Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Now Has The Best Two QBs In The CFL

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

In hour one, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they hear from Nathan Rourke, who spoke to the media after practice yesterday (6:00), plus they talk some baseball and movies with MLB Network & Cinephile Podcast's Adnan Virk (26:10). 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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- Cut out and missed, and that'll do it. Combinense strikes out Mickey Moniak, and the Blue Jays complete the three-game sweep here in Anaheim. You know, I wanted to be in a situation where I felt like I could move up, and there's so few opportunities in the league. There it is, a little number. That might work. Victor drops down. Victor scores everybody up 90 feet. RBI single.

Julio Rodriguez. Good morning. It is how rough you're on Sportsnet. 6.50. Jamie Dodd. Josh Elliott is here once again. What's going on, Josh? Good morning.

How you doing? I'm chilling. How are you? I'm glad to hear that you're chilling. That's fantastic. I'm glad you're relaxed at work. Do you want me to be stressed out? Well, I want you to be engaged.

I'm engaged. Okay, good. My headphones are a little weird to start. I want you to be taking it seriously. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insinuate that. Oh, I'm just kicking back with my feet up at work here. We do that often. You do that often.

That's true. I do do that often. A-Dog, good morning. Good morning. And a very special good morning to Basketball Ben. The last shift ever for Basketball Ben at Sportsnet 650. How are you feeling, man? Bittersweet.

Like, excited for what's to come, but it was definitely a weird drive in this morning to be like, wow, this is kind of the last dance. The last dance. It'd be funny if he was like, if he was like, oh man, I'm super stoked. So excited. Not even going to lie to you guys.

I can't wait to go. I got to be honest. I've never had a job where the last day was bittersweet. I've only ever been excited. So has said this they're like this is crazy dude this is not normal and i'm like i'm quite sad to be leaving that's how you know you have a good job yeah it's seriously it's the dream job normally i'm like sprinting out the door like bye see you suckers i'm out of here when i finish the job when i left best buy i was a little i was a little upset mainly because I had a lot of friends there

though, and I believe it's probably the same with you, Ben. Yeah, I mean, I got friends here too. I was like that at EB Games, but mostly just because I couldn't get cheap games anymore. You missed the discount. That was the other part of Best Buy. Leaving Best Buy, I was like, oh! Discount, gone. That would have been nice. Halford & Brough is brought to you by

the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec, that is what you're waiting for. 650-650, of course, is the Dunbar Lumber text line.

Get your submissions in now. Never too early for a What We Learned. Hashtag WWL. What you've learned over the last 24 hours in sports. We got a big guest list on the show today. A diverse guest list, I would say. At 6.30, our Thursday regular, Adnan Virk, joins us from the MLB Network and Cinephile Podcast.

Lots to talk about with Adnan around the world of Major League Baseball. Josh debuted a scorching hot baseball team. I want to walk back immediately. I did more research. I'll take mercy and I won't bring it up on air to Adnan, but we'll talk about it. Is this his Elias Pedersen take of baseball? It might be.

We'll talk about it at some point on air, but I won't bring Adnan into it. That's my olive branch to you. But anyways, we'll talk to Adnan about baseball. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook from NFL.com. 7.30, Pat Coyle. He's the head coach of the Junior A Coquitlam Adinax. Coquitlam hosting

the Minto Cup in La Crosse coming up this week. So we'll talk to Pat Coyle about that. His squad had a really, really successful playoff run in the B.C. Junior A lacrosse league as well. So exciting times for lacrosse. Pat Coyle's at 730. And then at 8 o'clock, comedian Jerry D.

He's going to be, imagine this, the first ever comedian to be a part of the P&E Summer Nights concert series. I just imagined it. They've never had a comedian. They bent their rules. Only music acts until Jerry D. Wow. Incredible. That's right.

That's right. So we'll talk to Jerry D at 8 o'clock. Working in reverse at 8. Comedian Jerry D at 7.30. Pat Coyle, head coach of the Junior A. Coquitlam Adinax. 7 o'clock. Nick Shook from NFL.com.

6.30, it is Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile Podcast. Before we do any of that, let's talk about what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how

busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit bccsa.ca. We'll start local here, and we've been following this story obviously intently all week. Nathan Rourke is back with the BC Lions. He practiced with the team for the first time yesterday,

and of course as part of that spoke to the media as well. And we've had a chance to hear from Rick Campbell, both in scrums and interviews. Neil McEvoy was on our show yesterday as well. So we've gotten the team's perspective and kind of some insight from them into maybe what was driving Nathan Rourke's side of things as well. But we haven't really had a chance to hear from Rourke specifically. So interesting to hear him take some questions from the assembled media after practice yesterday. We'll play a couple of clips here, and we'll start with, I think,

one of the, you know, understandably one of the first questions he was asked because it's one of the most interesting ones was just why was this the right time for him to come back and join the BC Lions? You know, I wanted to be in a situation where I felt like I could move up, and there's so few opportunities in the league. You know, I think in 23 it was we look back on that and see it as a success. And I moved up. I was able to go to a team, into a position where I was the second guy.

