Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is The MLB Headed For Another Lockout?

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Sportsnet Senators writer Alex Adams (1:11) on the offseason for Ottawa thus far, and what to expect from them next season, plus the boys talk the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (24:05).  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.

Music 702 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Alford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Alford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com

We are now in hour two of the program. Alex Adams, Senators Writer for Sportsnet is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.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 him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics

working together with you in step. To the Power West Industries hotline we go. Our next guest is a Senators writer for sports net.ca. Alex Adams here on the Haliford and brush on sports net six 50 morning. Alex, how are you? Great. Thanks so much for having me on guys. I excited to talk some sense hockey. Yeah. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So it's funny. You're excited to talk sense hockey and in the lead to your piece. And I also heard this on the 32 thoughts podcast. You mentioned that the off season in Ottawa was

highlighted by Elliott Friedman courtesy general manager Steve Steyos hitting a bunch of singles. So maybe not necessarily the upper deck shots that some were hoping for in Ottawa, but run us through some of these singles that Steve Steyos hit in free agency? Yeah, I mean, I think you have to start with Claude Giroux and people have seen some veterans sign for some interesting contracts where there's a bunch of bonuses and that was the same case for Giroux with signing a $2 million base contract. I won't even go into all the bonus structures and everything, but I think just getting that done right before Free Agency kind of gave the the center some cap space to work with and, and brought back to Rue who's such a staple in the market and beloved by the

fans and still a pretty good hockey player, even though he's a, you know, 38. And then they bought Jordan Spence, which I think, uh, you know, maybe you guys know a bit more out Weston here in, in, uh, in Ottawa played for the Kings, really good mobile right shot defenseman. And Staless went down two spots in the draft, picked up a third and then use that third to acquire Spence. I think he just used like really good asset management there and just picked up a player that the senators really need because Nick Jensen, uh, had

off season hip surgery. It's uncertain when and if he'll return next season. Uh, you know, obviously the left side, uh, for the center, they have Sanderson and Chippot, but overall they needed to add a right shot defenseman. They got it. Is he, you know, Aaron Echblad? No, but is he still really serviceable player in Spence? I think so.

Um, and then they got Lars Eller, a fourth line center veteran, uh, wins face-offs penalty kills, two things that Ottawa struggled with in the playoffs where they got completely owned by Toronto in the dot and struggled on the PK. So I just think overall, a pretty good off season. A lot of singles, I think the team's definitely better than they were last year. But are they, you know, a cup contender now? No, they didn't get, you know get a Brock Besser who obviously stayed in Vancouver and in other places of the likes.

So I think they're a better team, they're a better position for the future. And I think Steve Steyos deserves a lot of credit for his off season. Are Sens fans generally just happy that they made the playoffs? Are they talking about like, how do we get to cup contender status? Or are they just kind of like, let's just make the playoffs for Are they, are they talking about like, how do we get to cup contender status? Or are they just kind of like, let's just make the playoffs for a couple more years, because, because that's pretty fun too. I think it's almost like, keep the show rolling.

Like just like, let's keep this team in tact. Let's keep winning. Let's stay a playoff team. I think cup aspirations are maybe a year or two away for, you know, you lose a couple more times in the playoffs, you feel that bitter, sweet feeling of feeling like you want to take that next step and maybe you don't. Right. But I think right now everything in Sends land is pretty gravy. You know, the team seems really promising. They have Brady Kachuk, who's always a fan favorite. Jake Sanderson was a breakout star last year. So there's a lot of things to be really excited about. And I think for the most part in Ottawa, fans are pretty excited. At the same time, there's always that tepid kind of, uh, you know, there has been

a lot of, uh, you know, almost moments in Ottawa from 2017 to the 2007 run where the, the, you know, the fan base felt like they were taking that next step to become, you know, one of the best teams in the league and they would always kind of fall short or there'd be drama and everything of the like. So there's still a bit of the fan base that's a bit scarred from the past, but I think with new ownership, with a new regime in charge, I think for the most part, sentence fans are feeling pretty good about their team right now. Sometimes I like to ask this very basic question because I think it tells a lot about the team.

Who is the best player on Ottawa? Oh, you're hitting me. Or it's something I think about a lot. Honestly, I think maybe the most impactful player on the team is Jake Sanderson. For those people that watched the, you know, the battle of Ontario and the playoffs, like he was just a stud, he, you know, ate a ton of of minutes was so good in his own end was a one man

breakout, uh, contributed offensively. I think just having that star number one defenseman who I think is just, you know, taking, you know, baby steps. I think his ceiling is so high as one of the preeminent defensemen in the league. I think in a sense, like if Jake Sanderson goes down, I don't know how the senators can replace him. Obviously the other two I think you have to mention are Tim Stutzen, obviously the unicorn himself, Brady Kachuk, who's just was unbelievable in the playoffs on basically one leg.

