Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Springer Dinger Heard 'Round The World

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they discuss the Toronto Blue Jays going to the World Series for the first time in thirty two years, as Sportsnet television commentator Dan Shulman (26:52) joins the show. 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-dan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Yes, we're going to flyball to left field. That goes a Rosaray now. She's gone. Poppitch, payoff pitch. The Blue Jays win the pennant. The Blue Jays win the pennant. It's a failure, and that's what we expected.

Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halpert and his breath. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And laddie. Good morning. to you as well, friend. Hi, how you doing? Yeah, we're really good. Hopper in front of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Tintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Before we get to anything, congratulations to Greg Laddie Ballick, the most Blue Jist of all the Blue Jays fans that I know. You are going. You are going to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. Not me personally, I wish. No, yeah, we bought you a ticket.

What? It's a one way. You're going down to L.A. This is the greatest surprise ever. Yeah. You're going to stay at a five-star hotel. Can wait, do you see what the other surprise is? You're traveling on a livestock.

It still hasn't sunk in yet, honestly. It still doesn't feel real. We got a lot of Blue Jace talk on the horizon here. Congrats once again. I saw the picture that you put on social media of what you look like the last time the Jays went to the World Series. You were cute. A little different. Just a little point.

What happened, right? Just a pop back then. How old were you then? I would have been two and a half. Okay. Yeah. Wow. And look at you now.

It's been quite some time, 32 years. Look how far you've come. It's going to be a fun show. What do we got? Dan Shulman's going to join us at 630. Perfect guest to get today. Play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. As mentioned, the Jays are headed to their first World Series since 1993 after a dramatic 4-3 win over the Mariners in Game 7 of the ALCS last night.

George Springer, late Heroics, moves the Toronto Blue Jays on to face the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. World Series begins on Friday in Toronto. 5 o'clock, we're going to talk to Dan about all this at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, Brandon Batchelor is going to join us, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks are back in action tonight as their five-game road trip rolls on. Game number four of the trip goes at 4 p.m. in Pittsburgh against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. So here's the schedule for today, loaded with Conucks Talk here on SportsNet 650.

The actual show Canucks Talk goes from 12 to 2 from the BC Sports Hall of Fame luncheon. Dat and Dan then take you from Canucks Central 2 to 3. At 3 p.m., Canucks pregame begins. Puck drop at 4 with Batch and Randeep and then immediately following the game, immediately post game, the postgame show right here on SportsNet 650. So Brandon Batchel is going to join us at 7 to kick off a busy day of Canucks coverage. At 8, Neil McAvoy is going to join the program.

BC Lions VP of Football Ops, big game for the Lions this weekend. On Saturday, they head to Saskatchewan. 4 p.m. kickoff against the riders. Hey, guess the point spread on that Lions riders game So Saskatchewan's first place in the division Already clinched Yeah, that's the key, that's the key And the BC Lions are on fire

They're not favored, are they? Oh yeah. Oh, wow. I don't know if Saskatchewan's going to play anyone Based on this line, BC minus 9 and a half. They are a wagon right now. Winners of 5 straight, looking for their 6 straight win, Lions are in Saskatchewan on Saturday at 4.

And if they win that game, so the lions are motivated the riders don't really have anything to play for other than don't get hurt if the lions win that game they will host a playoff game so working in reverse on the guest list Neil McAvoy is going to join us at 8

Brandon Bachelor is going to join us at 7 Dan Shulman at 630 it's a big show ahead we got a lot to get into so without further ado Laddie let's tell everybody 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? Is that? You miss that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies best in tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. We're going to begin with the Jays, folks.

I know this is your home of the Canucks, but what happened yesterday. And what happened over the course of that seven-game series against the Seattle Mariners was truly exciting and what a way to end it. The first real true nail-biting finish of the series comes down to the very last at-bats. And we're going to start here, and I do just want to play the brief clip of Dan Shulman, who we're going to have on the show at 6.30, but his call of the epic George Springer home run, the Springer Dinger, which goes down in history as one of the biggest home runs in Blue Jays history. Putting the Jays up 4-3, here is Springer going yard with the eventual game-winning runs.

And a swing in a fly ball to left field That goes a Rosarayna She's gone Dan's calls yesterday The two biggest moments of the game The Springer home run And the Hoffman close Very simple

Let the crowd noise take it away The TV guys have it way easier They're like And silence Everyone knew exactly what was going on at that moment That ball was out of the yard It was awesome yesterday. I feel for Mariners fans.