And that was an improvement from the beginning of the year. But as soon as 24, I moved around. I was in some tough situations with some coaching changes. And kind of moving around, never really got settled. And was at that point realizing that you know i was missing missing uh some reps and missing some opportunities and um you know felt like that might be a good time to start considering other options so that point there he makes at the end where it's like okay i've gone so long now that it's it might be hurting my development at this point right like as he, missing reps and good situation to start with the Jaguars,

but then the NFL, it can be a tough world, right? As he says, coaching changes, personnel changes, all of this, and then all of a sudden you're on this kind of carousel that he found himself on where there's no real opportunities presenting themselves. And I think part of what he's talking about there is just like, okay, I want to compete as well. I'm not getting a chance to compete. But then also just purely from a developmental standpoint you got

to play you got to take snaps you got to be making throws or you're not going to be getting any better yeah he's not like an old quarterback like he still has time to develop and that's why when he went to the nfl it was like hey maybe he finds a team that gives him time to develop and he can grow into a role obviously that didn't happen this time going south of the border, but it's difficult too because you kind of need someone going to bat for you. Yes. You need someone really invested in you who's like, I've identified this guy.

I see something in him. He is worth having around and giving a chance to. And most of the time for NFL teams, that's a guy they just drafted or someone that whoever's coaching a team like coached in college or or whatever and obviously rourke wasn't able to find that so now he has to prove that his talent is so undeniable that a team has to give him a shot and the only place to do that because he wasn't getting that opportunity would be in the cfl and that's why it makes a lot of sense for him to come back to BC.

And even if he doesn't ever end up going back down to the NFL, it's still like, hey, you at least gave it a shot. And this is you coming back trying to, like, he wants to go back to the NFL in the long term if we're all being real. So this is you giving yourself the best chance at possibly doing that in the future. Yeah, and he's also like, again, he's getting paid. You know what I mean?

And I mean, I don't know exactly what the minimum salary is in the NFL right now, but it's probably right around what he's going to make in the CFL, right? In 2021, it was $660,000. Or sorry, last year, it was $750,000. Yeah, so it's probably gone up slightly since then. But again, that's basically what he's going to be making in the CFL. And that's USD. Yeah, that's a good point.

So that's fair enough. So he's taking a pay cut. Yeah, he's taking a pay cut. But I mean, I don't know if you get that if you're on the practice squad, though, necessarily. I'm not sure that you would. Yeah, that's just the minimum salary probably for a roster spot. Anyway, so it makes a lot of sense from that frame, right?

Where it's not as if you're taking a big financial pay cut to come back and you get the chance to actually compete, which is so important for professional athletes. And you get a chance to maybe remind some people around the NHL or NFL, hey, there's a reason actually why a lot of teams were interested in signing me. Why the Jaguars did decide to sign me and see if you can create an opportunity that way. By the way, practice squad salary last year was $300,000. So he's making significantly more. He's making more by coming back to the CFL than hanging around on a practice squad. So I think that is a big deal for him as well. The other part of this, of course, that's really fascinating. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

I do wonder if we'll hear from Vernon Adams on this at some point as well. But anyways, of course, with two of the best quarterbacks in the league, arguably the best two quarterbacks in the league on the roster now, of course, that's going to be a conversation point. Nathan Rourke asked about the situation with Vernon Adams. Here's what he had to say. I've got just the most amount of respect for V.A. He's such a pro ever since I've known him.

When he came in for me in 22, at the end of 22, he was a pro. Everything he's done up until this point, he's been a pro about it. He's a guy, type of leader, and type of person that I aspire to be in the locker room. He's been great. I think the timing is good in terms of him not being 100%. We need him for this playoff run that we're hopefully about to go on. And we're going to need everyone healthy, and he's no exception. So I think let him rest and kind of see what happens.

But at the end of the day, I think he's done a fantastic job, and I respect the hell out of him for it. That's Nathan Rourke talking about Vernon Adams. And again, I think the key there, and this is something we've heard from Neil McEvoy, Rick Campbell as well, is just that focus on kind of having the ultimate insurance policy, right? Like this is a team that is dead set all in on going to the Grey Cup, competing for the Grey Cup this year.

And look, is it how you would draw it up on your roster? Not necessarily, but both of these guys have been injured before. So keep them around. Try to keep everyone as happy. And if you need somebody in the playoffs, down the stretch, whatever it is, to take a few snaps, you've got a really, really good backup in-house if you have to go that route. Yeah, it's like the greatest insurance plan you could have and that's like i i still question like hey having two quarterbacks of this level on the same roster if that's the best use of talent i guess and if there's a better way to allocate that via trade whatever it is but regardless if this is how you're

going to roll for the rest of the season i there there is a world where hey like these guys do get injured at times obviously vernon adams is currently injured and there is a world where it makes sense to have two elite quarterbacks like this especially when you're a team again great cup at bc place you want to be there there's so much kind of like internal pressure i'd assume on you being there at the great cup so you kind of got to do everything in your power to make sure you have the best shot at making it and if having two quarterbacks of this talent level is what makes you believe you have your best shot then i guess it makes sense a couple of other just

quick highlights from nathan rorke said i feel like i'm a better thrower than i was two years ago which should be scary for CFL defenses to hear, considering what he did to the league a couple of years ago. Also said he's doing his best, quote, to get acclimated as soon as possible. Didn't confirm I'm going to be starting the game against Winnipeg, but he sure sounded that way, right? Just like kind of a relentless focus on preparing for Winnipeg on Sunday. Also, the Lions released backup quarterback Jake Doligali yesterday

who started their last game. So they released the last guy who started. Vernon Adams is not 100% healthy. You know, you can connect the dots there. Nathan Rourke is definitely starting on Sunday. I'm pretty sure Nathan Rourke is going to be starting that game on Sunday, and it's going to be fascinating. I'll throw to you, like, we talked about the most outstanding player odds thing yesterday.