And he's probably the, you know, the most beloved player on the team, but the senators, you know, were good down the stretch without Kachuk, um, sneaking into the playoffs so they can win without him. Um, I don't know if that's the same case with, with Jake Sanderson and also Tim Stutza was so good as a 200 foot player, which where he really evolved his game last year, but, um, the senators have a lot of center depth right now. So I think right now, I think next season we'll look at Jake Sanderson and we might see him maybe on some

more Norris ballots if he keeps taking that next leap, especially offensively because defensively basically no holes in his game. He's such a fluid skater and so smart in his own end. So I think if he goes down, the senators might go down and more so than anyone else on the team. What were the reviews for Travis Green behind the bench? Yeah, that's interesting that you mentioned it.

Of course, his ties to Vancouver, I think for the most part, you know, the players really wanted and the organization wanted maybe more of a, some tough love and Travis Green definitely brought that, um, you know, didn't pull any punches and he made that team that for years had a ton of talent, but had no clue how to play defense in their own end, they were just running gun and he did the opposite. He made them super structured. Um, probably maybe to a fault he's, he's mentioned that to some degree that they really basically

just focused on defensive principles in training camp and throughout the year more so than offense and they became top 10 in the league and goals allowed. Their defensive structure was great and I think he deserves a lot of credit for turning a bunch of talented skilled young players into talented skilled young players that also know how to win and play the right way. So I think he's completely changed the culture in Ottawa in terms of just the way they play. And I think what's going to be interesting is next year, like they have

maybe those same defensive principles in place that they didn't have a year ago. So how do they make themselves better offensively? The Senators were, I think, second last in five on five goals last year. And that's a big emphasis that greens preached. Steele has preached that they want to improve upon. So it's like, how do you improve scoring while, while at the same time, not trying to take away from your defense? And I think that's maybe the next level for, for, for this team and maybe the next challenge for Travis Green next season.

We're speaking to a sports net Senators writer Alex Adams here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. How would you grade the Ottawa Senators offseason overall, Alex? Are you still maybe waiting to hand out that grade in the event that they might still have something left to do maybe on the secondary trade market? Yeah, I think it's a good question. I think right now on my piece that you mentioned off the top, I gave them an A minus.

They're still missing that top six scoring winger that can kind of insulate a Kachuk, a Stutzel and provide more secondary offense that, you know, Dylan Cousins and Drake Batherson are good at, but probably not as good as the senators would like them to be. So I still think that's the next area where, you know, there's some rumblings about Mason McTavish and Anaheim. He's from Ottawa, essentially that could maybe be a good fit.

So I still think Staus wants to add, but the senators are losing their draft pick next year due to the, if getting dad enough, uh, you know, botched, uh, no movement clause trade from a couple of years ago. So he doesn't have too many assets. He has a little bit of cap space. They don't have too much to trade right now. They don't have a ton of prospects. So I think right now, yeah, if they can add that player, great.

But I think they don't want to overspend right now. I think they feel really good about their team. And this season is a little bit of a litmus test is like, how good is this team? Is this team a solid playoff team? Can they make a run in the playoffs? Are they close to contending status? So I think for the most part, I think Steve Staus will be quiet, but he always likes to make trades when no one's expecting, just look at the Dylan Cousins trade from at the

trade deadline when no one expected that. So you never know with Steve Deos. It's a tricky situation sometimes to be in when you've established the structure and then you're like, okay, that worked defensively, but now we have to take the next step and figure out how to score more goals and take it from us in Vancouver because that was the goal heading into this season.

And there was, I remember back at the beginning of the season, it was like, how can the Canucks score more goals off the rush? And then anyway, a bunch of other stuff happened as you might know in Vancouver and that project never really got off the ground. But I sometimes wonder, do the Sens just need one more really good player up front?

I, from my vantage point, I think you're completely right there. I do think they're missing, you know, I think that's why there was a lot of Brock Besser rumors, right? And as you guys know in Vancouver, he's such a prolific goal scorer, maybe doesn't drive play as much as you'd like, but Ottawa's missing that guy that just puts the puck in the net, hopefully also drives play as well. And you looked at Tim Stutz the last year, he's so fast, he's so pacey, and he would just skate up the ice and he wouldn't have that kind of wingman that could catch up to him and that he could create plays for because he

was so fast. And so you really felt like he was a little bit on the island and little, really needed that extra, you know, you know, talent on his right side or maybe left side to help them out. So I still think they're, they have, they're really deep. If you look at their forward group, they have Michael Amadio on the fourth line who's a really good player. Um, David Perron can go up and down the lineup.