I want to put that out that I do feel for the Seattle Mariners because having been a fan of a team that was up to nothing in a fairly pivotal series only to lose four or five and not win that series, it's an extra kind of sting when you don't get the job done. And we played the audio from Cal Raleigh in the intro talking about how he views this as a failure, that the Mariners had this series in their grasp,

winning those first two games in Toronto. That was cruel for Mariners fans for that game to end with him waiting to hit. Yep, just sitting on the, standing in the on-deck circle. He did his job in the series. And then I saw the breakdown of that Julio Rodriguez final app out where Jeff Hoffman struck him out

and none of those pitches were in the strikes. Not a single one. Not a single one. And, I mean, it went 2 and O, right? I thought, oh my God, he's going to walk him and then Cal Rale is going to come up. I was, as someone who loved the theater of last night, I was like, Rodriguez is going to get on base,

and it's going to be the big dumper up there, and it's going to be cinema, and it just fell short. But the whole series was cinema. Nothing else fell short. The whole series, I think back, actually, let's talk about the postseason in general, how awesome it's been. How many moments were you like that, regardless of who you're cheering for,

that was an incredible home run. Like you had Vladdy's Grand Slam, right? You had Aaron Judge's home run off the foul pole. Totally forgot about that now. But that was, you know, that was an epic moment. And, you know, in the Blue Jays, you know, fortunately we're able to overcome that with the bullpen game in game four. But I thought that could have been, that could have been a turning point in that series, but the Jays overcame it. You had Suarez's Grand Slam for the Mariners.

And then last night, you know, that Springer home run, I think it eclipses the batflip home run by Joey Batch just because, I mean, that was the ALDS. Was that game five of the ALDS? This is the ALCS. And, you know, it's on par. I think it's on par with Joe Carter's home run because Joe Carter's home run, while awesome and incredible, was in game six. This was a game. Yeah, it was in the World Series, so it gets the nod there. like this this was a this was the jays before that inning people were worried and the vibe you texted it the vibes are off the vibes are off about this team right now and you know the thing with the jays is like there are days some days where like they can hit everything and there have been a few other days where it's just like they can't eat anything and the mariners are pretty good pitching and that you know the bottom of the seventh is where a lot of Mariners fans are upset because, you know, it's like they're complaining as like, why did Wu go back out there? You know, why not bring in Munoz or whatever, you know, like I don't know the ins and outs of the Mariners. They were upset. They

were up with the early lift of Wu, to be honest. And they thought that bringing Bizarro in in that moment having pitched two innings the game prior was really taxing for a guy. That was a tough moment for him, right? The Fox broadcast, they didn't come right out and say it, but they implied heavily. Like, oh, they're going to use Bizarro as a bridge here to get to Munoz. But it really feels like the game is on the line here. And they kept saying it over and over again.

Like, why aren't you going to your best pitcher? I jumped. Do we need the bridge or be on the other side right? I jumped into Mariner's Twitter last night and listened to a bit of the postgame show on KJR and ESPN and the fans were livid with Dan Wilson and his pitching

decisions there, the early hooks. They thought Kirby came out to early. Too cute. He said. He was too cute with his pitch to changes. What a moment for Springer to deliver, and I'm sure that felt good for Springer, considering the way he was treated in Seattle. And he's been, and I thought he was easily the MVP of the series, and he's been the MVP of the postseason,

with all due respect to that one great game that Otani had, Vladdy's been it. But I think Springer's been the MVP of the year. He has been fantastic, and that dinger last night. So to give you some context here, because you're putting it in the same breath as Joe Carter, Springer's home run, the first go-ahead Homer in game seven history when a team trailed by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later.

You just do not get those kind of moments in game sevens, period, regardless of franchise, regardless of CS, regardless of World Series, like a game seven to be able to do that that late, where the scales were tilted in the favors of the Mariners, at that point. I mean, the vibe check that I was doing, it was pretty collective at that point. Everyone had a real bad feeling that if it wasn't going to get

done in the seventh, it wasn't going to get done at all. The feeling I got when Springer put that swing on the ball, and he said after, he was just like, yeah, I was just trying to hit a sacrifice. We were just trying to manufacture runs at that point. And it was, that was an accurate assessment because they had actually

bunched the players over to second and third. And the feeling I got, from the crowd was like, yeah, they were excited, but it was more shock that it had happened because, like, I know the seventh inning started with promise, right? You get two games on, two runners on, you bunt them all over, you're like, Springer's up. But it wasn't this moment of like, this is it, he's going to hit a home run here. You know, it was like, I don't know, you tell me, what were you thinking when Springer came out?

