Halford & Brough in the Morning - Baseball Is Back, Baby

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the top hockey stories of the day with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:26), plus the boys chat the start of the baseball season with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (24:32), as the Blue Jays' home opener goes Friday. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Sarah Valley. Sierra Valley. Syravelli. Frank. Sierra Valley. Frank. Sierra Valley. Frank.

Frank. 703 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brab, Sportsnet, 650. Frank. Halford and Bob of the morning is brought you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80%

with the upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Frank Sarvalley from Victory Plus is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homonk at Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason.

Dot Mortgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio, Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. Guests on Sportsnet 650. call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline. Email sales at A, B, L-E-A-Oxions.Ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. To the Able Auctions Hotline, we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, our NHL insider from Victory Plus, Frank Saravalli joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you?

Pretty good. How are you doing, guys? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this, as always. So what's the bigger story in the aftermath of last night? Is it the Ottawa Senator's impressive surge up the state? standings into a wildcard spot, or is it Detroit falling out and now not just one spot out of the wildcard, but two spots out?

I think the story is the Sends, mostly because of the way they're doing it. And to be fair, I mean, Detroit had everything on a platter last night. Dylan Larkin making his return, the Red Wings absolutely needing the game, getting the Sends on back-to-back, and have, having Ottawa be without five of its defensemen, having to truly dig deep into its depth pool to call up Jory and Donovan and Carter Yakimchuk. I mean, the way Ottawa has done it kind of had a feeling, and I said this right on the heels of the Olympics, if there was one team in the east that could make a run, and I, you know,

we were looking at Columbus as well, if there's one team that could make a run, if there's one team that could make a run, it would be the sense if they could fix their goaltending. And in 14 of their last 20 games, they've allowed two or fewer goals. That's a pretty good recipe for success. So they've had lots of gumption to get to this point. I give them a lot of credit based on not just losing the volume of defensemen, but the quality of them starting with Jake Sanderson. And they flat out have beaten a team like Detroit to earn that spot. Does Travis Green get enough credit for the job? he's done as head coach there? Probably not. I mean, making the playoffs last year, the structure that they play with,

look, this year could have went sideways and in a big way pretty early on. I mean, Linus Olmark was dealing with his mental health struggle, missed time, the team was in 32nd place and saved percentage, not getting the goaltending that they required. And when that happens and all of the other facets of your team are strong, like your goal differential somehow was still positive despite 32nd place save percentage. And, you know, you're getting enough production. You're defending well enough. That can be frustrating.

It can be hard to keep everyone's head on straight and focused. And I just think he's got a way about him where he's stern. he's straight up like you don't have any you know you're not sitting there wondering where you stand with Travis Green and at the same time he's been in so many of these situations that I feel like he's got a real easy way at the same time of communicating that message and so I think he's got a really nice you know sort of comportment to him that has made him a really successful NHL head coach. I'm looking at the odds to win the Jack Adams Award this year. And Lindy Ruff is a pretty heavy favorite at minus 270. John Cooper second, Dan Muse is in there too. But it's a two-horse race

between Ruff and Cooper. And Mike and I were having the conversation the other day that, I know this isn't a professional hockey writers association pick, but the voters should be able to justify exactly why they are voting for a guy as opposed to just the storyline, because I would love to hear, if you're going to vote for Lindy Ruff, understandable, but what exactly did Lindy Ruff do this season that changed the team that they were from last season when Lindy Ruff was the head coach to this season? Right, and I think that's a totally fair point of view. Like, I would agree with you.

Unfortunately, we don't know who the voters are, and they certainly don't have to justify any of their vote because it's not transparent. like the professional hockey writers association is. And I think beyond that, if you want true tangible impact, I mean, how do you look beyond what the Columbus Blue Jackets and Rick Bonas has done there? I mean, I know that 35 or 38 games, whatever the total is that he ends up with behind the bench, isn't a ton, but from where that team was on the day that he took over in 28th place, in the entire NHL, dead last in the east and dead last in the metro, to now having home ice

advantage, I know it's a short runway. But if you're talking true coach impact, there is no better example this season than Rick bonus. And I guess the question would be, is it enough time to have won an award? What do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, my first thought was just that it's not enough time. if we're talking about the coach of the year and we're talking about the turnaround of the

Columbus Blue Jackets, if I was voting, I would have to consider him. I mean, even if he coached, you know, only, only he's going to get, what, half the season? A little less than that. He came up more than January 12th. He's going to get. I mean, you would have to consider it, right? Yeah, I remember when the turnaround is incredible. I remember when the

Canucks got the Budrow bump and he was getting some consideration for it as well. And this has been, I mean, I would say probably more impressive. Aaron Portsland had the numbers on it, yesterday how stark a turnaround it's been. I mean, they jumped 20 places in the overall standings since bonus came aboard. I mean, it's funny, like you check the scoreboard every night or every morning when we come in from the show.