Like they have a lot of really good players, but outside of Kachuk and Stutso with their forward group, they only really have two great forwards, right? And you look at the playoffs and look how many great players Florida had, or even to an extent Edmonton in the four group like I think the senators have the depth but they need that extra bit of talent to take them over the top to become I think a contending ish type of team so I think you're completely right. Alex this was

great man thanks for taking the time to do this today we really appreciate it enjoy the offseason we'll circle back when we get closer to the start of next regular season. Awesome. Thanks so much, guys. Appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. That's Alex Adams, Sportsnet Senators Reporter

here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford, how many teams out there would you say have a legit chance to win the cup next season? Ooh. Ooh. Okay. I know it's a tough question to just throw at you, but you know, we talk about teams like, oh, we just talked about Ottawa. And not a legitimate change for me.

I think they're a decent shot to make the playoffs. They made it last year. But I don't think they have a legitimate chance of winning the Stanley Cup. I would put the Canucks in that same boat. I know they didn't make the playoffs last season, but I think they'll be in the mix or they should be in the mix this season. Assuming a few things happen. But I don't think even if they got there, like, I don't think they're winning, winning the cup or even getting close. The next phase in their evolution is win around. Maybe win to and get that experience, what it feels like to win in the playoffs, because they don't have it yet. So I'm not putting them there.

Do you want to know the odds? Yes, I do. I mean, the obvious I would imagine without looking at it, that the Florida Panthers have to be the lowest odds to that would be three. I mean, obviously the three P, which is very difficult to do. And in spite of that, there's still got the lowest odds to win the Stanley Cup next year. They're the favorites, but they aren't, they aren't huge favorites. And most sports books, they're around seven to one, which is,

chances are they're not going to win the Stanley Cup according to those odds. And then there's five teams that follow closely behind Florida. That's Carolina, Vegas, Edmonton, Dallas, and Colorado, and then there's a big jump to the next tier with teams like Tampa Bay, New Jersey, LA, Toronto, and Winnipeg. So that's 11 teams we've been through so far.

And then there's the next group of the Rangers, the Capitals, the Senators, the Wild, Utah, and St. Louis. So that's 17 teams we've already listed off. We haven't mentioned the Canucks yet. 15 that made the playoffs, two that didn't. And the 16th team that made the playoffs, Montreal, they're kind of around the Vancouver Canucks. And the Canucks, if you want to make a bet, could be had for odds of around 60 to one. Uh, give or take a few points depending on the sports book you use. And then the final 13 teams are all long shots.

So the Canucks are just above the group of long shots. And the long shots range from the Islanders at like 80 to one all the way to Chicago and San Jose at 500 to one. Okay. Is that, is that fair when it comes to the Canucks? Their odds of making the playoffs are just around even, but their chances to win the cup are like 60 to one. Yeah, I think that's accurate.

Yeah. That's a tough place to be. Yeah. Because that's the same sort of place that Ottawa is in. And, you know, Montreal has the same sort of odds for next season, but I think we see a lot more future upside potential for Montreal than we do with probably Ottawa or Vancouver. Maybe there's a little more future upside now with guys like Coots in the mix and you got some good young defensemen like DPT and Will Ander but

there is also hanging over all of it the notion that Quinn Hughes might depart in a year or two. So a question came into the Dunbar Lumbertex message basket, which I think is interesting. Would you guys rather be, it's an old would you rather, would you rather, would you rather be in Ottawa or Vancouver's spot for the next five years? And this is an interesting one. Because at first blush, I would say, as currently constructed,

Vancouver has the best player out of either team in Queen Hughes. Yep, I'd agree with that. I would say that Vancouver has the better goaltending, maybe not necessarily by a lot, but I would give the edge to Vancouver there, especially if Demko and Lankton can stay healthy and upright and everything.

But I would say moving forward that Ottawa has more growth potential than Vancouver does. Why? There are younger guys that have yet to scratch the surface, whereas I felt like a lot of the Vancouver guys that are gonna get to their surface are pretty close. And then in that, I mean, Petey and Hughes. What does a Canucks team look like

where everything goes right? 98 to 102 points, somewhere in that neighborhood. They are either the first wild card or maybe third in the division. And then they're winning maybe a round and that's everything goes right. That's- Everything went right and they beat out Edmonton.

Yep. A couple of years ago. That team two years ago is better than I see this team going into this season. Is it the center depth? Like even if Petey plays. I hear it, it's not having Miller. Yeah.

When Miller was on and Miller wasn't, you know, fighting and feuding with Petey, Miller was a driver, capital D, maybe the rest of the capitals as well. And it's the one thing that they just don't have right now. I think part of the reason that the Connex organization continues to talk up and laud JT Miller in the aftermath is there's a subliminal messaging going on about how much they need everyone else to know what they lost when Miller left. Yeah. Have you been reading some of the reporting from Drantz where he's hinting at the fact that

the Canucks organization, as much as we kind of criticize them for taking a short-term approach sometimes, recognize that when they traded JT Miller, they traded a really big piece and they do have to keep in mind the long-term. How does that look when they're doing that? Well, they actually make the draft pick and they draft coots and they don't trade away any of their prospects. Like you remember heading into the draft, we were like, oh, okay, well, someone's going to get traded here and we went through, you know, like, is it going

