a ton of respect and credit for that. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: you know, not going to win a goal glove anytimes,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think. But he is so consistent,
Speaker 1: so solid over there, and made massive plays when the
Speaker 1: boodieth needed him too. So yeah, again, another one of
Speaker 1: those guys who just when the lights shine brightest, he
Speaker 1: he has missed a dependable Yeah.
Speaker 2: What I hear from from Blue Jays fans who've been
Speaker 2: watching them a lot is that he has really played
Speaker 2: well at first base all the season. This isn't just
Speaker 2: a you know, Nick Cassius in the playoffs thing this
Speaker 2: is this is a trend that's he's shown all year,
Speaker 2: so I think he has worked really hard at it.
Speaker 2: And yeah he made some yeah just visually very impressive players,
Speaker 2: arm strength, the dive, he just you know, he look
Speaker 2: he looks pretty athletic out there now.
Speaker 3: He does.
Speaker 1: Yeah, trying to think of what else I guess the yeah,
Speaker 1: the bench is emptying was insane where it was for
Speaker 1: a Blessie pitching, wasn't it? And and and just him
Speaker 1: and as batting and he did he went up and in?
Speaker 1: Was it? Three pitches in a royal certainly three times
Speaker 1: in the at bat with fastballs, which I kind of
Speaker 1: get if you're you're him, and edge would probably be
Speaker 1: a bit annoyed when that first third one by you
Speaker 1: up in and actually catches you where it's like he
Speaker 1: doesn't really crowd the plate. Fine, if your skyling report
Speaker 1: says go up and it and go up and in,
Speaker 1: but to miss three times or not far away from
Speaker 1: his chest neck head, I can see why you'd be
Speaker 1: a bit annoyed. I do think at some point you
Speaker 1: have to think, I don't think they're thurring at me
Speaker 1: as a number nine hitter in the World Series Game seven,
Speaker 1: in like the sixth thinning of a one run game
Speaker 1: seems unlikely and maybe calm ahead should have prevailed at
Speaker 1: that point, but look, emotions are running higher in this game, right,
Speaker 1: and so I get why people were ready to go,
Speaker 1: and that just happened to be the sort of spark
Speaker 1: that did it. But that was a sort of bizarre
Speaker 1: moment of oh oh, the bench said, oh oh, the
Speaker 1: ballpens are clearing to Okay, sure, why not? This is
Speaker 1: one thing this game's been missing. So again, that must
Speaker 1: have been bizarre to watch live. And you know, give
Speaker 1: five minute respite from the tenth baseball to have a
Speaker 1: few men stand around and hug each other in a
Speaker 1: big circle on the infield.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the pitch before he did, he kind of looked
Speaker 2: like he moved his hand towards it him and as
Speaker 2: it was as wasn't really an avoidance of the pitch.
Speaker 2: But then, yeah, I think I don't know if anyone's
Speaker 2: had the lip reader treatment on Robleski, but I think
Speaker 2: he was saying something to the effect of, why the
Speaker 2: f would I be trying to hit you at this point?
Speaker 2: But yeah, that was that was I think what most
Speaker 2: of us were asking, why why would you plug Andreez?
Speaker 2: But yeah, and entertaining to still say that that was
Speaker 2: the opinion that him had of the event. Even if
Speaker 2: I'm watching anybody else really believe that.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe to speak a bit more generally about the series,
Speaker 1: then the that bottom of the Blue Jays lineup, it
Speaker 1: felt like constantly you were just a menace, weren't they,
Speaker 1: And you know, him and Az didn't have a great
Speaker 1: season for the Blue Jays, and even in this World Series,
Speaker 1: it felt like he may be one of the weak
Speaker 1: links in this lineup, but you also had guys on
Speaker 1: there who were just contributing time and time again. Alison
Speaker 1: Barger ended up getting moved up the line for this game,
Speaker 1: didn't he I think he was in the five hole,
Speaker 1: But he hit something like five hundred in the World Series,
Speaker 1: which is just insane. They could not figure out a
Speaker 1: way to get him out, even when it seemed like
Speaker 1: when he got beat by pitches, he was finding ways
Speaker 1: to line them.
Speaker 3: Into left field and get the barrel there. He was outrageous.
Speaker 1: Only Clement, like you said, Anie Barry Bonds, Clement setting
Speaker 1: the postseason record for hits he was just a total machine. Again,
Speaker 1: they could not figure out a way to get him out.