What are your kind of immediate – should we expect him to just come back and be peak 2022 Nathan Rourke right from his first snap on Sunday? I don't think so. I kind of think we should, to be honest. Fair enough. It's a really high bar. I'm totally expecting it. It's not like he's been away from football and I know he hasn't been getting

the reps he's wanted to and stuff, but he's still been in camps. But you gotta get like chemistry with your receivers and everything. It's like he's really good. I don't think he's gonna be bad. Yeah, fair enough. No, I'm just kidding. I don't think he's gonna be bad on Sunday, but I just don't think he'll be like most outstanding player level Nathan Rourke

on Sunday. I think he'll be passable and just fine on Sunday and he'll show glimpses of like,ke, on Sunday. I think he'll be passable and just fine on Sunday, and he'll show glimpses of, like, hey, the following weeks of what he will be, but I think this week it's like, hey, if you can win the game, that's a huge win. Do you think he can win most of the standing player?

I 100% think he can get, like, 10 wins. There's not enough time. Rattle off a massive win streak, and he's racking up numbers like he did in 2022. He's probably going to win it. Josh, he comes out there on Sunday, throws for 400 plus yards, four or five TDs. Lions win like nine games, 10 games rest of the season. Right.

How do you not give it to him? So my thing is just... That's my bar. My bar is like, that's amazing. You're an amazing player. You're a very important player you got to play more than half the season to win mvp in my eyes and that's like if that's not how people look at it when they're talking about most outstanding player that's fine but i think the

other part of it is its most outstanding player not most valuable player and you got to be outstanding like if you're going to be the most outstanding player, I think you need the full season. Whereas you could be the most valuable player to a team in half a season. So I don't know. I don't know. I'm not there. This is a completely, I mean,

like it should always be called most outstanding player. That's a good point. That's a separate conversation for everything. But that's one of the things the CFfl absolutely gets right compared to other leagues uh in major league baseball mariners lose in extras 3-2 to the tigers and like almost simultaneously as that was happening the astros win in extras against the rays those games ended just moments apart so we'll get to the standings implications of that in a second here but i think it's worth kind of drilling down on the loss from a Mariners perspective a little bit here familiar story for the Mariners their starting pitching was excellent and it was Brian Wu not even one of the big three right of Castillo

Kirby and Gilbert who they're kind of counting on to carry them and if they do get to the playoffs to be so dangerous like again not even one of their best three starters, but a really exciting young pitcher they have. Through seven shutout innings, he was fantastic. Six strikeouts, no walks, only four hits in those seven shutout innings. Mariners go into the eighth with a 2-0 lead. Blue Jays sleeper agent Jimmy Garcia comes in, blows the lead. I'll show you. Gives up a pair.

So it's tied going into extras, and then the Tigers win it in the bottom of the 10th. And it's, again, just the same problems over and over and over again, continuing to plague the Mariners, a lack of hitting, and the bullpen. Now, I will say yesterday, as frustrating as it is to blow a two-run lead in the eighth, it's also hard to blame the pitching staff. I get it. That sucks.

But the lineup scored two runs. So, yeah, relievers aren't going to be perfect. The standard cannot be perfection from your bullpen. They're going to give up a couple of runs here or there. And if that is such a problem that it completely torpedoes your chance to win, that's not so much on the bullpen. That's on the lineup. And after that 12 run outburst on Sunday,

they've gone on to score three runs in the next couple of games. Another piece of bad news for the Mariners yesterday, Julio Rodriguez, his third game back after being out with the high ankle sprain leaves the game after apparently re aggravating the injury. Now this is an interesting one. It doesn't sound like he's going to miss time. Scott Service after the game, though not exactly encouraging,

he says Julio wants to play. He's not going to hurt it any worse. That's what I've been told. So he's going to have to grind through it. So it sounds like you can expect him to be a fixture in the lineup, but if he's grinding through coming back from a high ankle sprain and he might have to leave games here or there how effective will he really be and you know I think like a lot of people I've been expecting Julio to get hot to go on a tear at some point we

know he has that in him look what he did around this time of year last season and how much it meant for the Mariners and I think like the Mariners are going to need him to do that they need him to be one of the best players in baseball for a stretch like he's shown he can, but can he do that while battling a high ankle sprain? And that's really the biggest question in the Mariners season remaining for me. And it's almost gone the opposite way, too, where it's detrimental to have him in the lineup at times for the Mariners. And we've seen this, if you're a Blue Jays fan, with Vladdy and Bo Bichette at times, Bo Bichette especially this year,

where it's just like, man, you are just having no luck at all. Things are not going your way. But for the Blue Jays, at least, you're like, well, they didn't make the playoffs, like not going to make the playoffs. So I guess at this point it doesn't matter. Whereas with Julio, you look at it, you're slowly slipping out of the playoff picture and you know the one thing you need is just to score a few more runs a game and your x factor is julio

rodriguez and he just and look i'm not fully blaming him for like being injured right now but he also just hasn't really been good it wasn't good before good at all this year and so it's it's really frustrating if you're a Mariners fan looking at this and I don't know if you can really buy stock in Julio fixing any part of his game this year it's tough yeah I think your best case scenario of Julio probably at this point is okay this is kind of a lost year for him and then he gets back on track going into next season and it's not fair to pin the offensive struggles and the slide and the standings for the Mariners on Julio individually because there's so many other problems with the lineup, right?