But you never expected in a moment like that for that to happen. Like you said, it was bigger than the bat flip. I didn't expect to see a moment like that. No one expects to see a moment like that. That's why it's so incredible. But there are times when players come up, though, and you're like, he might hit a home run here. I knew he's going to get a hit,

but I didn't think it was going to be over the wall to go from 3-1 to 4-3. It was an incredible series, very theatrical. You know, I do feel really badly for Mariners fans, but I'm happy for all the Jays fans I mean like I took the dog for a walk around the block after they won and there were bars going crazy

you know and for people look like I know this argument got tired like this is there are way more Jays fans in this town they just are Vancouver you know and for you you want to say like reasons why or whatever like great way to put a bow on the conversation that dominated all seven games of this series

by the way there's just way more Jays fans no but there are if the Mariners had one that game there would be a handful of a very excited Mariners fans you know like i i know i know i was texting with a bunch of them after but like there are there are way more jays fans and you know you can say well rogers is you know they're just you know they put it on all the time it's like no well they're a canadian team like you know they're canada's only team and people feel that people in vancouver a lot of people in vancouver feel that the jays are theirs just as much as their

Toronto's. So Blue Jays baseball, it rolls on to a pretty formidable foe in the World Series, and that is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have been sitting in wait for a while, having swept the Milwaukee Brewers out of the NLCS. It's going to be a clash of a lot of different things, including a clash of styles, I think. One thing to note yesterday is that a lot of the moments, aside from the fact that where we thought they were going to manufacture runs down 3-1, bunting players over and then springer coming down to the dish and it ended with a homer. The Jays are very much a manufacturing runs team. Another thing that was Blue Jays baseball yesterday was their ability to come back late in games.

The Jays had an MLB best nine wins this season when trailing by two plus runs in the seventh inning or later, right? And they become just one of a handful of teams in MLB history to win a game in game in game seven trailing that late in a game. And that's kind of been part of their makeup all season. And Schneider's talked about it as well. Like, when they're up against it and the pressure's really on, this team finds different ways through different guys to win ball games. And look, if you want to extrapolate that out over to the course of the series, they had their backs up against the wall, down three, two in this series.

So that's two elimination games that they played. And they were able to clutch up and perform in game six, a much more, I would say, complete performance by the Jays. including the starting pitching, because Shane Bieber was not good last night. They almost managed to work their way around what was kind of an iffy start. And then last night, again, taking advantage of some miscues from the Mariners and squeaking it out, courtesy of George Springer. So we will talk to Dan Shulman coming up at 630, get his take on what was a very, very memorable

and historic night for the franchise. And we'll look ahead to this World Series as well. There are some days off before we get underway on Friday. But for right now, the Jays are going to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. If the Jays were to pull this off, where are you ranking this among biggest upsets in World Series history? You have the up there. The upsets that I remember, you know, 88 when Kirk Gibson hit that home run,

like the Oakland was just like... Don't want to talk about it. Yeah, I know. I know. But like you went into that series thinking like the A's are going to win this, no problem, right? The A's were such a massive favorite in that series So it can happen It can happen It went to the 1960 World Series

No one expected the Pirates to take it Right You remember that one A dog right? Yes, like it was yesterday Mickey Mantle and the Yankees Old, huge favorite If you go to the variety of sports books right now The Dodgers are heavy

Heavy favorites To win the World Series Well the joke online is the Blue Jays won the right To get swept by the Dodgers Yeah and I mean I think they're getting swept Last night But they're better

But it is going to be really tough. And it's not just Otani. It's the entire starting rotation. Like I think you could make an argument that none of the Blue J starters match up to like any of the Dodgers starters. The Mariners also have some pretty good starting pitching too. Yeah. And the Jay's got after the starting pitching and I'm glad you brought that up because that was one of the things throughout the series. Aside from game one that the Jays were able to do with regularity was get after every starter that came up.

It's flipped in game seven, though. It went from the starters being terrible to the bullpen bullet. They only managed to get the four hits off. Kirby was, that was, Kirby was way better last night. Yes, he was. He had eight runs the first time. Yeah, yeah. Did you notice right off the bat, he's like,

I'm not going to throw all strikes today. Yeah. In fact, I might throw one in your ear, George Springer. They were talking about pounding the strike zone, but Kirby was like, I tried that last time, and it didn't work out all that. And then they were like, these guys can hit the ball. What was I going to ask? What was I going to say?