Speaker 1: So it did feel like they're the Blue Jays line up,
Speaker 1: you know, perhaps less heralded than the Dodgers, it felt
Speaker 1: like they had the edge there where it was like
Speaker 1: they're just seemed at times like there were no weak
Speaker 1: spots here, and that for all the amazing talent the
Speaker 1: Dodgers had in their rotation especially and in their football
Speaker 1: pen at times that you just.
Speaker 3: If you made a mistake to anyone, it was going
Speaker 3: to get punished, you know.
Speaker 1: And the Blue Jays we was so so good at
Speaker 1: just consistently getting traffic on base, making them pitch on
Speaker 1: the duress, forcing them to, yeah, to make great pitches,
Speaker 1: and oftentimes as well having his runs on base, then
Speaker 1: taking a base when a world pitch happens, and just constant,
Speaker 1: constant pressure and stress that Dodgers have to deal with.
Speaker 1: So I think that to me, it was the kind
Speaker 1: of constant through the series was just the Blue Jays
Speaker 1: lineup being unrelenting. Shout out I guess to George Springer too,
Speaker 1: who clearly very injured in both Game six and Game seven,
Speaker 1: not just playing through it, but playing really well through
Speaker 1: it and managing to get you know, key hits at
Speaker 1: key times.
Speaker 3: You know, what a warrior.
Speaker 1: I know that the Blue Jays fans love him, but
Speaker 1: he definitely cemented his legacy with them in this series.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that stood up to me. He was just
Speaker 1: how good this lineup was top to bottom in the
Speaker 1: whole series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they really, They all played well. Springer when you
Speaker 2: sort of hear in the regular season, well he'd play
Speaker 2: if it was I think that was that was definitely
Speaker 2: Springer this week. You know, you obviously sort of could play,
Speaker 2: but I don't think he ought to have been out
Speaker 2: there from like a medical stuff point. It's just this
Speaker 2: is the last game of the season and I am
Speaker 2: going to be out there if I can possibly move.
Speaker 2: So here we go. Same with him, and is the
Speaker 2: obviously is not right and you can still hit, but
Speaker 2: you can't run. And so I think he was just
Speaker 2: gutting through it. Yeah, they were. Some of them were
Speaker 2: on their last legs, I think, but they all played
Speaker 2: fantastically well. Very interested to see.
Speaker 3: Sorry with the knee.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean that home run if we didn't
Speaker 1: even talk about it, but like Holly, like what a
Speaker 1: moment where who was it in front of him they
Speaker 1: intentionally walked.
Speaker 3: Was it Flad?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe it was.
Speaker 3: He must have been right.
Speaker 1: And then it was first pitch to him, right Toney
Speaker 1: threw and he just I mean and talk about a
Speaker 1: no doubt home run to the deepest part of the ballpark,
Speaker 1: the backdrop, the sort of slow limp around the basis
Speaker 1: that in itself just felt like, oh my god, what
Speaker 1: like that? At the time, felt like we've just had
Speaker 1: our World Series moment before there were fifteen more of
Speaker 1: them to come. But playing on one leg, as you say,
Speaker 1: to have a.
Speaker 3: Moment like that is was just insane. And he ended
Speaker 3: up being the.
Speaker 2: I mean, was causing all sorts of controls anyway, because
Speaker 2: they were giving him a lot. Also, you could tell
Speaker 2: that the control was just not there. You know, he
Speaker 2: threw a lot of pretty uncompetitive pitios. He was throwing
Speaker 2: them hard, but a lot of them were not going
Speaker 2: anywhere near the strike zone. So I think it was
Speaker 2: a little bit of a bridge too far for him,
Speaker 2: and he kind of got away with it through the
Speaker 2: first couple, but you could tell he didn't have stuff,
Speaker 2: and obviously Roberts immediately pulled him after he gave up
Speaker 2: that home run for Robleskus, So yeah, it didn't didn't
Speaker 2: get to see the best of Otani, but obviously he
Speaker 2: was on short rest and this was the best way
Speaker 2: to get him in the game because obviously they were
Speaker 2: allowed to keep the d H if he started it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think they maybe got a little bit
Speaker 2: lucky to only get away with three runs in some
Speaker 2: respects the way that he started watching it with the
Speaker 2: sequence of events. But yeah, not Otany's finest game in
Speaker 2: this post season, which obviously the bar has been set
Speaker 2: very high. So I mean he's still he still had
Speaker 2: a couple of hits, right, h Yeah, he didn't, didn't
Speaker 2: pitch great, but he's still I mean, and he's at
Speaker 2: the plate, he is he is terrifying. But yeah, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't necessarily going to be the the Atari game,
Speaker 1: and that much was quite clear quite early when when
Speaker 1: he didn't quite have it on the mound. And I
Speaker 1: have some sympathy for Snyder when it comes to those
Speaker 1: millening breaks because I generally think we should make special
Speaker 1: exceptions for players as special as Otani, and that because
Speaker 1: no one else does what he does. Having the special
Speaker 1: DH rule in place and other things that just allow
Speaker 1: him to do what he does without the rules being
Speaker 1: a hindrance is a good thing. But I also think
Speaker 1: if you're going to have those rules in place and
Speaker 1: allow him to hit and pitch and stay in the game,
Speaker 1: he then should be when he's done hitting, rushing back
Speaker 1: out to the mount and getting ready to pitch again.