It just feels like it's a given now that Columbus comes out of every game with at least a point, and that's got a lot to do with the guy behind the bench, obviously. It does, and I mean, if I were voting, I'd probably have to give him a vote, and like, it would either be first place or nothing for me. Like, that's the way I'd look at it. Like, either he was so impact. that it's an undeniable case regardless of how many games he coached. I guess the other way to look at it, and this isn't to really nitpick at it,

but if you're looking at Lindy Ruff, why are we also willing to throw out the first 20 games of his season and only look at the last 60? Yeah. There's a new Hart Trophy favorite, by the way. Can you guess who it is? Kutroff? Yeah, Kuteroff. I mean, Nathan McKinnon had that spot at the sports books locked up pretty much all

season and Kutjuroff has recently taken over. Frank, have you been watching what Kuchib's been doing for the Lightning? I don't know how you couldn't be. I mean, he's coming off of a stretch of 100 points exactly in 47 games. I mean, 100 points for anyone over an 82 game stretch is an insanely good season. A hundred points in 47 is bananas. There's a sizable gap between Kuturov and his next closest teammate. To me, when looking at the heart race, the only guy that could really give Kuturov a run for his money at this point in time would be if somehow the San Jose Sharks who have run out of gas of late,

Macklin Sellebrini somehow was able to get them into the postseason. Other than that, I don't know who's touching Nikita Kuturov at this point. Well, the Tampa Bay Lightning could have the Hart Trophy winner in Nikita Kuturov. they could have the Vezna Trophy winner in Andre Vasselowski and it's possible that John Cooper could be named

Coach of the Year I've been trying to make this a thing and I don't know if... What's next? Are you going to tell me Darren Radish is winning the NAR's? He might. He might. I actually want to ask you about him in just a sec, but I've been trying to make

this a thing. I don't know if it's catching on. Like there should be pressure on Tampa Bay this season to do something in the postseason because Florida is not there anymore. They've lost three straight, first rounds, like the expectations for this team need to ramp up. And I don't know maybe why they haven't. Like, I know there's pressure on a lot of teams like we talk about Edmonton all the time.

But, you know, Tampa's got to do something with this magical season that they're having. Oh, I agree. It would be an enormous disappointment if they didn't. Based on look at what was standing in their way previously and now isn't. they have an incredible opportunity. But I think the interesting thing about that notion of pressure is I don't know that any team really feels it less than Tampa. Like they don't get it from their marketplace. Like that isn't really how their fans react.

And they're certainly not going to get it or feel it from their coach because he sort of sluffs that off. And I think the players themselves having won twice and gone to three, Cup finals together, they know what to do so they're not fretting at this moment in time thinking, oh man, what happens, you know, the enormity of the moment or the situation? I just don't know that that same type of pressure applies or thought process applies to Tampa the way that it would, I mean, maybe even a team like Carolina at some point. How many times are you going to get close to the final four or whatever and not break through? that's starting to mount more on Carolina than I think it is Tampa,

mostly just because Tampa has done it twice. Yeah, and Dallas and the West would be the Carolina version of that story as well. I did want to ask you about... Yeah, Pete DeBoer is sitting on his couch, hoping that we continue to talk about that. Definitely. You know he thinks that way, for sure. I respect it. I will be curious to see this Tampa defense in the postseason, because Victor Hedman, he's not 100%, he clearly isn't 100%.

And he's 35 years old. He can't log the minutes that he used to, and neither for that matter can Ryan McDonough. And now the Lightning have this top pair of Darren Radish and J.J. Mosier. First of all, what do you think about that dynamic where you've got this new top pair that, I don't want to say came out of nowhere, but kind of came out of nowhere? And what are the Lightning going to do with Darren Radish,

is a pending on restrictive free agent and has some crazy numbers to take to the market. Like crazy, crazy. Like hit 20 goals crazy and is having like the best platform year that, I mean, people are talking about,

but not in the same way that you'd talk about another monster free agent having this type of year. And I think part of the reason for that is there's a belief around, league circles that Darren Radish is a product of the players that he plays with. That, you know, he's had a monster year and is a good player. But if you took him and if you dropped him on, I don't know, pick a team that would

sign up for a free agent like Darren Radish, a team that's on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. They're trying to bring in Darren Radish to be a game changer for next season. I don't know that a lot of teams look at him and say, oh, yeah, he could do that playing with anyone. And I think that's probably a disservice to Darren Radish and the growth that we've seen in his game. But I'm sure there's some shred of truth and if not truth and definitely a healthy amount of doubt as to how that all works if you were to remove him from that structure, that system, and those players. So that stands out. And I think, look, J.J. Moser, they knew what they were doing

when they made the trade, the Sergachev deal, a really steady sort of a guy that I think people don't really notice a lot in the moment, but at the end of the game, you're like, wow, that guy, he didn't wow me in any sort of way, but he wasn't the cause of any issue, concern, or sweat. And I think that's really the mark of a good defenseman, if you're not, you know, putting up 75, 80 points,

be that guy that no one notices. And so they're in a good spot if you can really kind of take some of that heat off of Victor Headman to, you know, in a year that he's not completely healthy and may have lost a step, that you can give him some time to figure it out and to ramp up in the postseason. And if a banged up headman is, let's just call him for theoretical purposes, your number three. I mean, it's a pretty good place to be.