Like he's far from the only issue with their offense. But at the same time, when you emerge as the face of the franchise, when you sign the type of deal that he did, there's an expectation that you're going to be able to carry the team through rough stretches, right? That you're going to be able to carry the team through rough stretches, right? That you're going to be one of the solutions and not one of the problems. And unfortunately, he has been one of the problems for the team this year. Now, again, through no fault of his own dealing with an injury, man, I have major, major questions about what's that that's going to do for his effectiveness down the stretch here. And that's tough for the

Mariners, because as I mentioned, the Astros win last night, the Royals that's tough for the Mariners because, as I mentioned, the Astros win last night. The Royals win, too. So the Mariners now two and a half back of the Astros in the AL West. They're three back of the Royals in the wildcard race. They've also got the Red Sox in between them and the Royals, so they'd have to jump over both of those teams to make the wild card spot. Fangrass have their playoff odds at 38.4%, which is not inspiring.

No, that's below 50. Well off their peak. There were more than a 91% chance to make the playoffs back in June, of course, when they had that 10-game lead. So that is a big, big-time slide in a couple of months here, and they've got to figure out something. There's been kind of ups and downs in that period, there's been times where i mean just earlier this week we were talking about hey the vibes have really shifted they've got some momentum here they

found something all of a sudden it looks a lot more positive boom you go out and you scored three combined runs in the next two games and it feels a lot worse than it did even earlier this week yeah but it can also go the other way just as quickly, right? And you play the Pirates. There you go. From Friday to Sunday. So that's nice. Make up some games there.

But then you play the Dodgers and Giants, and that's a little more difficult. Yeah, the vibes have shifted rather quickly, but that also happens for any team at this point of the season in Major League Baseball, especially when you're trying to climb back into a playoff spot and you're in and around the wild card. You're going to have to get some luck

as the season goes on, and you're going to have to have, especially if you're the Mariners and you need runs, somebody random is going to have to emerge on your team. But the tough part is that Victor Robles has kind of already done that, and it hasn't been enough to move the needle. You've got to do it again. Like another Victor Robles to emerge out your team. But the tough part is that Victor Robles has kind of already done that. And it hasn't been enough to move the needle.

Like another Victor Robles to emerge out of nowhere. And that's why it's like, the nice part of all of this is, and we can maybe talk to Adnan about it, is if you can find a way into the playoffs, pitching is what wins playoff games.

So if you can get there, maybe you can legitimately have a shot in the postseason but you still have to get there yeah and that's kind of the that's obviously the most difficult thing in their path right now uh elsewhere in major league baseball it doesn't really mean much at this point but jay's win nine two they sweep the Angels in LA. Vladdy stays absolutely red hot with a double and a home run. He was 3-5 on the night with a couple

extra base hits, as I said. It's kind of weird. Would you rather the best player on your team be having a Vladdy season where he's been amazing, but it doesn't matter because the team's not going anywhere, or a Julio season where it's like, ah, he could be the difference between us going to the playoffs or not. It's just like two different flavors of frustrating.

I'm enjoying watching Vladdy hit like this, but a part of me is also like, who cares? Yeah, like do it in April and May and June next year and try to put this team actually in a playoff position or at least a position to compete for the playoffs. That would be awfully nice. But anyways, Jays beat the angels nine two uh quick update from the little league world series which got underway yesterday in williamsport in pennsylvania a little timmy do hey you're the little timmy expert still looking good i don't want to talk about it never mind shouldn't have brought it up you know consult your notes on little timmy wally who i'm focused on of course bc's team representing canada at the little little league

world series uh tough first game for wally this was always going to be the case as i mentioned they were playing chinese type a that is a historically excellent team at this tournament they win a lot they're always very very good they're a powerhouse so they lose eight nothing to chinese type a uh look again as i lose 8-0 to Chinese Taipei. Look, again, as I said, a little bit to be expected here. Wally's next game on Saturday against the loser of Japan and Puerto Rico. So that's probably going to be a tough game too, but still time for Wally to turn their tournament around and have a good showing at the Little League World Series.

And really, I mean, they're at the Little League World Series. That's cool. That's cool. Clutch up. Clutch up right now. I know you have it in you, Wally. Represent Surrey. Come on.

Do it. Don't embarrass us on the world stage. No. No. We're proud of you guys. The big takeaway being like, oh, man, that was embarrassing. No. No.

Never. Get out of here. All right. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. Adnan Virk will talk more chat with Adnan

It's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Red Nen. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about

all the films he's seen. That's right, welcome back. Alfred Abruf here, Sportsnet 650 with Jamie Dodd and Josh Elliott-Wolf. Alfred Abruf here. Sportsnet 650 with Jamie Dodd and Josh Elliott-Wolf. Alfred Abruf is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line.

The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome details at dumbarlumber.com. Send your What We Learn submissions in now. We will do that at 830. But as you heard, as you can tell from the music, it is, of course, time to chat with our guy, Adnan Vir from the MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast. Adnan, thank you as always for doing this. How are you?

Jamie, Josh, good to be with you guys as always. How are things? Things are going well. Mariners lose last night, and it's been kind of this bit of a roller coaster here for the Mariners, right? Coming off a four-game win streak. Now they drop a few in a row here.

And last night, you know, Julio Rodriguez has to leave the game after aggravating that high ankle sprain he was just coming back from. And, you know, Julio Rodriguez has to leave the game after aggravating that high ankle sprain he was just coming back from. And, you know, it sounds like based on what Scott Service was saying that he'll be fine. He'll be able to play, but it's going to be something he has to fight through. And, you know, they've needed Julio Rodriguez to get hot, to go on a tear here at some point. If he's battling an ankle injury, it's going to be tough for him to do that, I think. I mean, how damaging is that? And there's just the condition and the health of Julio Rodriguez to the Mariners trying to keep pace in this playoff race.