Speaker 1: He shouldn't be given the benefit of an extra five
Speaker 1: minutes to very slowly take off his batting gear and
Speaker 1: very slowly come back out to the mound and very
Speaker 1: slowly warm up. So yeah, while I understand that we
Speaker 1: want to see him as best, we don't want to
Speaker 1: have an injury because he rushing from the plate to
Speaker 1: get back on the mound. I also think, like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is a massive competitive advantage if he's allowed to
Speaker 1: catch his breath after every app bat he has and
Speaker 1: get back on the mound and do things in his
Speaker 1: own time. So I have some sympathy for Snyder on that.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's something that he'd kind of
Speaker 1: been doing throughout the season and we only noticed it
Speaker 1: last night because of the stakes, but that does feel
Speaker 1: like something where as they say, my head would have
Speaker 1: been on Mars if I were a Blue Jay's fan
Speaker 1: watching him get that extra special treatment there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the first inning it was maybe a
Speaker 2: bit more understandable because I believe he ended the inning
Speaker 2: on third base, so he spent the whole inning on
Speaker 2: the base paths sort of moved up on a couple
Speaker 2: of outs then, so then it was like, now he's
Speaker 2: got to run back to dug out, get rid of
Speaker 2: the pitch, and go out. But as she trying to
Speaker 2: point out the second inning, you know that that was
Speaker 2: not a problem that he had. So it was a
Speaker 2: little bit of a yeah, why are we still doing
Speaker 2: this the same thing that we did after the first
Speaker 2: inning when yeah, he made an out. Yeah, I see
Speaker 2: his perspective, and fortunately it didn't end up being like
Speaker 2: a deciding factor in the game. I was kind of
Speaker 2: a bit worried, you know, that he was going to
Speaker 2: picture Jim after all this extra time, and then we
Speaker 2: would have show hatty too much warm up time discourse.
Speaker 2: But that quickly sort of became a non issue with
Speaker 2: everything else progressing the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that became like the thirty fifth most interesting talking
Speaker 1: point from the game, which which is a relief and
Speaker 1: I guess number thirty six and very quickly forgotten, like
Speaker 1: how good was mad Max in maybe his final starts,
Speaker 1: possibly his final postseason start. I think we all assumed
Speaker 1: he might be done after an inning or two and
Speaker 1: it would kind of be let's see what he's got
Speaker 1: in the tank, And he ended up pitching into the
Speaker 1: fifth I think, and looking really really sharp.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I obviously didn't see every pitch, but from what they showed,
Speaker 1: he really had the Dodgers hit us off balance and
Speaker 1: probably you know, if they didn't have all the quality
Speaker 1: arms available to bring in, could have gone, could have
Speaker 1: gone deeper. So I always hate to see a picture
Speaker 1: as great as he has been put in a spot
Speaker 1: like that where it's like, oh, are they just gonna
Speaker 1: look a sad shot of their former self and be
Speaker 1: the reason the Blue Jays lose this game? But no,
Speaker 1: he stood up, was counted, had his awesome moment walking
Speaker 1: off the mound and getting the edulation of the crowd,
Speaker 1: So that again so quickly forgotten, but well worth a shout.
Speaker 3: Out that he was was absolute nails for the Blue Jays.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very mad Max thing to do, after
Speaker 2: having looked pretty being on the Alds roster, for him
Speaker 2: to come out there and be like, don't you know
Speaker 2: who I am? You know, I'm Max Siez And I
Speaker 2: got this, and certainly through the first three innings he
Speaker 2: looked pretty comfortable. Things got away from a little bit
Speaker 2: in that that fourth obviously, but Vasha made that that
Speaker 2: catch to kind of save the inning, and I did
Speaker 2: wonder whether we were going to get, you know, more,
Speaker 2: when he was being removed from the game, whether we
Speaker 2: were going to get more of a Max objection because
Speaker 2: he had he hadn't thrown that many pitches. But I
Speaker 2: think even he knew that this did the time. I
Speaker 2: think this is the fourth time now that he's started.