Never mind. Go on. Okay, well, we'll pivot now because we've got the second half of the show. We do want to get into the Vancouver Connect stuff because we're going to talk to Dan Shulman. I know what I want to say. Okay. Okay. The starting pitchers from the last three wins of the Blue Jays in this series, what an unlikely trio? Who was it?

Scherzer? You Savage? And Beber. Beber. Who wasn't even with the team? And he wasn't really that effective in game seven and they still pulled it out. And Scherzer is like 100. Yeah.

And I know they kept him out of the first series. Was that, did they say injury or was it more just like, yeah, he hasn't been very effective? He was dealing with something. It was more of like a nagging thing. And they kind of just used it. But he wasn't effective. He was terrible, the last three, four starts of the season. Yeah.

I mean, is that one of the most unlikely trios to pull off these games? It might be. yeah i mean you savage established himself in the first series so it's hard to say like it came he's a rookie man he's a rookie do you say it at the beginning of the season the season yeah you were like well Bieber wasn't on the team

you Savage wasn't on the team well in Bieber was a speculative signing at the beginning of the year and it's not just that Bieber wasn't on the team yeah it's that Bieber was he was rehabbing he was rehabbing he was not playing nobody knew what he was going to look like when he was going to come back yeah and so

it's been a it's been a storybook run It's a good thing. It's a good point that you brought up, though, with the comparative starters. So at the beginning of the year, nobody had any of these guys penciled in for anything for the Jays. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are rolling with Yamamoto and Snell and Otani and Glass Now, and it's a beast of a rotation. And the brewers saw it. That series was not close at all.

And the brewers were the best team in baseball during the regular season. By the way, a couple people texted in, including Capitol Hill Ron, asking about Bo Bichette. So in the aftermath, yesterday, during all of those. of the champagne and beer-soaked celebrations. I have audio. Do you? Bo Bichette was asked about his availability for the World Series,

and here is what the injured shortstop had to say. Are you going to be in the World Series? Are you going to be well enough to play? I'll be ready. You're going to be ready to play. We love to hear that man. We love to hear that your baths going to be back in the lineup. How hard has it been sitting on the sidelines?

I mean, obviously, this is a dream for me to be playing these games, but I mean, this group is just so easy to root for. and I mean they played amazing so really I enjoyed it along with along with everybody else So here's a question He's gonna play What do you do there?

You plop him right back in the field Because Jimenez with his glove And his ability to field It's been great And Jimenez's bad has been pretty good as well I can tell you that he's probably gonna be better than Isaiah Kiner Filetha So I think you just throw him in the field

Because you can't deach him George has kind of gotten that spot You're not putting George in the field Well, that's what I'm saying. You can't put Georgia's center field. So I think you have to. There's one spot you can put up, and that's it short. Okay.

Well, we'll see what happens on Friday. Okay, finally, we will get to the Vancouver Canucks stuff now. I've been teasing it for a while here. Pretty interesting day in Canucks land, especially for Jimmy Schult. While we were on the air yesterday, the Canucks made a flurry of transactions. While we were talking to Satya Shah from Canucks Central as well, and we were trying to make sense of exactly what was going on. And then about six hours later, they made a whole bunch more transactions.

So at the end of the day, Jimmy Schult was a member of the Vancouver Canucks for five hours. Yeah. It was unforgettable. Yeah, it was just all salary cap stuff that I don't understand. I don't want to understand. But I think the more interesting things than all of the roster machinations, and we'll see what the Canucks lines look like tonight in Pittsburgh,

was Patrick Alvin's comments to Ian McIntyre. And he was talked about the injury situation that the Canucks are into, one that they definitely didn't want to be, especially when it comes to a guy like Philippeitel who went into the season and they were like, okay, I know this guy's got an injury history, concussion history, but he's going to be our 2C. We weren't able to find anything else on the market. The prices were too high. We weren't willing to meet them. So we're going to roll the dice in Philippeel's going to be our 2C. We also lost Pugh-Suter in the off-season And now, you know, he's hurt

And he could be out for a while I mean, that was a big, big hit by Tom Wilson And Patrick Alvin said, Well, the first job is to find a way To get through the next game Depth-wise, I think we're good at the bottom of the lineup It's more how do we get the skill guy For the top six that is the challenge