to be Leckar and Mackie? Maybe because I don't think they want to trade DPD and they probably have to be convinced to trade Willander. Well, all three of those guys are still with the organization, plus they've added a prospect in Coot. So maybe they are taking a more long-term view of things. And I also think they probably, obviously the Queen Hughes situation, but the Pedersen

situation also hangs over it too, right? They might want to be taking a wait and see view on what Pedersen looks like next season before they throw more good money after this team. Okay. Really interesting conversation on that. We'll kind of start at going to break and then maybe we can pick it up after we talk to Adnan at 730. The organization has had a healthy serving of humble pie over the last year. There has been a lot of reasons why whatever highs that they had in the previous season's playoff run and everything

might've been knocked back to earth, right? Missing the playoffs, suffering through injury, misses from the executive group on a lot of the guys that they identified that thought might work out, having to trade Miller for pennies on the dollar, having that rift, rip the room apart, and then having the head coach that they wanted, you know, threw a lot of money, I had to say, leave them.

That's a lot of humble pie in a single season. I think it'll be very interesting to see if this organization has a little bit. I'm not saying they're having like a come to Jesus moment or anything like that. I think they they might have. But I wonder how we joke is like, shoot, is this philosophy working? They were high on the horse after they lost to Edmonton in Game 7, because that was a big accomplishment of a season.

And I think that there was maybe maybe some shoulders being thrown out with the amount of back padding that they were doing, because they felt like they felt like they had accomplished something major, which they did. That was a great year. One of the all time years in franchise history. And I think, you know, we got a little inkling of it when Alvin said at the beginning of last year,

like we came into this year as an organization. I think he was talking about the players, but in retrospect, I wonder if he was talking about himself and Rutherford and everybody else, that maybe we thought this was gonna be easier, maybe we thought it was mission accomplished already, or that we had done great things and we were getting fat and happy.

We weren't humble enough. I do wonder about that. Humble is an interesting, it's an interesting thing being humble because I think a lot of people like to say it, like I'm gonna be humble, but it's your actions that ultimately, like so many things in life that really dictate

if you've got that humility. And as an organization, sometimes even the little things that you do or you say kind of suggest that, no, you think you're being humble and you think you're showing humility, but you're really not. And this, it'll be very, very interesting to see what this organization does moving forward because I think that's a big part of it is understanding like, Hey,

it did not go well last year. We were regarded as the most dysfunctional team in the NHL non New York Rangers division. Yeah. We were, we were the Western conference champions in dysfunction and the Rangers had the East. Everyone knew about our problems and we spent most of the year trying to quiet noise that quite frankly we made. And I'll be curious to see if they're able to maybe digest that humble pie

and change our approach going into next season. Anyway, we're way up against it for time. We got a lot more we got to get into on the program. On the other side, we're going to talk some baseball with Adnan Virk, our MLB insider from MLB network. You're listening to the silver screen That's right. It's time for Rednan Yes, and then Ferg he joins us now We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen 732 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Adnan Virk from MLU Network is going to join us in just a moment here in our two hour two of the show is brought to by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage. 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 to jason.mortgage to the power west industries hotline. We go Adnan Burke from MLB network joins us now on the hell for them. Bref show on sports net six 50 morning Adnan. How are you? JDJ always a pleasure to catch up with you both. We signed it up to the any salt and script you with our friend, Jason Demers. I thought at this point there was nothing to talk about, but it's still filling me. Nikolai Ehlers signing with the hurricanes, Gavin McKenna going to Penn state. I think Chris field was picked up the podcast.

Still some hockey talk. I think now we can take a break for a little while. And now we're going to drop the call real quick and try and get you back on a cleaner line. You're cutting out like crazy there. We'll drop Adnan. We're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan Virk from Embley Network is going to join us in just a moment here. Yeah, it has been a wild week. The Gavin McKenna thing still resonating with a lot of different people. And I see the CHL was in full

Yeah, I did control mode. Did they go spin mode yesterday? No, I mean, I don't think it was spin but you know, I think I Think when they were you know, the the president came out basically at CHL I said like I've heard a lot of people say that you know, we're we're done. We're like no one's saying that I've heard a lot of people say that, you know, we're done. We're like, no one's saying that. They're just saying that the CHL might have to make some adjustments and he admitted, he's like, yeah, well, I think we need to look at, you know, the type of facilities

that we have and make sure, I wonder if this is gonna be a little bit, a little bit like live golf, right? I mean, well, you know, sure, you know, all you need is a contender or a competition. And when you have competition, it's crazy how one side tends to find the dollars somewhere. I was like, Oh, look, buried in the couch cushions. Let's try the phone lines again here now, Adnan Burke from MLB Network on the Halford and Brev Show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, we got you. Mike, Jason, I'm gonna speak less.