Speaker 2: They had some graphic I think, you know, a World
Speaker 2: Series elimination game. I think it might be the fourth
Speaker 2: time he started on them, which not many people have
Speaker 2: done obviously, because you don't get crazy unless you have
Speaker 2: a very long career, and I think he's obviously done
Speaker 2: it for several different teams at this point in time
Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, quite an unusual start to have, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I love Max. I don't know whether we'll see any
Speaker 2: more of him, and if we do, I'm kind of
Speaker 2: nervous that it's not going to go very well. But
Speaker 2: it was really nice to see him have a pretty
Speaker 2: good start in this massive game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he started twenty nineteen Mod Series Game seven, didn't
Speaker 1: he for the Nationals? Obviously in a game that they
Speaker 1: ended up winning. Was that the most recent Word series
Speaker 1: games even tho if we've had one since then? But
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, still awesome for a guy to start
Speaker 1: two separate World Series. Game seven's for two separate teams.
Speaker 1: Would have been awesome if you could have ended up
Speaker 1: on the winning side of both. But I think testament
Speaker 1: to how good he's been for so long and how
Speaker 1: he's the guy you won on the mound in those
Speaker 1: big spots.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that was that was very cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like we could talk more about this game.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want to talk about some
Speaker 1: of the other games. Where do you stand on Game six?
Speaker 1: Ball stuck in the bottom of the wall, called a
Speaker 1: dead ball by the umpires? Runners stay on second and third.
Speaker 1: I'll let you go first. I don't think it really
Speaker 1: mattered in the end, right because the runner at second
Speaker 1: gos strandy, which ultimately was a tying run. But did
Speaker 1: you feel the Blue Jays were hard done by the
Speaker 1: decision there to call time and put both runners on
Speaker 1: second and third.
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty clear that that was the right
Speaker 2: decision by the rules. I think it's emblematic of the
Speaker 2: fact that the Blue Leay just did not really get
Speaker 2: any of the luck going their way these last couple
Speaker 2: of games, perhaps the most emblematic, just like, come on,
Speaker 2: can we have one give us one break? Give us
Speaker 2: that was kind of yeah. But yeah, I know that
Speaker 2: lots of people are getting mad about it, But yeah,
Speaker 2: that is the rule. You know, are pretty clear about this.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's you know, if you ask anybody
Speaker 2: who umpires, they're going to say the same thing. That
Speaker 2: is the clear correct decision. So I don't think there's
Speaker 2: a controversy in that regard. I think it was just
Speaker 2: bad luck for Toronto, and we saw quite a lot
Speaker 2: of that over the last couple of nights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm in agreement.
Speaker 1: I think people are getting stuck up on the fact
Speaker 1: that the ball could have been easily taken away from
Speaker 1: the bottom of the wall. Obviously, when the ball was removed,
Speaker 1: it wasn't lodged in a way that it was impossible
Speaker 1: to get out. But I think the rules, as you say,
Speaker 1: are super clear on this like, when the ball is
Speaker 1: stuck like that, the one thing you cannot do, as
Speaker 1: the fielding player is try to remove it and then
Speaker 1: decide that actually you can't because once you try to
Speaker 1: play the ball, you are then stuck. So completely the
Speaker 1: right decision from well just sent a fielder whose name
Speaker 1: I'm blanking on, who came into the game for like
Speaker 1: four total outs in the world, isn't managed to find
Speaker 1: himself in the center of that controversy for pitting his
Speaker 1: hands up immediately and noticing that the ball was lodged.
Speaker 3: Insane luck that the ball.
Speaker 1: I've never ever seen a ball get stuck out the
Speaker 1: roy just center before you see it sometimes like in
Speaker 1: other stadiums where there are walls like at Wriglio as
Speaker 1: the Ivy, I've never seen a ball mount of wedge
Speaker 1: itself between the foam and field like that, which again
Speaker 1: speaks to their bad luck. But I think the rules
Speaker 1: are super clear in that that was the correct decision
Speaker 1: and as I said, ultimately didn't really matter because yes,
Speaker 1: maybe that run from third scores, but that run from
Speaker 1: second wouldn't have. And then the double play to end
Speaker 1: it another just insane moment, an insane series, but kik Hernandez,
Speaker 1: as you say, always seems to find himself at the
Speaker 1: center of something crazy when it comes to these big games,
Speaker 1: this time getting a great jump on that the line,
Speaker 1: driving line drive to left field, making the catch, throwing
Speaker 1: to second base where Row has made an excellent pick
Speaker 1: for the double play to end. It hard to pin
Speaker 1: blame on whoever that was at second who's strayed a
Speaker 1: little bit too far off the bats at Barger, But.