Well, it's critical. I mean, he's your best player for good reason. And much of the year he's slumped just as it's been in his brief career. It kind of gets off to slow starts. Remember last year, the second half, he was incredible. He was like a top-10 MVP finalist. That shows how great he can be when he gets hot. And this year, for one reason or another, inconsistencies, injuries, etc.,

he just hasn't put it together. And the fact that he'd been gone for a few weeks with a high ankle sprain, once he came back, it's good news. He struck out five times. It was terrible his first game back. Second game, I think he had one hit. And you can even see him. I was watching him in that game.

He had one ground. It was not 100%. He was not running fully. So clearly he is not 100%. And that's why I'm not totally surprised that he re-aggravated the injury because that's what happens, right? Guys want to get back in the lineup. He's truly a gamer.

He wants to be there. But I think he's critical to their playoff hopes. I can't imagine a scenario in which Seattle wins the division and Julio Rodriguez isn't at least some part of it. Like if he's gone, then I would almost kiss their playoff chances goodbye. And it seems very much so that if they're going to get in, it's going to be because of the division. Because the wild card, I think it's going to be a little bit tricky.

It's either the Orioles or the Yankees. I think it's going to be the Twins. And that's either the Orioles or the Red Sox. I don't think the Mariners will have the record to match those teams. So I think it's going to be the division or bust. And Houston has come on strong. The fact they won seven straight games going into last night they've always been playing hot it's going to be a challenge but hopefully julio gets healthy like you said scott service that's not a serious injury he's been about a league average offensive player this year if you

look at his numbers he's been he's been average they need to be well above average and at least be in that lot to make the playoffs i think part of it as well if you're a mariners fan looking at it is you look at the pitching staff and you're like man it's so tantalizing if you could just get to the postseason it feels like the starting rotation it could win you some games and maybe you could go on a run but the lineup just like isn't doing enough to get you to the playoffs how how big of a a part that? And if they did get to the postseason somehow, can the pitching staff be enough for them to go on a run? I think so. I think it definitely, you know,

absolutely challenged teams going on because of that pitching staff. But you're two and a half games back now, the division, which is like the largest late Houston's had in months. You're three games back of the wild card. And again, you've been playing good baseball. They'd won four straight until they got absolutely demolished. And that gave them 15 runs. George Kirby's one of my favorite pitchers.

Dark horse, MV, Cy Young candidate. But he got rocked. He got six runs in three and a third. It was awful all the way around. So when their pitching is rolling, when Logan Gilbert, who's been their best pitcher this season and an all-star, when Kirby, who has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in baseball this year. It's amazing.

8.6 strikeout-to-walk, which is nuts. Castillo hasn't been as strong this year, but he's still an elite pitcher. You put in Brian Wu and Bryce Miller. Those five together, if you looked at a series and said, okay, Yankees-Mariners, let's suppose, in a division series. And Judge and Soto are incredible, but you've got to face those guys? Like, good luck. Like, each of those guys can go deep in their lineup

and give you six, seven strong innings, and not to mention a pretty good bullpen. But you mentioned it exactly right, Josh. The problem is that their offense is just so woeful, and it's so underperforming. Now, Rosarena has been good. You know, he's been about 840 OPS, I looked at. So that's well above average as far as being a Mariner.

So he's given them a boost. Justin Turner has been okay so far, hasn't done a ton. So I looked at Mitch Garvin the other day. He's hitting a buck 68. Like, that is atrocious. I mean, that's tough to stomach when you're expecting a guy who's – he had some slug, and he was able to provide some power last year for the Twins.

I thought it was a decent pickup, but he's really struggled. You know, Kyle Rowley's been okay, but there's too many times you look at that live, you know, who's going to provide some offense, especially with Julio out. So it kind of reminds me of like an NFL team. The offense is great, but the defense stinks, or vice versa. You know, there's this real disconnect. The pitching is awesome, and they can win you games,

but it's going to be a 2-1 game because of the fact the offense just isn't there. Yeah, and as you mentioned, you know, the other part of this is who they're competing against in the division. And, you know, for a long time I kind of looked at it and said, I think they have a really good shot to make the playoffs just because I'm not sure how good Houston is either. Now, as you mentioned, Houston's hot. They've won eight in a row.

You look at run differential, they're significantly better than the Mariners in that category. How good is Houston? Are they a threat not just to win the division but to potentially make some noise to come out of the AL? Absolutely. That's the real fear right now for all the people who hate the Houston Astros. They go, oh, God, here we go again.

They just won their season-high eighth straight game. They've got their bullpen figured out. Now, Hader's going back to being Josh Hader after stumbling a little bit earlier on, so he's closing games. They've got Justin Berlander potentially returning, I believe, next week. He just threw a double-A, so he should be back next week. Again, he's an elite pitcher, even at this advanced age. Tromperval does really good.

Ronel Blanco has been a tremendous story. His opponent batting average is 183, which is tied to Luis Hill for the best in baseball. So with that trio, you feel pretty good. And then offensively, you know, Jordan's going back to being Jordan again. He's been awesome. Alex Bregman's had a great month, which is not surprising. His highest month in terms of batting average in his career

has been the month of August on OPS over 1,000. So Bregman's back to being Breggy again, and Jordan is awesome, and Jose Altuve is Altuve. Jeremy Pena's had a really strong last second half. So I absolutely look at the scenario where I say to myself, the Yankees, they're flawed. Too many guys are relying on that offense and judges, so the rest of the guys can't pick it up.

Their pitching-wise has been much more leaky. Cole hasn't been the same. Clay Holmes can be shaky. If I look at the Orioles, I go, man, after Corbin Burns, their starting rotation doesn't scare me. Kimbrell's now been demoted from the closure role. And you start to look around. Okay, Mariners, yep, not enough offense.