Hopefully this still works. You guys got me? Beautiful, it sounds crystal clear now. Excellent, it's very good. So you know what, I wanna start with what you just talked about. Gavin McKenna announcing his collegiate choice on ESPN. Did you ever think, Adnan, that we'd see the day

where a college hockey player would make his announcement donning the cap and all across the country in the US on ESPN? No, it's crazy, man. I was like, I, you know, McKenna's supposed to be an absolute star, we all know the numbers he put up in the CHL and he's gonna have a prolific career, you know, presumptive number one pick, we all know that.

But I'm like, yeah, I could choose Penn State. Like, it's just like, it kinda just blows your way. Honest to fellows, like, it's just, because it's always been done a certain way, which is your play for your junior hockey team, you get selected and drafted, away we go. So I just, I appreciate anybody though who tried something different,

if that's what Gavin wants to do, Penn State's obviously a historic school, he's gonna enjoy a unique experience when the college is there for a year before he gets drafted. So yeah, just I'm kind of taking it back by all but I appreciate somebody wanting to zig what everybody else wants to that. It was one of the big stories in Canada this week across the country because it really does involve the entirety of the Canadian Hockey League. But the other big story up here right now,

Canada's team, I know some people are going to cringe when I say that, but I'm saying it. The Toronto blue Jays, other 10 game win streak comes to an end yesterday in Chicago, but it was still a pretty prolific run and really a prolific close to 40 game stretch for the Jays going into the all star game. What's impressed you the most about the Jays over this run, but specifically during that 10 game win streak, they came to an end last night. When I look back specifically Mike, the fact that since May 28th they've got the best record in baseball, that to me is something. When you're

talking about a month and a half, nobody's from better than you, like that's something. So a 10 game win streak to me, what it really does is it gives you that valuable cushion, right? There's no question about it. The American league is not particularly strong. We're going to have at least one bad team, I think, making the class class meaning that their walkers bar right now could be the red sox could be the mariner's we most easily barely above five hundred yet they're the ones kind of in that spot so for the jays you got here 15 games about five hundred do you have a six or seven game losing she's no problem you still got that buffer right now so that's what a ten game win streak

does to me more than anything it gives you that question you're going to be a playoff team barring a vicious calamity along with the raised the aches. The tigers are in the central, the ashes in the West, the way. Oh, yeah, we lost them. Yeah, we lost them again. Let's try this again. You're listening to the Haliford and rough show on sports net six 50 ad and

Enver KMLB network is going to join the program again for a third time in a minute here. Uh, I do want to ask him about a variety of things. We are going to see the robots take over the MLB all star game, the ABS challenge, automatic balls and strike system. I want to ask him about that. I got a follow up question. I do want to ask him about the J's though, as it pertains to the trade deadline. This is the hottest team that the Jays have had since 2015. Uh, their reason that everyone was talking about the double digit win streak was

that it's the first time in 10 years, the Jays have gone on such a stretch. They did it twice as a matter of fact, back in 2015, 2015, of course, was the year in which the J's made a bunch of noise at the deadline. We're gonna try this again now. Adnan we got you again here. Don't move, don't move. Just stay right there. The third time is the charm. What is happening here? With my AT&T wireless provider in New Jersey. Something's going on. You need a good wireless provider like Rogers by the way just so we'll put that out there.

Good Canadian company. Anyway, I digress. So look, what we were talking about while we lost you there was this Jay's team has gone on this win streak, the likes of which they haven't seen since 2015. And it was back in 2015 when the GM Alex Anthopoulos made one of the biggest series of moves of the deadline in franchise history, picking up to Lewicki and Price, and that propelled them to make the playoffs and beat the Rangers.

Anyway, that's the history part of it. Is there a marketplace or a landscape right now for the Jays to make, not necessarily a similar splash, because I don't think you'll ever get anything like 2015 again, but something significant at the deadline that could push a team playing good baseball into the postseason. Yes.

I mean, listen, I think we've talked this before. There's just so many buyers right now because every team convinces themselves they're still in the mix. You know, if a few teams go on a 10 game losing streak, then all of a sudden they will buy, other teams will buy them, they can become sellers. So I'm looking at Arizona specifically, they could trade could trade a lot of squashes upon a power kind of rb i've got to know the miss side of master he could be treated as well back down to pay for a good at a bad year but it's been a really good picture

the path cleveland is that a ten game losers if they could get back themselves up-and-up as well but like you're right to mention twenty fifteen team you know they want eleven in a row twice and that second streak in August they went from a six game deficit the AL East on the way to their only division title since that 1992 championship team this team went from a three game deficit to three and a half game advantage they're trying to win their first division title in ten years so kudos to you for making that parallel to those Josh Donaldson Jose Batista

teams because you have this sense that yeah one win streak can propel you and again they've got great balance of pitching and hitting I think specifically to what would put them over the top would be a Sandy El Contra type right you get a great starting pitcher if you get some bullpen help every good team always wants bullpen help you get someone to supplement often the bullpen that would be very helpful as Swanson has not worked out But offensively man, they look good Like I said bargers banging Scraggers had his best year in three years to me should have been an all-star and a Julio Rodriguez

Kirk is back in the officer for the second time. He's an all-star again Bo's been great runners in the scoring position the last 20 games. They're clicking The robots are coming and they will arrive Tuesday at the all-Star Game in Atlanta. Robot umpire technology, the automated ball strike system, the ABS system. Add in and tell me what you know about it, what you saw from when they implemented it earlier and what we can expect at this year's All-Star Game with ABS. So everyone really seems to like it. Now I know that's impossible. And today's rule, everybody fights about everything.