We're speaking to Frank Saravale, our NHL insider from Victory Plus, here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Frank, I want to turn our attention to the Edmonton Oilers. And since we spoke last week, lots gone on in Edmonton,

the dry saddle injury, the McDavid remarks, both about the Pacific Division and is not his head coach, but the Tampa Lightning head coach. They get a big win last night against Utah. I'm curious about the fallout

from the McDavid coaching remarks because I know, know that on Frankly hockey yesterday you guys talked about it and you actually had the question out there would the oilers pursue the guy we just talked about Peter de Boer. I know that's been out there for a while. Has anything changed on that front? What kind of conclusions did you come to when having that conversation? I don't think anything's changed. I don't think the oilers are making a change at this juncture. I don't think it's even something that they've thought about. look, I think what you're seeing is a lot of frustration seeping out.

This is not just a player who's watching his running mate in Munich with a regular season-ending injury, trying to get right for the playoffs. But they're trying to navigate this goaltending situation where Tristan Jari has really struggled and he's locked in for the next couple years. they've made some other tough roster moves to deplete some of the talent around him. And he's coming off of a really disappointing, gut-wrenching Olympic gold medal game, where again, he's as close as you can possibly get without achieving the ultimate team accomplishment. So that's two Stanley Cup finals and an Olympic gold medal game.

And then he's looking at his career going, I've got these incredible individual accomplishments art trophies, Akon Smyth, Art Ross's, I mean, NHL Mount Rushmore stuff, but is missing the thing that he craves most and is getting to the end of his 20s saying, well, what do I have to show for it? And I think all of that is playing out in real time. When you hear him gush about John Cooper, who like, I think it really needs to be pointed out, again, they got close with John Cooper. and John Cooper didn't help him win, they lost.

So it's great to gush about John Cooper, but to do it in that moment, everyone knew and could pick up what he was getting at to then even respond and say, you have to ask Chris Knoblock about that. He was putting it very clearly at the feet of his coach. And, I mean, again, another reminder, too, Chris Knoblock has also gotten him to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals.

So is it really the coach's fault? Yeah, the Edmonton Oilers. I mean, I think on our show we talk in some shows more about the Oilers than we do about the Canucks. There's not much more to say about the Canucks at this point. But another team, I want to get some insight on because, you know, in Canada we get a lot of Oilers news. What I want to know is what is going on with Vegas. I realize that they have serious goaltending issues as well, just as serious as. the Oilers, but they're not scoring as much either.

What have you heard about what's happening in Vegas? Not scoring and not winning as much. I mean, I think they have four wins in their last 14 or 18 games. I mean, it's a really poor run. And as we talk about the Pacific Division pillow fight, Edmonton struggles, Anaheim coming through and very likely, winning the division, why hasn't there been more talk about a Vegas team that has drastically underachieved? I think people just chalk it up and say, oh, well, their goaltending hasn't been

good and they shrug as if that explains the entire story, which to me it doesn't. This team went out and added Mitch Marner in the summer. They added Rasmus Anderson earlier before the trade deadline. They made bottom six depth moves. And yet they're not challenging Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead. They're lagging with Edmonton in what appears to be a collision course in the first round that's going to leave one of those teams devastated. I mean, we could talk about the expectations and how good Minnesota, Dallas, and Colorado have been this year on the other side of the bracket. But if you're guaranteeing that one of Vegas or Edmonton is out in round one, I mean, there's going to be a lot of explaining to do in one of those markets,

and neither one of them seems to be entirely motivated to reach out and grab what, at one point in time, was a very available Pacific Division title to get yourself a different Utah team in round one, which they're experiencing the playoffs for the first time together. There might be some power in that, but they also don't have anywhere near the playoff experience that Edmonton or Vegas would, that would just set it up for a much easier path. Frank, this was awesome, buddy, as always. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it.

Yep, have a good one. See you guys. You too, thanks. That's Frank Sarvalley, our NHL Insider from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Yeah, Bruce Cassidy, the head coach yesterday after they lost to Winnipeg. He took aim at the top players, and he said, those are our top guys. They've struggled at five-on-five and the power play. They've got to get their confidence back to make plays.

You can get away with it for a while, but it's a number of games now. It's got to change for us. Yeah. And, you know, last night, so I know Winnipeg's pretty much out of it, although they're still holding on there. There was a pretty noteworthy fight from Mark Schifley yesterday,

who got into it with, I want to say it was Howden. Anyway, there was a bad hit on Kyle Connor, and there's been so much made in the NHL over the last week about stepping in and jumping in the moment that someone gets hit, right, the brotherhood, standing up for your buddy out there. And, you know, they made a big deal about that in Winnipeg

because Shifley, admittedly, after the game was like, I'm not a good fighter. Like, I'm not particularly good at this. Yeah, he just starts screaming. Yeah, yelling, pulling hair, if possible. Anything you can do. I don't know about the pulling hair part. Keeps his nails along.