Speaker 3: Another insane way for the game to end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yet another insane way for the game to end. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think the sort of this, generally speaking, we have
Speaker 2: seen maybe a bit more pretendency towards aggressive base running.
Speaker 2: I think the numbers suggest that maybe base coaches are
Speaker 2: a little bit too safe in the aggregate, and that
Speaker 2: they don't take risks quite as often as they should.
Speaker 2: I think this Blue Jays seems been pretty good at
Speaker 2: pushing the boundaries and sort of extracting some extra value
Speaker 2: out of lots of bits of the game. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it was another thing on a night of you know,
Speaker 2: very small margins of Could the Blue Jays have easily
Speaker 2: won this game? Yeah? They absolutely kids, just only what
Speaker 2: scored three runs. So when you think about the ball
Speaker 2: stuck in the wall and this. Yeah, it was kind
Speaker 2: of just one of those nights where you felt that
Speaker 2: nothing was going to quite pan their way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the theme through the series.
Speaker 1: I guess we should talk as well of skipping around
Speaker 1: a lot here, So feel free to take this somewhere else.
Speaker 1: But trey Ya Savage and what he did through the
Speaker 1: series and especially in Game five, a story that's been
Speaker 1: talked about a lot in that he started the year
Speaker 1: out in single A. Hia obviously, worked his way up
Speaker 1: through the different rungs of minor league baseball, ended up
Speaker 1: pitching in the World Series, which in itself is an
Speaker 1: absurd story.
Speaker 3: But then that performance with.
Speaker 1: Twelve strikeouts in six innings was it, I mean, just
Speaker 1: an unbelievable pitching performance against one of the best lineups
Speaker 1: in baseball, given the circumstances, given yeah, the opponent, given
Speaker 1: his experience level. It was yeah, absolutely insane and would
Speaker 1: have been one of the main storylines if the Blue
Speaker 1: J's had managed to hold on, of course, overshadowed at
Speaker 1: the end by Yamamoto who said, that's cute. I'll do
Speaker 1: the same thing, just you know, without ever having to
Speaker 1: rest or sleep. But I think worth a shout out
Speaker 1: to Trey who. I mean, the Blue Jays could not
Speaker 1: have asked for anymore, and when they probably needed a
Speaker 1: dominant starting pitching performance, you know, ended up relying most
Speaker 1: on the twenty one year old kid who'd you know,
Speaker 1: never never played a Major League baseball game before about August.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's this was his eighth start in the majors.
Speaker 2: You know, he's made three in the regular season and
Speaker 2: five and seasons. We've alstill got any appearance out of
Speaker 2: him last night as well, which is kind of nuts.
Speaker 2: But yeah, most most strikeouts by a rookie in a
Speaker 2: World Series game. First time anybody's ever struck out twelve
Speaker 2: without walking the batter. I think he's going to be
Speaker 2: fascinating to see what happens next season. And there's been
Speaker 2: loads of speculation as well, you know, is it because
Speaker 2: he's got the high arm slaugh of people just not
Speaker 2: used to seeing him. But I think we saw his attitude.
Speaker 2: I think before he came out for that first post
Speaker 2: season start, he was just like, I'm built for this,
Speaker 2: I'm ready, you know, let's let's go. It didn't seehim
Speaker 2: phased by the pressure at all. He was really looked
Speaker 2: like he was worn to be there pretty much, So
Speaker 2: wonderful performance from your savage And yeah, the Jays and
Speaker 2: we've seen lots of draft pics get to the majors
Speaker 2: quite fast in recent years, but yeah, for him to
Speaker 2: be drafted last year and then playing this role for
Speaker 2: them this year is pretty nuts.
Speaker 3: Same.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dominated the Yankees in the DS as well, didn't he?
Speaker 1: And of course the league will with a Joss. He
Speaker 1: always due to pitchers who could come in as rookies.