The Guardians, they've slumped recently. They're starting pitching as anything to sneeze at. Minnesota's too inconsistent. Casey and Boston probably a year away. You start to talk yourself into going, oh, my God, it's going to be the Astros again. It's going to be eight straight appearances in the ALCS because of course they're the Astros

and they could be in the World Series again. No doubt. You can never discount Houston. When I look at the wild card, there's the Royals there and I feel like we don't hear a lot about them outside of Bobby Wood Jr. being amazing. How legit are the Kansas City Royals this year?

They're legit. and it took me a while to come around on that because they lost 106 games last season. And just by logic, it dictates that you can't, even to be a 500 team, we're talking about a 25-win improvement. That's crazy. That's unheard of.

You can improve by 10 wins, 15 wins, okay, I'll buy it. But 25, no way. So what they're doing right now is incredible. Nothing's really incredible to have that kind of a turnaround. And it begins with their pitching. Cole Reagan's pitch last night, he's excellent. He's one of the more underrated starters in the game.

Seven strong innings, only one on a run. Eight strikeouts, no walks. He was awesome. They picked up Lugo. Obviously had a good bounce back here in the Padres. For three years, $45 million. That's one of the best-raising signings out there. He's in the sign-on conversation. He's top three right now. Tarek Skubal, I think,

is the favorite and will win, but Seth Lugo's right there. Michael Waka, obviously a former Cardinal, had great success. 2013, he was the NLCS MVP. He wasn't been that guy for years, but the Royals signed him too. Great. He's back. So they made some good shrewd off-season signings and they put together an underrated starting pitching staff that's been top five in American League for them.

And they're both installed some questions, but Witt's been out of his mind. I mean, if you ask anybody in Kansas City, he's the best player in baseball. He should be the MVP. Offensively, defensively, if you go by war, he's right there with Judge. I believe they're tied at 7.7. So that shows you how great Bobby Wood Jr. has been in just his second season. Last year, 30 homers, 49 stolen bases. He's going to be 30-30 again. And he does everything well. Plays a premium

position defensively, runs the bases like the wind, hits for power, hits for average. A classic 5-2-0 player. Sal Perez, still very effective as a catcher. He's been probably their second best hitter. He's thrown a little Vinny Pasquantino. MJ Melendez has been better recently, and all of a sudden you've got a team that can scare some teams. So I don't

think that they can go deep in the playoffs, but I was already shocked that they're in this position. And the fact that the Royals make the playoffs, I mean, that has to be one of the feel good stories this Major League Baseball season. Full kudos to JJ Piccolo, who runs that team, and as I said, made some shrewd signings.

I don't think anyone expected KC to be a playoff team, but here we are mid-August, and they look like it. And then shift in focus to the Yankees a little bit, right? When we talk about that team, first and foremost, it's Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. And I think even Juan Soto maybe not getting the attention he would if he wasn't on a team with Aaron Judge and what he's doing. But Juan Soto has the three home run night the other night, adds another one last night in Chicago.

He's having a phenomenal season with the Yankees. And I find this a little surreal, right, because they make the trade for him. He's 25. He's a superstar. He's playing incredibly well. He's living up to the pressure of being a Yankee and all that. And yet it doesn't seem 100% certain that they're going to sign this guy in free agency when he hits the open market this year. And again, like, you know, I was a young baseball fan in the late 90s and the early 2000s where the Yankees were just throwing money around to absolutely any star they could.

It seems very, very odd to me that there's a real conversation that the Yankees of all teams might go cheap and not pay this guy uh what he's asking is there really a chance of that happening i there's a chance of it but i but i can't ultimately not be what so does the yankee i don't think that jimmy's gonna give a hometown discount i think he's the kind of guy who's like no i'm going to get paid i'm gonna go get taken care of and that's the bottom line and i think that, you know,

in the past, as you said, the Yankees and Steinbrenner, they would just blow those guys out of the water. Just okay. Here's the number. Forget about it.

We don't care. And their teams are offering a hundred million. We'll offer dinner. We don't care what the Yankees, we're not going to get beat when George Steinbrenner was in charge in terms of denying free agents.

But I think in this instance, he's represented by Scott Forrest. We all know Scott's going to go to the highest bidder. So if the Yankees try to play cheap, that's not going to go well for them. They will find other suitors, whether it's the Mets, whether it's the Giants, whether it's the Dodgers, whether it's all those big market teams. The Red Sox, they haven't spent the last couple of seasons.

They only want to steal one Soto away. So he's going to command a massive price. Think about Judge got nine years 360. Soto is going to eclipse that, right? He turned down that deal to Nationals 15 years 440 mainly because Scott didn't like the AAV, the average annual value, was

less than $30 million a season. So let's go with the fact it's going to be at least $30, $35 million a season times 10 times 15. Like if you want, it could be like a 15-year, $500 million deal. That's not out of the question. He's going to get a half a billion dollars.

And he's been worth it, man. Seriously. The fact that he's 25 years of age, you know, he has a 1042 OPS. He's putting up gaudy numbers across the board. And yet doesn't leave the American League in any major category because of Judge. It's hysterical. Like, Judge hasn't beaten, like, average on base percentage, slugging percentage, walks. And yet Soto's having a season for the ages. So Soto has said Judge is the best hitter he's hysterical. Judge hasn't beaten average on base percentage, slugging percentage, walks, and yet Soto's having a season for the ages.