Right. Just anything you can do to get advantage in a fight. But they won that game. And part of that has to do with the fact that Vegas is just a team that is spiraling right now, can't get anything right. And, you know, I know Cassidy was talking about the top guys on the team. team not being good enough. And that's been going on. If you look going back right after they got out of the Olympic break, their results have just been flat. And there hasn't been much to talk about

it all, especially offensively. And I know they were trying to get things going last night by throwing the body around, but it went in the wrong direction for him because they lost to a Winnipeg team that's really on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Is Marner still playing the middle there? Is he played center? I don't know, to be honest. You know, I think he's like, it's happening again. Yeah, maybe. I'd be very curious. to see how Marner feels about everything right now because you want to talk about those situations

where a guy leaves a team, they think things are going to go great on the other side. It's this new beginning, new horizons, new energy. Toronto's had a terrible year

in the aftermath of Martin's departure. And the Vegas experience, year one, hasn't been great for him on the ice. It just hasn't translated into the kind of success. I think a lot of people thought Vegas

was going to have. It hasn't been a disaster, but it hasn't been great. It hasn't been a disaster. but I think everyone, and part of it has to do with Vegas's history of always being aggressive on the open market and always reloading for another run. This one hasn't worked out.

It just hasn't clicked like a lot of other ones have. Anyway, we're up against it for a time. We've got a lot more to get into it, the midway point of the show. We're going to turn our attention now to Major League Baseball. That's right, folks. The MLB season gets underway tonight on Netflix. Yeah, the season opener, MLB opening night on Netflix tonight between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.

Our next guest from MLB Network, Adnan Verk, is going to join the program as we set up the 2026 MLB campaign. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Furkees on the show. We're going to talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen.

That's right. It's time for Rednan. Yes, Sadnan Furkei joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 732 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls?

If you are, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in Hour 2 of the program with the midway point of the show. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason Hominuk at jason.morgia. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Jason. Mortgage. To the able auctions hotline we go.

Our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor from MLV Network. Good friend of the program, Adnan, Verk. joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. What up, Adnan? Bye, Jason. Great to you back. You guys again for the fantastic baseball season. I love and miss that open, but I want to make it clear.

Did you guys see me singing with Bouble? The last time I was in Vancouver for that Kinnock's game. I missed you. I heard, okay, I heard about it. anecdotally someone passed along. Hey, you see Adnan Kroonan, but I didn't actually see it. Was it good? Did you enjoy your experience? Yeah, I don't want to oversell it.

We'll play a clip of it next week. Let's just say he was a really nice guy and I'm more than held my own, if I may say. I was very pleasantly surprised. As you guys know in the moment, you don't know how to react to these things. What I said was Blake Bolden's birthday today, can you sing to her? And Boubley, I'd sold him off air about

a huge thing. Well, let's do it together. And if you said to me nine times of the ten, I'd say, what are you insane? I'm not going to sing. It's one of the most notorious singing singers of our lifetime. But in the moment, because you're an idiot, you go, yeah, sure. And then we start singing. And I got to tell you, fellas, I even surprised myself. We did it for five or six seconds.

I acquitted myself. That was a barn burner of a game you saw, too, the Sends with that two-nothing win over Vancouver. Man, everyone loves a good smothering of the home team. The best part of it, broth was being in Vancouver. and the fact I finally got to Surrey and Delta, BC, and had some good food while I was there. Of course, I love your city walking around. The worst part of it was the game.

You're right. That was an awful hockey game. And let's just hope better days ahead for Vancouver the next time we're out there to see Adam's foot and company. Okay, so from happy birthday, we go to happy opening night, not opening day, but opening night in Major League Baseball. It's a pretty intriguing start to the year. You have the New York Yankees, of course, going to San Francisco, which is interesting. But it's also on Netflix. So this is a brave, bold, new world for Major League Baseball.

So it's one game tonight. It's 11 games tomorrow and then the Jays, and we'll get to the Jays and the Mariners and everyone else in a second. That goes on Friday. You must be excited, though. Opening night is finally here, and it's on Netflix of all places. Yeah, Mike, listen, I like you guys, I love all sports, of course. I love hockey.

I love football. I love basketball. I love tennis. But to me, it's always baseball season and waiting for baseball season. So I'm black to we're back to baseball season. And I'm glad you mentioned Netflix because MLB Network is actually producing the games. A lot of my friends are working the game. game. Matt Bass Scorson is doing one play-by-play. Lauren Shahati, who is everywhere. She's working

with us, and then she's doing March Madness for Turner, and now she'll be on Netflix tonight. And my dear friend Matt Baker is one of the best researchers in the game. He's working the game, and I asked him, I asked him, how's it going so far? Because it's all different people, right? It's Al Duncan's an old friend from ESPN. Give her my best. He said, I will. He said, Anthony Arisen has been very nice to see, yeah, but let's wait for the big one. How's Barry Bond's been? And he said, well, he's been nice so far. And they wrote back, well, there's still time. But I can't wait to see what's going to happen

tonight. This is classic Netflix, right? We're only going to do a few events. We're going to do opening day. Yankees Giants, and we're going to get the greatest home run hitter in baseball history. Tard and feathered or not, Barry Bonds, it's going to be there giving his analysis. And think of the world in which we live in. The sports Emmy nominations came out here in America.