How could you have any sort of unanimity on one topic but i guess for the players they've had at the minor leagues so there's no big adjustment for them there used to be no they're getting into as far as you know the players are concerned they're good at or is the team that they're used to it because it will be seen no issues here i'd just think and again we have to watch together at faith to see how it looks and Maybe I'm just an old soul or nostalgic. I just like the idea of umpires

behind the plate calling balls and strikes and part of the game sometimes having a missed call. Of course, the answer to that is who on earth wants a missed call? This is going to have accuracy beyond repute. Look how good the challenge system is in tennis. You know, I've been watching Wimbledon. It's unbelievable. Very quickly, Hawkeye tells you right or wrong. So it feels like a more drastic change I think for fans only because you're used to seeing that umpire squatting behind the dish. But for players they're pretty much used to it. I'm glad they're gonna try it the All-Star game because it feels like, fellas, it's going to be an inevitability.

It's going to be a Major League Baseball across the sport sooner rather than later. How do the umpires feel about all this? Uh, I think there was a play in the Jays game recently where, uh, Vladdy, uh, got thrown out at second and it looked pretty obvious that he was thrown out at second and the umpire called him safe and then it was overturned. And I, and I just wonder like, that's, that's, I mean, I'm not saying it's the worst thing in the world, but for the umpires, that's going to be a little embarrassing. Yeah, two schools of thought, the one school is that it's nice to have someone kind of

covering your back because it's like, all right, well, especially for teams, if there's a close play, well, we'll just challenge it, we'll get it right. So for the umpire, I guess there's a sense of, hey, sometimes certain calls are too tough to make, I could use a helping hand, and as long as I can sublimate my ego, hey, it's not a big deal we got the call right. But I think for the majority, as you're alluding to, it's embarrassing. I mean, I would wanna be out there,

and everyone's second guessing what I'm doing every single time, and if I'm sure I'm aware, at least in my head, or the union is telling me, hey, this many calls have been overturned. Like eventually, if you're the guy making bad calls which are being overturned, yeah, one or two, you go, hey, it's okay, hey, this many calls have been overturned. Like eventually, if you're the guy making bad calls, which are being overturned, yeah, one or two, you go, hey, it's okay, buddy, we got you covered.

The system's got you. But if you're doing it all the time, you're gonna lose your job. Like, I mean, there's just no way. So I think the umpires union has been very strong for years, I'm sure there's opposition to the ABS system, but Rob Manfield worked through that with those guys and offered, you know, other sorts of benefits.

But like you said, when you see a bad call blown, you don't see yourself. Well, at least they got to fix it. Go seriously, how do you how do you how do you miss that call? Speaking of Rob Manfred and changes to the game, he recently outlined his his plans to convince players to make big changes to the economics of the sport. So I got a lot with that. Yeah. And I don't ask. Good luck with that.

Yeah. And I don't think it's going over all that great, but he's trying nonetheless. Will we ever see a salary cap in Major League Baseball? Well, that's the big challenge, right? I think for years you've had certain owners who are certainly in favor of cap. They want to get it done. They say, listen, we've got to be more reflective of the fact

that not all these teams can compete with the Dodgers, the Mets, the Yankees, et cetera. And of course the players, the affirmed them to stay for years, they'll never accept a salary cap over our dead body. Marvin Miller didn't sacrifice for all of this. I felt like for years fell as no, it would just never happen. And that means we'd have to have labor arm again and again. And already people are talking about a potential lockout happening at the end of

next year, December 1st, 2027 is when the CBA expires. So I wouldn't have said in the past, no, but honestly, I could see a situation in which maybe it's called a soft cap, there's some sort of a floor where teams have to spend, i.e. the Pittsburgh Pirates have gotta spend a certain amount of money. And I do think that certain people have come around

to more than they have in the past. Now again, the Players Union has at least visually been opposed to any sort of a cap even though it does in the nfl exit in the nba and the nl so short answer is i would you that you like two years ago i like no will never take out the players will never agree to it we can have a strike flash lockout for two years with those but they won't do

it now i feel like you know what because every kind of see the economic disparities in the sport almost any good disparities in the sport, although it's been a good year for the sport, I do think if push came to shove, you start to miss games, maybe some form of a cap could be implemented. Do the players care that the Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, don't really seem all that interested in competing? I think ultimately, Jay, if I'm a player, if I want to extend my career as long as I