So Soto has said Judge is the best hitter he's ever seen. Judge is saying Soto's the best hitter he's ever seen. Both those guys are incredible. Obviously, Judge last night, fastest of 300 home runs in baseball history, 400 fewer at bats than Babe Ruth. It was a great moment because he intensely walked Soto. And I don't blame him because Soto had hit three home runs in the game previously against the White Sox.

Then he went deep again yesterday. Four home runs. You go, okay, that's what I'm tired of seeing this guy walk him. Oh, who's up next? Judge? Oh, my God. And a three-0 count just hammers that pitch. So if I'm the Yankees, there's no way in hell I've let this guy go.

I've got to keep judging Soto for years to come. They print money. They're the Yankees. Figure it out. I mean, I don't know how you do it. I understand there's luxury tax considerations. I got it. But it's Juan Soto for years to come. They print money. They're the Yankees. Figure it out. I mean, I don't know how you do it. I understand there's luxury tax considerations. I got it. But it's Juan Soto.

You got to move heaven and earth to keep this guy. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what the metric was, whether it was war or OPS, but I saw a stat going around on social media yesterday that Soto and Judge are having two of the best five Yankees seasons since the 1960s or 1950s, right? And it's like, yeah, the Yankees have had some pretty good players in that stretch. So that tells you a lot about the kind of years that those guys are having.

I wanted to ask you quickly about another pretty phenomenal baseball player, of course, Shohei Otani with the Dodgers. And he's going to go into the 40-40 club this year, right? By, you know, by all appearances, unless something weird happens, 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases. And I just find it wild that it's almost like, okay, he said, I'm not pitching this year, so I'm not doing one kind of unicorn thing. What's another super, super rare feat that I can accomplish to kind of keep myself entertained? Because there's only been five guys who have been in the 40-40 club, and now he's poised to join them.

We're like, what are the superlatives we're going to have to go to for shohei otani here it's incredible how he just keeps racking up these almost unprecedented accomplishments yeah i mean we were talking yesterday at 50 50 is not out of the question which is insane like he doesn't really get running and just get the green light all the time but but 40 40 of its own merit is insane. I still remember when Canseco did it back in 88, what an enormous accomplishment it was. And I remember my friend Harold Reynolds would tell me that he talked to some of the old school

ballplayers like the late Willie Mays. He said, listen, it was such a big deal. We could have done a 40-42. We just didn't think it was that big a deal. So I don't know if that's just sour grapes from some of the old timers, but it's a relatively new phenomenon that nobody had done it in baseball in the late 80s. And I've seen five guys do it, but I think it's incredible. When Alfonso

Suriano did it, I was amazed. That guy's not very big to be able to hit that many home runs. I see the steals, but not the home runs. With Otani, I see the home runs, but not the steals. I'm shocked he's that fast. He's able to be so smart about when to go. He's got the second most stolen bases in the league. I think that's something that really blows

my mind. Elie Delacruz is going to steal 80 bases this year. I did not think the second most stolen bases in the league. I think that's something that really blows my mind. I think De La Cruz is going to steal 80 bases this year. I did not think the second most stolen bases would be Otani. So he's absolutely the best player in baseball, even when including the Superlatives that I get to judge deservedly. As you said, whatever goal that Otani sets for himself, he's able to

match it and surpass it. It's insane. They say he's going to start resuming some throwing activities, throwing in October. He's not going to pitch, obviously, but recovering from. They say he's going to start resuming some throwing activities, throwing in October. He's not going to pitch, obviously, but recovering from Tommy John, he's going to start working on that. So just enjoy the fact as a hitter,

without having to worry about pitching, he's having easily his best season as a hitter. So next year, if the hitting goes down a little bit, but then we get the pitching back, with Otani, he's the gift that keeps on giving. It is Alfred Mbruff, joined by Adnan Virk of MLB Network and, of course, the Cinephile Pod

and I have a couple movie questions to throw your way before we let you go. I watched the new M. Night movie last night, Trap, and I don't know,

what were your thoughts on it? Because I was, maybe I went in with too high of expectations but I was a little disappointed, I guess. I've been disappointed with M. Night Shyamalan

since Unbreakable. He comes out of the gate with Sixth Sense, which is a tremendous film. There's no question about it. It's one of the great movies of the 90s. Unbelievable ending. Bruce Willis, Hilliard Lawson. Sign me up. Tony Collette. Fantastic. I thought Unbreakable was great. Great superhero movie. Tarantino's a big fan of it. I've seen it multiple times. We're seeing it in the theaters. That was a great film. And after that, it's been just a steady, slow, slow drip of just derivative movies. I mean, he cribs so much from Hitchcock and other masters.

And eventually it just becomes rote and it just becomes predictable and repetitive. And I thought The Village was awful. I love Giamatti, but Lady in the Water was a miss. And then these last few movies, you know, he's kind of back. I'm like, no, he really isn't. Like, I thought Split was terrible. I mean, I couldn't stand McAvoy's acting. I thought he was overacting so much.

It was like a bad drama teacher, bad drama school. You know, 12 different roles were all over the top. It's just horrible. So when it comes to Trap, I think it's more like crap. And I'm not going to say it, Josh. I'm going to save my $15, which is the price now of movies in Jersey, because he's fooled me too many times. That's a good call.

The visit was one that was okay. I thought, you know, he was smaller budget. I was about those old people. It was creepy. I said, okay's fooled me too many times. It's a good call. Even the visit was one that it was okay. I thought, you know, he was smaller budget as well. Those old people, it was creepy. I said, okay, fine.

It was decent, but no, I, I saw the trailer and I said, no interest. You know, it's like Josh Hart in a Taylor Swift concert, chills and thrills.