And, of course, three of us are Emmy Award winners, so we know what we speak. But Alex Rodriguez, as I looked at the list today, is nominated for Best Studio Analyst. I said, this is a guy two-time caught juicing, and he's nominated for Best Studio, Analyst, And now we're getting Barry Bonds on Netflix. So I can't imagine how good an analyst he's going to be, but I will be watching because I love baseball,

and I cannot wait to watch Logan Webb against Max Free tonight. So hopefully he's got something to say, and hopefully it's a great game. Yeah, it's the big draw tonight, especially being in San Francisco at Ork. What are you expecting from Bonds? Well, the biggest key is you guys know that there's one difference. There's one separate between the good analysts and the bad ones,

and it's the ones that actually speak their mind, right? The ones that are, the coach is always the most problematic because they're trying to get another job. So as nice as they are and as candid as they are off air, all in air, everyone's great, everyone's wonderful, and everything's hunky-dory. I'm not expecting to be negative. Like Mark DeRosa, our dear friend, when we bring in analysts, he tells him, listen, we are MLB Network. We're trying to be positive here and support the game. Sure. There's no benefit to being negative.

But I push back and say, yeah, but if you see a guy dog in it or if you see a bad player, if there's a guy struggling, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, he's going to be better. We expect better out of Raphael Devers, and so far he hit him in that guy. He's not worthy of his contract, et cetera. So I think if Barry Barnes actually gives A, some honesty tonight, some candor, and B, some analysis, then that's a win. As I say, with every analyst, every former athlete, there's two things you can be, either really smart or really entertaining. Charles Barkley can be both, but he's more entertaining, right?

The T&T guys are there for the yucks. And then on Amazon, I feel like, you know, not necessarily have entertainment value, but Chris Banger is a smart guy who knows his stuff and clearly knows the game. So bonds has to be one or the other. Either be really entertaining or be insightful, and please be candid. So it's Max Fried tonight for the Yankees? Yeah, Max Free getting a call for the Yankees. And they're going to go four-man rotation, bro, for the first month or so, which is interesting.

You know, four-man rotations, what we used to see as kids. Rodon is hopefully back May 1st. Garrett Cole coming off, Tommy John, should be back June 1st. But we'll see. What are the expectations for Garrett Cole? It's a great question, because we all know he's one of the best pitchers in the sport when he's healthy. but he was not healthy a year ago, and then he obviously had Tommy John. So in 2023, he finally won that Tsai Young, perennially a bridesmaid,

then finally a bride and finally got the award. But last year, you know, I don't know if he was bad. I think he had a sub-4 year, still, but he struggled a little bit. Clearly was hurt. Okay, Tommy John, that's it. Sorry, 2024, I should say. The last year, of course, he was gone the entire season. So now it's been a year and a half, and we've seen this with guys with Tommy John.

When they come back, broth, they don't hit the ground running, right? And I watched this first spring sting start against the Red Sox. he threw 10 pitches, seven for strikes, he was fine. And he still got two more months, of course, to rev up. But it generally finds that guys from him back from Tommy John. They take at least a month, if not two months, if not three months, to get back to who they are. So if June 1st, he's back, to me, I'm like, looking at it more like the second half of the season. Like June July is a watch.

And just let him get his pitches in, hopefully he's okay. And then boom, he's like your trade deadline acquisition, August, September, it's go to him, hopefully October. He's back to be in the guy. Because I do think the Boston Red Sox pitching staff is better than the Yankees. starter specifically, as is Toronto's. But I think the Yankees, if Cole's healthy, they do have a really strong one through four theoretically, if Freed is really good, if Carlos Rodon comes back healthy, and if Cam Schlittler becomes their Trey Yus Savage. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about Schlittler, having to said that name for a few months, and I haven't screwed it up for a while,

and just the expectations for him and Yassavage, because they're, I mean, I think Schlittler's a few years older, but they're kind of in similar situations. Yeah, I think so too. You know, Schlittler had that incredible performance against the Red Sox in the playoffs, and we all know one playoff start like that could be so eye-opening and tantalizing about the potential that lies ahead. So you have to be cautious in saying all of a sudden he's going to be the best number two starter in the game, but he did throw 12 strike against walks and was absolutely dominant against Boston. So I think Schlittler can be, like I said, there you're you savage, which is to say both those guys are not throwing 175 innings.

Both teams will be careful for them. As we know, you're Savage is hurt right now because the shoulder impingement. So they'll be careful as far as easing him into the rotation. But both those guys are capable of being really, really strong, you know, guys for them. I think there could be very, very strong number threes for them. That's where I look at it because to me, if I'm in the blue, they go, Gossman and Cs, we're not giving two or $10 million a deal. It seems to be other than either an ACE or number two and Gospon starting opening day.