Speaker 1: But seeing the way his stuff was working in Game
Speaker 1: five and that splitter especially just looks like like when
Speaker 1: that pitch is good, it kind of doesn't really matter
Speaker 1: how many times you've seen him. I think he's going
Speaker 1: to be very effective with that. So yeah, it almost
Speaker 1: becomes yeah, interesting to see how that plays out in
Speaker 1: future years.
Speaker 3: But what an unbelievable.
Speaker 1: First go around for him in a way to embed
Speaker 1: himself in the hearts and minds of Jays fans. We
Speaker 1: could probably keep talking from the forty five minutes about this,
Speaker 1: but is there anything in particular you want to call out,
Speaker 1: whether it be that we've missed from Game seven or
Speaker 1: just from the series in general, that we need to
Speaker 1: note now knowing we can probably come back in a
Speaker 1: week when our brains are less scrambled and talk about
Speaker 1: it a bit more from a big picture perspective. But yeah,
Speaker 1: any other standout moments for you that you think we
Speaker 1: should call out before we call it a day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure we've missed loads of moments that people
Speaker 2: are yelling at us. I guess, you know, Tony being
Speaker 2: on base nine times in a world serious game and
Speaker 2: also hitting three home runs is sort of the faintly
Speaker 2: absurd thing that we've just come to expect from him doing.
Speaker 2: You know, people start saying things like, this is the
Speaker 2: show here, Tony game. You can't have the show. It's
Speaker 2: just another show how Tarney game, isn't it? And there
Speaker 2: are too many Atorney games at this point in time.
Speaker 2: I think there are probably at least four or five
Speaker 2: already you could call the Otorney game. He's just remarkable.
Speaker 2: And I don't blame Schneider for just saying I'm done,
Speaker 2: let's give him the Bonds treatment. We're not facing him anymore.
Speaker 3: Just take first.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty incredible. I think I think Will Smith not
Speaker 2: not just for the home run, but you know, he
Speaker 2: caught every inning of this old series, including one game
Speaker 2: that was two games and and still was there in
Speaker 2: the eleventh inning of Game seven hitting a walk off
Speaker 2: home run.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Real, just incredible stuff from Will Smith. He's had to
Speaker 2: just carry a load. The Dodgers have just not had
Speaker 2: a backup catch they can trust. They can't put Smith
Speaker 2: at d H anyway, so he's in this situation where
Speaker 2: he kind of has to go out there and be
Speaker 2: the guy for them. And that's a really difficult thing
Speaker 2: to do when you've already played a four season as
Speaker 2: catch it and then playing another month, and and not
Speaker 2: just in a role where you're sort of doing a timeshare,
Speaker 2: but playing the amount that Smith does. It's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2: So yeah, out to Will Smith for a great postseason. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I think that's about it for me. If
Speaker 2: the's anyone else that iarticularly one single out, I think
Speaker 2: we've touched the main points. Just a tremendous world series
Speaker 2: all around, really, and we thought that it was it
Speaker 2: was shaping up to be a good matchup, but I
Speaker 2: don't know that anybody could have expected it would be
Speaker 2: quite this good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, maybe we'll finish with that.
Speaker 1: I'll throw it to you and we can maybe work
Speaker 1: out just obviously while it's all very raw in our brains,
Speaker 1: but we'll kind of wear this ranks in World Series
Speaker 1: that you've watched in your lifetime, and same for me.
Speaker 3: It's higher up. I'll say that right now.
Speaker 1: Last thing I'll say just on that eighteen inning game
Speaker 1: that in itself obviously just absurd A Fernie Freeman.
Speaker 3: Who else I was?
Speaker 1: You know, as quite a few of us were awake
Speaker 1: in time to catch the final inning of that game
Speaker 1: to finished.
Speaker 3: I think it was about quarter.
Speaker 1: Past seven UK time or something like that in the morning,
Speaker 1: So that was insane to wake up and start watching
Speaker 1: a bit of breakfast baseball. And of course it was yeah,
Speaker 1: Fredie who who ended things in the eighteenth shout out
Speaker 1: in that game to a friend of the pod, Will Klein,
Speaker 1: who I don't think many people.
Speaker 3: Had heard off before the World Series started.
Speaker 1: May even have forgotten about now given everything else that happened,
Speaker 1: but wow, what a nails performance in that game to go.
Speaker 1: I think it was three innings in the end or
Speaker 1: certainly two plus against has mentioned a very formidable lineup
Speaker 1: and get key outs for the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: I mean, they don't win the World Series without without
Speaker 3: that performance. So shout out Will Climb.