can and I want to get as much money as I can, period. I don't think that's being greedy. I think it's almost self-preservation. We know how short these leagues can be. So the only care in the essence that, hey, is this costing me money because this is the less team that wants to spend. So probably in a vacuum, if you just ask the guy, hey, does it bother you that certain teams are cost-conscious? They couldn't care less. wants to spend. So probably a vacuum if you just ask the guy, hey does it bother you that certain teams

are cost conscious? They couldn't care less. They're like, I just care about my paycheck every two weeks. Which quite frankly is, what's wrong with this country in many ways? People just spoke for themselves. But if that person says, well I would've had a contract, if somebody beyond the Dodgers, the Mets,

the Yankees, the Cubs actually spent, then yes, they would start to get annoyed at the Pittsburgh Pirates or every team it may be. So back in the day, we course that that's your collusion happened way back by 1985, the players would be adamant that can't happen in the sport no matter what. But I think on a day to day basis,

as long as they're making money, we all know how much money the players make that they're doing pretty well right now. You know, it's interesting because Manfred, one of the things that he keeps saying is it's the way that fans perceive the difference in revenues and the way that spending happens is important as well.

Because if you look at it, like the Dodgers, I think their payroll this year is 408 million. I think that's what it is. The Marlins are at 86 million. So conceptually, when you look at that, like that's a problem. However, you could counter that by saying there's still parity in baseball.

Like, there hasn't been a repeat World Series winner in 26 years. Like, there is a different winner. It just it doesn't really add up. But when I look at the salary differentials, it feels like there's a problem. But when you try and equate it with parity, that's where the argument kind of loses something. And Manfred keeps bringing this up and is a round way of saying, I don't really know how to solve it or if one equals the other.

But there's a problem on one hand, there's not a problem on the other. But there's something that needs to be fixed. I know that. No, it's a great point, Mike. And I think that's where you look at it. The point about parity is what kind of destroys the argument against the cap. Because you can say, oh man, the Dodgers are $4.8 million, but there's zero guarantee that they're going to win the World Series.

You know, if you said to me Dodgers versus the field, I'll take the field. I'm like, they've got so many interests they're starting pitching this year. They're still in the bottom 10 as far as pitching overall is concerned. And yet they've got the best record of the National League, and I'm fairly certain they're going to be aggressive in adding whatever they can to trade deadlines just because they did last year. they've done the phrase in the back so that that's the argument against you're right that in the playoffs there's no guarantee that all this play

paves the way toward success um there's always going to be a surprise team there's always going to be a challenge last year it was such a shock as you go wow it actually happened yankees dodgers like it was the two number one team faced off normally it's like it was the year previous when it was rangers and be back into wild card teams making itself i think it was always dodgers yankees met cups winning they have a bigger argument but i i can foresee a situation in which this season

the detroit tigers will work there is and they are not a top ten salary pay that is a great young team built a small collection together a small market in detroit a small market team. Detroit's been around a long time, but if they win the World Series, how can you argue baseball needs fixing when a great traditional market ends up winning the World Series for the first time since 1984? Do you get the sense that we will be headed for a labor war or do you think they might just kick the can down the road on this issue? My best guess, Jay, is there's going to be a lockout just as there was last time but hopefully, fingers crossed, it'll be an offseason lockout. So last time it was 99 days, we paused everything and then eventually the games happened and thank there was no games missed. So I'm fairly certain there's

going to be a lockout while both sides work things out and try to get things done. As far as games missed though, that's where it gets tricky because you get these pessimists and these senate so that i might not the two sides into the level of distrust of the river been worse you're going to get right by the way for all these articles i'm going to come out the next year saying our again coming and yet when push comes to shove i think players want to play i think always want to make money it's a simple

is that so yes well the orders can say we will not play baseball much as a cap and the players will play no letter the capital never play ultimately i do think these sides realize that you're behind in many ways the nfl we all know and the nba and if you were to lose games on a meaningful level of that there was an eighty one game season let's suppose in two thousand twenty or god forbid you missed the season

but that would cause irreparable damage the sport and i think there's enough smart people that say okay again will have a we'll have a lockout. We'll pause things a little bit, but you miss games, you're really causing damage to the sport. You can't just expect everyone to come back. We all know what happened in 94. There are fans who never came back. A lot of them lived in LaBelle, Provolance, in Montreal. So I think there will be a lockout. Fingers crossed, no games missed. Is there anything worse as a media guy having to cover the lockout?