So $20 million for a number two starter. So you savage slots in as a particularly lethal number three as does Schlittler behind Cole and Freedom, maybe even Rodon. So I think that's an important way to look at it, is that it's not just what you think of their expectations, but where do they slot in? So Schlittler, you know, he's protected. He's a number four starter on a team that won 94 games a year ago. He should be able to thrive. If you look at the sports books and the odds to win the World Series, the Mariners, have better chance, have better odds at plus 1,200 at one book,

than the Toronto Blue Jays at plus 1,500. So they're pretty close, but the Mariners get the edge. Is that more about the division the Mariners are in versus the Blue Jays, or is that about the quality of team? Well, I think it is the quality of the team. I think if I look at Seattle, again, if I recommend, tell the tape of the Jays, everyone always oozes an odds of that Seattle's starting pitching it for good reason.

and just to be different, I'm calling Brian Wu to win the Sy Young, because I don't want to just be predictable, and say it's going to be Hunter Brown or Garrett Crochet. So Wu could be a siding order. That's how good their staff is, Logan Gilbert, Kirby, Castillo, et cetera, Mallory know what those guys are. Offensively, they made those big trades for Nailer and Swars. Gino didn't work out, of course, struggle with that part,

but you re-sign Naylor, and you've still got, hopefully, Julio Rodriguez, realizes the season starts April 1st, not June 1st, and J.P. Crawford's, and obviously, Raleigh coming off, a historic 60 home run, season. So I like everything about Seattle's team, including their bullpen and Andres Munoz. And that's my concern for the Blue Jays. They still didn't solve the closer position.

Hoffman is still the closer. Rogers is there an excellent pickup, but he's probably your setup guy. I mean, he does not throw smoke. I can't imagine a guy that throws 83 miles an hour is your closure. He's got that great arm's law right, some of the World Baseball Classic, coming from, you know, like Dan, Queens andbury back in the day. So I love a good side armor, but Rogers is helping the bullpen as to the full season of Louis Varlane. But again, is still your closer. So I like Seattle more than Toronto because they've got the better closer. And I do think the Blue Jays are hurt by the absence of Bob Bichette.

I think he'll struggle at third base of New York. He doesn't have a strong enough army, doesn't die for balls. Okamoto might have a higher war because he could be a gold glover, and he'll have 15 to 20 home runs and at 27, 280. But Bo Bichette hits 311. Like, it wasn't Aaron Judge. He's a batting champion. So you take him off that team, and Sontan Dair is not there. I do think the Toronto offense is relying heavily on the continued maturation of guys like Addison Barger.

and hoping that George Springer doesn't regress and Vladdy becomes a true MVP. So I do like Seattle's team a little better, but you're right. You do have a better division as well. The ALE's an absolute gauntlet. I can see four teams 500 or better, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Toronto. We're speaking to Adnan, Virk, from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We've buried the lead a little bit with our season preview

because the biggest story going into this season is the debut of the automatic ball strike system. we've seen it in practice in spring training people wanted to see it at the World Baseball Classic especially in that game between the Dominican Republic and Team USA but we're going to get it now

how fundamentally different is this going to make the game well I think the Dominicans will be thrilled because Mike after what happened the World Baseball Classic that last strike to Earl Doemo they still wish that game was going one-one game against the Americans but it's going to be fascinating you know especially

I'm always fearful of losing challenges whether it comes to football or baseball, whatever the sport is. My God, God, you lose that challenge. Now we're screwed. You know, hockey, you get charged a penalty now. Oh, my God. So I'm always nervous, Nelly about it.

I would never really want to challenge it. It's so obvious as it was in a Perdomal called three. Chris Hale himself said he'll never challenge. Never. It's not my job. Because I think everything's a strike. So it's not up to me. It's up to the catcher who really knows the strike so well

and perhaps the manager as well. So I think it's going to be fascinating. I have already kind of nostalgic fellas. I like the fact you say certain umpires, a pitcher's umpires. certain umpires a haters umpire and it would alter how you to approach the game now it's not going to be that way so we're getting a little bit more cold a little more clinical we're more like how 9000 now in cooper's 2001 everything's about technology technology technology the good news is this it is quick just like in tennis boom quick replay ball or strike we move on so i do like the fact it should not bog down games and will it get things more accurate yes it should i'm going to miss the days when the umpire made like clearly a bad call in the first inning and then he's like that's a strike zone today. Like we're, you know, it was way

outside and it's like we're having a wide strike zone today. I mean, you do miss a little bit of that. Yeah, when Tom Clavillow was pitching broth, it was hysterical. Like, he'd go outside, outside, by the end, it was a foot outside. And he was going to call the strike. What are we doing here? But

I'm with you, man, I'm entertained by it. At least as what they always say, the cliche we've heard the beginning of time. Well, as long as he's calling it fair for both sides. I'm like, amen. If it's just a big zone for everybody, Let's go. Let's get this game moving. Two and a half hours. I like it. The unintended consequences are what I'm fascinated about, because I think that you're right on, it's not going to bog the game down or slow it down. The replays are pretty quick and they're very effective and efficient and all that.