Speaker 2: Yeah I knew, I forget someone Will clinb The people
Speaker 2: who don't know. Will Cline is, you know, a middle reliever,
Speaker 2: not a preferred middle reliever for the Dodgers. Just a guy,
Speaker 2: you know, kicking around on waivers kind of guy. Definitely
Speaker 2: not throw seventy plus pictures type of guy. I believe
Speaker 2: he doubled his previous career high in pictures in this game.
Speaker 2: And yeah, for him to reel that off when they
Speaker 2: just they had nobody else, he just had to keep
Speaker 2: going out there. And I think that that care of
Speaker 2: ball he snapped off to finish the appearance when clearly
Speaker 2: he was done, you know, there was there was nothing left,
Speaker 2: and he still somehow found it in himself to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's an incredible performance and right up there with Rohaus
Speaker 2: as unexpected heroic performances from guys who just didn't I
Speaker 2: think we're even going to be in these situations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt like a series full of just those
Speaker 1: moments as players have just Yeah, we'll look back and
Speaker 1: be unable to believe how good it was. So yeah,
Speaker 1: well I guess for me, and again it's very fresh
Speaker 1: in the mind. So but it feels like one of
Speaker 1: the best Worlds hears I've ever had the pleasure of watching.
Speaker 1: Following I kind of wish I'd been able to watch
Speaker 1: more of it live. I'd salute the Blue Jays fans
Speaker 1: Dodgers fans who were able to stick it out for
Speaker 1: all the games in the series of certainly majority of
Speaker 1: the thing. I know there were some really great turnouts
Speaker 1: that Patty Young avenue for watch parties to see it.
Speaker 3: I wish I was able to do that Game one.
Speaker 3: I was actually in the US four, so I watched.
Speaker 1: It in the airport as we were flying out the
Speaker 1: very start of game one, but the rest of it,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately was unable to make the sleep sacrifice work.
Speaker 1: But yeah, from what I did see, I think this
Speaker 1: is up there with maybe that Cubs Guardians World series
Speaker 1: back in twenty sixteen would stand out to me as
Speaker 1: one of the greatest of all time. That Giants Royals
Speaker 1: World series. I'm sure you'll mention where Matt bum did
Speaker 1: his thing. Trying to think of other Cardinals Red Sox,
Speaker 1: that was the Crazy World series with the freeze.
Speaker 3: Off the Wall.
Speaker 1: Sorry, no, that was card That was Cardinals, who are
Speaker 1: they playing in that World series? Tigers, Rangers, Rangers? That
Speaker 1: World series was crazy. That was kind of right when
Speaker 1: I started getting into the sport. So I think there
Speaker 1: have been other World Series that have had insane moments,
Speaker 1: games that have obviously gone six or seven games, but
Speaker 1: this one feels like, for just how every game had
Speaker 1: kind of insane storylines and moments that it might be
Speaker 1: one of the best of the twenty first century. But yeah,
Speaker 1: where does it rank for you among those that you
Speaker 1: were able to follow and watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's right up there with the Cubs World Series,
Speaker 2: I think obviously, I personally have watching watching Bumganner come
Speaker 2: out of the ballpenders and then just finishing the game
Speaker 2: for like, you know, after pitching five plus innings is
Speaker 2: one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. I
Speaker 2: don't think the rest of the series had the level
Speaker 2: of ludicrous moments that this series did. And even that
Speaker 2: Game seven was not like this Game seven. It was
Speaker 2: not not the same back and forth. It had that
Speaker 2: that thing, that thing that people are always going to
Speaker 2: remember when you say, Madison Bumgarner, You're gonna be like
Speaker 2: Game seven twenty fourteen. Yeah, remember that but it didn't
Speaker 2: have all the moments that we just talked about. I
Speaker 2: don't think we could have done a whole podcast of
Speaker 2: here's the great moment in that game seven, it was
Speaker 2: just oh, Madison Bumgamon came out, and then maybe the
Speaker 2: worlds are going to turn it around the ninth They
Speaker 2: didn't that. That's kind of what happened in that game. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that Cubs World Series and the rag Davis moment and
Speaker 2: the fact that you know, all the weight of history
Speaker 2: on that game as well, I think sort of elevated
Speaker 2: that that one. I guess the other one that comes
Speaker 2: to mind, which maybe is tainted by history now, is
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen with the asterism. Yeah, we'll obviously never know
Speaker 2: to what extent, if any the Astros had any banging
Speaker 2: schemes or otherwise going on, but that was a remarkable matchup.