I mean, I saw the NHL ratified their CBA and I knew it was gonna happen, but I was still like, yes. Cause my hope is that I can never cover one of those again because first of all, you still have to work. Second of all, you have to, you have to wade into all these, the spin and the disingenuous arguments from, from both sides. And, and it's just, it's just exhausting because some people feel the need to pick sides on that stuff too. And I'm like, I don't, I don't

like where it really is. I mean, this is a cliche, but like you're talking about an argument between billionaires and millionaires. It's a hundred percent true and you're right. I've never understood that theory, but whose side are you on? I'm like, I'm on the side of playing baseball. I just, I just don't want to, like I don't care who wins, who loses,

that's not my job. And as you said, the worst job is like the JP Morosi or the Tom Verducci, the guy who has to like contact these guys, whether it's Tony Clark or Rob Bamford to get the latest update. The reason all of us got into sports is because we want to watch games, right?

The competition, winners and losers. There's nothing more nauseating than thinking, I'm going to cover a board meeting today or talk to some committees, like it's just painful. So I'm trying to remember what I was doing the last time there was a locker, which was only a short four years ago. I think I was busy enough with NHL Network and on the baseball side if you can believe it

We still did some content, but you couldn't actually show any video of players, right? You can have a conversation here's the top ten right fielders in baseball, but then you can't show name of Chet. So it gets it gets weird for us. But thank God baseball does have a great rich history. So we end up showing like the 1991 World Series again or the 92 Blue Jays, whatever it is. So that is the good news. The oxygen people do like to watch games the past, but yeah, it's dicey for anybody connected in the sport. Hey, are you going to see Superman this weekend?

So I'm excited to see it, guys. So so far I've been avoiding a lot of these superhero early summer blockbusters you know Jurassic World looked terrible I said I'm not going to spend money on this even though my son really wanted to go so my wife bit the bullet and took two of my boys and they said they liked it she said it was okay I said thank god I get to avoid that atrocity it looked terrible how many Jurassic movies do we need to see? Elio I also promised that someone would get Pixar it's not any little Pixar okay so we just hold off until we can watch it streaming with Superman They are really pushing hard for it

I thought the trailer was great and so I I'm actually excited to see it and then what did I see Mike one of my favorite Critics, Ty Burr. I just wrote his review. I haven't read it. He gave it one star And he started by saying about how much he hates for here we go again And then I got a couple other reviews ten chances someone sent me say it's a little bit too goofy for its own good So I actually had genuine optimism and now that's being crushed, but in answer to your question I'm not gonna see it probably this one. I'm gonna take the boys to go see and Hopefully the man in fights will deliver. Oh one more for you because we were talking about yesterday Have you seen the f1 movie yet?

You know I haven't my wife loves Brad Pitt so so i had to get jason diverse to watch it first like the other because i have several times i got great now my wife will want to go see it so we'll go see up one at some point as well somebody told me it's basically like top gun just with cars and i go well that would be seem to be fair because joseph kudzynski is a directory directed top gun maverick but that's actually gotten good reviews right open at 55 million 83% rotten tomatoes from critics apparently a good throw right 235 runtime throws me off fellas because the last time I went I timed it it's 25 minutes of trailers so that's a three-hour movie experience

let's hope they're driving real fast and then you're the best I'm glad we tried this three times thanks for doing this buddy we appreciate it third time's a charm excellent perseverance and endurance fellas. We'll talk soon It's a well at Nan Verk from MLB network here on the hell for the brush on sports net six vision That's Brad Pitt take his shirt off. He was he's driving without a shirt on sure Ready gotta put your shirt on that doesn't make sense It makes me the fire suit on a bit is this is actually realistic I've seen Superman on Tuesday with my dad

I'm very excited. Even though I realize that I may not love the movie, because James Gunn's hit or miss for me, but my dad loves Superman actually, more than me. I'm more of a Batman guy. He's a Superman guy. So I'm taking my dad on Tuesday. I am very excited. I think it's still sitting at low 80s on Rotten Tomatoes, so the reviews are largely positive,

but the main detracting thing I hear is that it's not an origin story, which for some people is amazing, like me, because I'm done with those. I don't need to see another Superman origin story. But for other people, it gets kind of confusing at the start because it just starts in the middle of something that's already happening. And you're expected just to sort of know who these characters are and who Superman is. That's Superman, right? Yeah, that's the guy flying.

That's Superman. You see him? But after that, the first half an hour, it apparently starts to get really good. And largely the reviews have been really positive. That's actually funny if someone didn't know the origin story. Well, that's the thing. It's like, is he just a really good athlete? I see people complaining about it.

I'm like, we've had like nine Superman or, like people know who he is at this point, I think. Yeah, yeah. Most people, even if they're not comic book people, they know who he is. You don't need to deal with that. One more before we go to break. Have you seen Jurassic World? No, dude, I'm not a big I love the first one, which I've seen a billion times. But after the first one, I don't know, it didn't need to become a franchise. Okay, we got to go to break when we come back. Final hour of the program coming up here in the

health and rough show on Sportsnet 650. This eclectic sports show continues. We will get back into the hockey, slightly different theme than previous ones though. Dan Hamuse, longtime Canucks defenseman, Smithers native and soon to be inductee into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame is gonna join the program on the other side. That's right, Dan Hamuse coming up next

on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.