I had a friend who saw it last week and said, it was awful. Like he literally called me as you can't see this. I said, I wasn't going to, but now I'm definitely sold. And you're telling me you're disappointed as well. So I saw 45% Rotten Tomatoes. That's disappointing.

Critics, if you're above 60%, of course, that's positive. Below that is bad. So the trap sounds more like crap. I'm out. You didn't like Signs Adnan? Oh, Signs is pretty good. You're right. Sorry. Of the three that I like, those are the three. I think that might be my favorite one of his, although I loved Unbreakable

as well. I was going to say, what's that batting average though? If I like three of them, I like Sign, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable. That's like three to ten. You should 300. I'm not watching any more of those movies. Forget it. What about, are you an alien guy? Are you excited for the new Alien movie? I'm not. Alien Romulus, I see it's coming out.

The only aliens I like, you know, Men in Black are the kind of aliens I like. I like the ones that are goofy until you're close encounters with a third kind. You know, there's just so many reboots and so many sequels and attachments to movies. And, you know, summer is generally that time. These days, summer movies. But I can't say I'm clamoring to go see Alien Romance. Unless you told me it was Sigourney Weaver and Ridley Scott.

We're getting the band back together. But, all right, let's see how age they are at this point. But, yeah, I'm not interested. But having said that, speaking of sequels, of course, the movie of the summer is Deadpool and Wolverine, which I watched last week. And I did think it was really enjoyable. And then that, to me, is what a sequel should be. If it's very meta, it's making fun of itself, it's very self-conscious.

You know, I think for the fanboys who love Marvel, they're going to enjoy it. But people like me who have superhero fatigue, I enjoyed it because of all the jokes he's making about... At one point, there's like four endings. And at one point, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool turns to the camera and goes, don't worry, we're almost there. And I burst out laughing. I said, okay, at least you're conscious of the fact you've given me five endings. And it's so gory and so ridiculous.

At least... I wish I had a notepad there with me. There's about ten good lines that I wanted to write down that were so funny and so well-written. Of course, excellent chemistry with Reynolds and Wolverine. Hugh Jackman's such a good actor. A few jokes at Canada's expense of course his wolverine is canadian so uh out on alien romulus but but i'm in on deadpool wolverine yeah the thing i appreciate about deadpool and as you said like so many superhero movies take themselves so seriously right and it's so over

the top how serious they are and there's no room for humor or anything like that and this one is the exact opposite and again I'm not the biggest superhero guy but I felt the same way as you it's just refreshing to see a movie that doesn't take itself so seriously is actually just trying to make you laugh a little bit during the summer Oh without question I mean those super serious

you know superhero movies you go after a while like don't you realize it's just a man in tights like what are we doing here I get that it's the fate of the universe here, but I can't take this so serious. That's the best thing about Deadpool is that it's irreverent and fun. Again, very much in ways that Robert Downey Jr. fits that Iron Man character. Ron Reynolds fits the Deadpool character. You get a sense of seeing him in articles and interviews that he is that guy,

and he plays the character so well. Again, Jackman's fantastic. That scene where he eviscerates him in the car, like that, that's an example of what a good actor Hugh Jackman is. I was like, man,

he is just seething and just so much rage in this lonely, brooding actor. You know, they don't get that kind of really good acting in a superhero movie, but I'm with you, man.

A reverent fun for Deadpool Wolverine. Adnan, always appreciate it. Great stuff. Thanks for doing this. Enjoy your week. Jamie, Josh, appreciate it, boys.

We'll talk soon. Absolutely. That is Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast. Adnan, not an M. Night Shyamalan fan. I can't say I like crap. Well, he's not wrong. I mean, the guy literally made three good movies. So his first three were bangers.

That's the thing. They're all in a row, too. After the signs, like, the village was okay. And then I don't know if I could say i enjoyed any of his movies after that and signs came out in 2004 2003 2002 it was like that's a long time that's two decades two decades plus the uh the thing and like no spoilers about trap but he mentioned the overacting and i think it was split yeah there was a lot of overacting in that movie and it it kind of felt like his daughter is the pop star. The Taylor Swift stand-in.

And it was just like, oh, this is specifically to promote her. I will say Romulus is actually getting very good reviews. The Alien franchise is one I'm sort of in the middle with. I've enjoyed some and I've hated others. Obviously, the first two are classics. Alien 3 was weird. I can't say I really loved any of them after that. Like, Prometheus was strange.

Covenant, I didn't really enjoy. So, like, it's more sort of like the M. Night thing. Diminishing returns. Yeah, as a franchise, like, I've hated more than I've liked of that franchise. But Romulus, I think it's like 83% of Rotten Tomatoes right now. It's supposed to be pretty good. It's more like a gory slasher flick. It takes out sort of its inspiration as the first movie.

From the first one. Yeah, it's a horror vibe. Yeah, the horror element. It's made by the guy that did that Evil Dead remake, which was incredibly gory. So it's got that sort of gore-fest horror vibe going into it. So as long as you know that, if that's your kind of kind of thing you might enjoy it but it's getting pretty good reviews yeah i didn't mind the two most recent ones from his prometheus and covenant but obviously like they don't hold a candle to no inner aliens right so it's kind of like all right that was fine but then you don't really

think about it again or you don't want to watch it again so we'll see if this one can be better uh than that get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to michigan from september 27th to october 1st experience Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at Neil C at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. Nick Shook from NFL.com.

He'll join us next. Tough times for Josh's Minnesota Vikings. We'll talk about where they go from here and a whole lot more with Nick Shook. The Brandon Ayuk saga continues to drag on and on and on. So NFL talk coming up with Nick Shook next year on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.