There's going to be the strategy part of it, which I think is interesting. For example, let's say a guy is 3-2 at the plate and its base is loaded and he goes down looking like strategically, you're almost always going to challenge that call. not necessarily that you think it was a ball when it was a strike. You're mostly guessing that you're hoping it'll be like a tenth of an inch out of the strike zone because it makes sense to challenge in that situation. Like it's not necessarily a good eye. It's guessing right. And those are the sort of in-game in-games that I'm really curious about

because at times it's going to be less about, you know, I know that that was a ball when it was a strike or vice versa. And it's going to be like, this is the time to take a chance on this because I guess it's a high leverage challenge situation. Yeah, it's a great point. Like, I remember watching, again, that WBC final and that play there at second base, and I was pretty sure the runner was safe from Venezuela,

but I knew that Dero was challenging because as you said, it was a high-leverage chance. So, like, he's probably safe, but why not? Like, this is the high-pinning. It's a two-two game. So maybe we get lucky, and they'll blow the call and call them out. So I'm completely with you. Sometimes it's not even about whether or not it's right or wrong.

Why would he challenge it? Because he knows this is the game. If that play goes the way it stands, they're screwed anyway. So, you might as well burn the challenge when you can. You're right, that's a part of it. The other big story going into this season, of course, the Los Angeles, Dodgers, and their quest for the three-peat. And I guess it's fitting that the Dodgers are such a huge story going into a season

that's also going to have the looming specter of a labor stoppage, potentially, at the end of it. But let's focus on the Dodgers for now. The numbers, the projected numbers on the Dodgers are wild. I think baseball prospectus has them at 103 wins. I think every significant projection, including fan graphs and everything else, says that they're going to win the West easily. They've got a pretty good percentage chance of winning the World Series. They've won the NL West in 12 of the last 13 years.

Are you envisioning another year like last year where they sort of sleepwalk their way to 90 plus wins? They get into the postseason. And then when they get there, you realize like, oh, it's the Dodgers. They're loaded and it's their title to lose. Yeah, you know, it's one of the situations a year ago, was 110 wins, and they won 93. The Blue Jays won more games than the Dodgers, which is why, incredibly, they had a home field advantage at Rogers Center,

and unfortunately all that went. So this year, that number's gone down, Mike, right? 103, 102.1, 2.5, whatever it is, I'm still taking the under. They could be a 100-win team, but that's still the under, to me. They don't care that much for the regular season. They just want to kind of get in the playoffs, figure things out, make sure the pitching staff's healthy, and then bam, like a python will just strike.

It's remarkable how talented of this team is. I know it's annoying. I know it's frustrating. I'm right there with everybody else. But the other day, the fact you get to watch the Beatles, it's pretty cool. Like they've got Yamamoto and Glassnow and Snow and Otani. That's your top four starters. That's ridiculous.

And I add Kyle Tucker for $60 million a year and he's your fourth-best position player, like maybe even fifth. It's hilarious. Like, Mookie Betts, is healthy this year. Hopefully he has a stronger season. Freddie Freeman we love, even though he didn't play for Canada, WBC. He has been a good patriot in that respect. second last year, that six-year contract.

He's not slowing down. Otani's probably going to his fifth MVP, and they all-star catcher nobody talks about. Will Smith, the Oscar and Ann is still bangs home runs. Max Muncie's there. So ultimately, they're going to win the division, but they're not going to push themselves. They're going to go crazy.

Look at the luxury they have of Roki Sasaki. But an ERA of like 15 as a starting pitcher, Doc, like, yeah, we're going to start him. Like, why not? That'd be sex with somewhere else. We've already have our closure. We've got Edwin Diaz. He's one of the best closures in baseball.

Tanner Scott, they gave like $70 million to be a close. he was awful. Well, he'll be a setup guy. We don't need Rokie Sasaki's a sock in the ball, but even though he was very effective there in the postseason. I'll make him a starter. Give him a couple months, if he stinks, we'll figure it out. That is the hundreders way. The regular season, they're just playing around and just setting everything up for the playoffs

and then they pounce again. It's crazy. Well, it's great to be talking baseball with you again, Adnan. I know this city in particular really got into baseball last year, and it was great with the Mariners and the Blue Jays both having great years. We still tease Laddie a little bit about the Blue Jays and how it all ended.

Just so close, Laddie. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. It just couldn't get. I mean,

one of the, one of the cruelest losses I've ever seen. But I also am looking forward to chatting movies with you again. I am thinking in the next few days of going to see Project Hail Mary. Have you seen this yet? I have it. It's so funny. Our friend Andy Cole asked me that just before we locked on.

And it's like the first big movie of the year, right? Like I was focused as so many were on the Oscar movies and catching all those. Now it's like, all right, we can officially turn the page. It's one battle after another. PTA gets his rightful coronation, the three Oscars. What's 2026 going to give us? And this is the first big spectacle and university getting rave reviews. I haven't seen it yet.

I'll tell you why I'm skittish. A critic who I love named Ty Burr said it's very sentimental and shades of ET. And then another critic of Owen Glyberman said, quite frankly, it's not a good movie. So I'm hesitant and I sell a two and a half hour runtime ago. Oh, geez. So I would like to see it at some point. I assume I will because these kind of movies, if you can't say, well, I'll wait until streaming.