Speaker 2: They had some just absolutely thrilling, high scoring back and forth.
Speaker 2: I think it was it was a game five back
Speaker 2: then that was.
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, but games brings home run in that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Games even was not as good as the one,
Speaker 2: and I think I think in terms of sheer, like
Speaker 2: can you believe that happened? Moments, I don't remember a
Speaker 2: world series like this ever happening. We can all remember
Speaker 2: the one or two, you know that, the David Freeze
Speaker 2: kind of moments, but you know the things. I'm sure
Speaker 2: we have missed other things that we're not mentioned, But
Speaker 2: there were so many ludicrous performances, Yeah, shocking turns and yeah,
Speaker 2: entirely being ridiculous and Will Klein and Rojas and yeah,
Speaker 2: all the things that we've said today and manymore. I
Speaker 2: can't think of a world series that had all of
Speaker 2: that and was as competitive as this on top, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that really did have everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, I like you say.
Speaker 1: I think when there's probably a fun discussion for another
Speaker 1: time when we get into the dark days of winter
Speaker 1: and no baseball. But for like historic importance, you know,
Speaker 1: the Dodgers going back to back ho hum, maybe doesn't
Speaker 1: have the same ring to it as the clubs snapping
Speaker 1: their drought or like White some Red Sox or some
Speaker 1: of those other unbelievable series that we've got the chance
Speaker 1: to watch.
Speaker 3: But I think for just pure.
Speaker 1: Moments intrigue, big players stepping up, drama and being honest,
Speaker 1: just unbelievably good baseball, like amazing starting pitching, amazing relief pitching,
Speaker 1: amazing hitting, some unbelievable fielding, Like the quality of baseball
Speaker 1: under the highest, highest pressure was just a joy to watch.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as I say, I know, it's all quite
Speaker 1: emotional and raw right now. So we've just seen it.
Speaker 1: But it's hard to think of a game that beats
Speaker 1: last night's game, and a series of beats that one.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure we can find time to try and
Speaker 1: place it in its proper historical context at some point,
Speaker 1: anything else before we call it a day. Hopefully we
Speaker 1: back again. I mean, we have not podded in a while.
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of other really cool stuff that happened
Speaker 1: throughout the playoffs that it would be nice to maybe
Speaker 1: talk about at some point, but I think we felt
Speaker 1: like we needed to dedicate the best part of an
Speaker 1: hour just to talking about last night and what happened
Speaker 1: and yeah, and any final words before we recall it there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we can get around to a post
Speaker 2: season moratorium and a bit of a look ahead. Surely.
Speaker 2: I'm always struck by how quickly we have to transition
Speaker 2: from hey, it wasn't the World Series called to you know,
Speaker 2: off season rumors and signings and you know, a lot,
Speaker 2: a lot of action is going to happen in the
Speaker 2: next few days now with guys getting released and you know,
Speaker 2: those deals that were already agreed getting signed.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 2: I think eight managers have been fired this year, so
Speaker 2: there's a lot of turnover in that side of the
Speaker 2: game as well. So yeah, a lot to come. Where's
Speaker 2: Carl Tuck are going to go? We're going to get
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff over the next few weeks
Speaker 2: quickly following, and all the awards, of course, will be
Speaker 2: what we're coming up too, so we can have the
Speaker 2: cal rally Err and Judge debate at some point, I'm sure,
Speaker 2: but I think that that wraps this World Series for now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's enough World Series chat. Let's get back to
Speaker 1: the important stuff like who should be winning Manager of
Speaker 1: the Year. Yeah, No, plenty of time for us to
Speaker 1: get into all that, and I'm sure we will. So yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks everyone for listening, Thanks Darius for jumping on and
Speaker 1: talking baseball with me, and we will be back soon
Speaker 1: to talk about some of the other stuff going on
Speaker 1: in the world of baseball. But yeah, what a night
Speaker 1: for the sport, What a night to be a fan
Speaker 1: of any team commiserations. Blue Jays fans. That is about
Speaker 1: as bad as a loss can possibly get. But maybe
Speaker 1: in time you'll look back and think about how awesome
Speaker 1: this series was and how much of a joy it
Speaker 1: was to watch that team and Dodgers fans conngratch, you
Speaker 1: did it again. You've bought the World series. I hope
Speaker 1: you're happy. What's a sad little I'm only joking, it was.
Speaker 1: It was great fun to watch you, so yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: for listening.
Speaker 3: Goodbye,