Oh, no, then don't even bother watching it. Like, if you're going to go see it, go watch it in the big theater on the IMAX and enjoy your popcorn and slushy. So I hope to get to it the next week or so. But I'm a little worried because a couple people who I trust are saying it's not good, but most of people are saying it's very good. So I know it's not like, I don't know if you, what will you describe this as?

It's just, it's not Oscar-type movie. But I really enjoyed The Martian. Like it was just that, that for me was. Because that was movie escapism. And maybe it's because of the Canucks season. I need a bit of an escape. And I feel like this one could offer me that. Are you a fan of those escapist-type movies?

Or are you more into serious cinema? No, no, I like a good escapist movie. But I'm with you that if you like The Martian, you're probably like this because it's the same writer. So the guy I wrote The Martian wrote this as well. So it feels similar and has echoes of it. the directors, by the way, the Lord Brothers, those guys did like the Lego movies, so they've done like animation. This is like a really big budget film, but, I mean, huge success so far at the box out of it.

It's like wild number. They were $110 million that open that. So it's indicative of the fact people want to go to the movies and do something. And CheerPoint on Escapeism in the Canucks season to dovetail it to the Blue Jays in Toronto as well. Both of those markets, Vancouver and Toronto are aching for baseball. The Canucks and Leaves aren't doing anything, so you're right. If ever there was a time, people are paying attention to baseball in April, This is it for both Toronto and Seattle, obviously,

with all the people in Vancouver, sharing for the Mariners. Adnan, enjoy opening night tonight, man. Getting excited for it. Thanks for doing this. Can't wait to see. What will Barry Vaughn say? We'll all find it together. Thanks, boys.

See you, buddy. Adnan, Verk from MLV Network on Sportsnet 650, a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. Angry Otter Liquor has the bases covered with a game day lineup of beer, wine, and spirits, and a great selection of non-alcoholic favorites. visit angry otterlicker.cr.cr.

I'm seeing Project Hailmary on IMAX today, and I'm very excited. I was thinking of going tonight as well. Where are you going? Which theater? Scotia Banks is mine. It's just downtown. The I'm ex there opened up. It's my home turf.

Well, it's the theater I've always gone to anyways. See what his name on. They finally gave it at IMAX last year. Which show are you going? I'm going to an afternoon showing. What time specific is sold out? Maybe a little day. Maybe a little day.

I don't want to say on the air, just in case, you know. I'll be like, you-hoo. Hello. No, I'm going with my dad. I'm excited. I mean, I'm biased, obviously, as a big sci-fi nut, so this is my kind of movie. So I'd understand if somebody didn't like sci-fi, wouldn't care about it. Apparently, it's like a cross between interstellar and E.T.

So that's kind of the vibe you're going for. It's a mix of those two movies, and you said the same author is Hail Mary. But the reviews have been. The Martian, yeah. Yeah, but I'm saying the author of Hail Mary wrote The Martian. Yeah, but the reviews have been incredible. Like, Stellar, if you go on Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see it. I think it's 95% average.

score. So I mean, the reviews are very high. And the thing I love the most that I've heard the most about so far that I'm really happy about is there's no CGI. It's all practical effects. It was all actually filmed in space. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. There's a real alien. Very expensive. Yeah. But what I'm saying is like the alien is not CGI. It's a puppet. And that may sound like, well, who cares? But I mean, it's like, it's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's not quite a mop. It's not quite a puppet. Man, oh man. But what, but what that does is it allows you to sort of like buy into the fact that, hey, there's something there. Like, it's a tangible thing you're looking at. It's not just some CGI effect. And apparently that really helped with Gossing's performance as well.

I was watching an interview he did where he was like, yeah, like half the time I was acting, I thought this was a real creature in front of me. And that helps with his performance. And so I'm really excited to see how they pull it off without any CGI. It looks really cool. Okay, I got to do the smart decision brought to you by Crow, your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Tonight, opening night, major league baseball, we're going to see if Buster Posey made a smart decision or not because his hire as the manager is a very fascinating one. I don't know if we covered this story enough when he got hired, but Tony Vitello is the new manager of the San Francisco Giants. He is the first college coach to become a major league manager without any previous pro experience since the Boston Red Sox hired a guy named George Huff in 1907.

How to work out for him? I don't know. The record books don't even go that far back. It was just the higher. And then after that, there was like, there was wars. So I don't know what happened. But this is a long time coming where the guys jumped straight from NCAA baseball to the pros. And he's going to get a chance to coach his first MLB game tonight, 47 years old.

It's Tony Vitello. I don't know how this decision is going to turn out. It's a big move by Buster Posey, one of the first big ones that he's had in recent memory running the baseball ops for the San Francisco Giants. but we'll see what happens tonight as his Major League Baseball career kicks off. That is your smart decision brought to you by Crow. Smart Decisions lasting value. Learn more at crowmachai.cai.ca. Hour two of the program in the books.

On the other side, Thomas Drance is going to join us for some Canucks talk. You're listening to the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. So we're getting a little bit more cold, a little more clinical. Everything's about technology, technology, technology. Is it any wonder people are afraid of technology? Technology! Oh my God.