And it's been a challenge And you remember, Jim Rutherford said well, it's going to be expensive to do but it's going to be more expensive if we don't do it. Well they still haven't done it and now they're in this position of desperation

and Patrick Levine kind of admitted to that and he said to IMAC I think there's always been an urgency to add that player and that's been something we looked into all summer I would say this probably makes me look at other things I might not have looked at before. Just

take a different view. I mean this is a crazy quote. My job is to look at the option short term and long term and what makes sense for us. So is he basically conceding that he might be willing to pay a higher price now? Yeah. And that's the expensive part that Jim Rutherford was talking about earlier in the year. I think this is all a domino effect of expensiveness. Well, I think he was saying if we don't do it, we're not going to be very good. Yeah, but he said if you don't do it'll be the expensive part. But it was all about expense. It was all about how much it was going to cost. And now, I mean, this is sort of one of the unforeseen yet obvious

circumstances when you go into a season depleted at one position, is that one injury can really force you into padding. Well, by the way, just to put a bow on the recalls and everything, Nils Oman and Tom Villander were recalled yesterday. So I would assume that Amon's got a decent chance of getting into the lineup tonight, although it remains to be seen. Yes, and P.O. Joseph is healthy as well, so he might go in and I don't know what they plan to do with Villander.

Maybe just let him get the experience. Maybe he's going to play. Who knows? I mean, everything is very much in flux right now. I don't want to make Dan Shalman wait on the other side, but I will say that I'm having trouble still, thinking of any names that the connects could go out and target. I heard Free John with Donnie and Dolly, and he reported that the market for senders was pretty quiet,

as it's been for a while now. Who wants to give up their centers? There are buyers. Montreal Canadians would love if there's a 2C out there, but there's no sellers. And it's tough because we're so early in the season and not many teams want to throw in the towel and trade a key contributor for what's probably a package of futures.

You know, five, six, seven games into the season. You know, sat throughout the name. I think it was sat throughout the name of a guy like Pavel Zaka. He's like a big part of that Bruins team. I think they're going to be willing to sell off their 2C at this point in the season. I will throw out this one question, though. Okay. And maybe we'll talk about this later in the show.

Would the Kinecks be willing to trade the first round pick in 2006, aka the Gavin McKenna draft and it would have to be for it to really have some heft it would have to be unprotected I am not advocating this but we seem to do this every year with this team

it is a Canucks game day here on SportsNet 650 Canucks game day is brought to you by Panago go for the win by two medium Panago pizzas and score free cheesy bread use code Canucks deal at Panago.com Panago for it. Restrictions apply game day only. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. We got four more to vote. 633 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford, Brubb, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Dan Shulman, the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays is going to join us. In just a moment here, the highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought you by. North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest, as you heard in the intro, on the call for an unforgettable night for the Toronto Blue Jays last night. Play-by-play voice of those Blue Jays, Dan Shulman, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Dan. How are you? I'm well. How about that? How much fun was that? Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

I can only imagine, one, you must be a little tired this morning, but rightfully so. And two, still trying to really make sense of everything that happened, because that was as dramatic, I would say, as you're going to get in a game seven in the American League Championship series. Yeah, I was a little bit of a late night. I will admit to that a little bit hoarse, so forgive me for that. But, you know, it was a fascinating game. I mean, the Mariners get one in the first inning

and could have had more, and all of a sudden there's kind of a bit of a feeling of dread. But the Blue Jays get one back. But then Julio homers and then Raleigh homers and it's 3-1 and it's the fifth and it's the sixth and it's the seventh and it's starting to get late. And it just felt in the bottom of the seventh like that was the moment. And I assume you guys were watching and Buck and I were talking about it

like they get a couple of guys on and here comes the top of the order. And And Andres Munoz isn't in the game yet, probably being saved, I guess, for the last. two innings of the game, and it just felt like that was the season, that whole, the bottom of the seventh, that they were going to live or die with what happened in the bottom of the seventh inning. And I thought it was fitting and actually saw George Springer on the field about an hour after the game, and I told him this as incredible as Guerrero was and won the ALCS MVP, and deservedly so, and all that. I thought it was fitting that Springer had this

hit because he was their most important, most valuable player during the regular season in my estimation. And to do it on a bad me and just an incredible moment. And, you know, I've been lucky I was at what was on the Skydome for the Joe Carter home run. I was there for the Jose Batista home run. And, you know, I can't tell you which one of the three was the loudest, but I can tell you that building was absolutely shaking last night. Like, it was just an insane scene. And I'll never forget it. Can you tell us a little bit more about the feeling inside Rogers Center before the bottom of the seventh? Was it one of kind of like, hey, the innings are kind of ticking away here?

How many more do we have here? Because this game is getting by pretty quickly. Yeah, absolutely. That's what I felt. And, you know, so I'm wearing a headset, obviously, as we're doing the game, right? So sometimes I don't pick up as much as you would pick up in terms of energy or noise or vibe or whatever if you were sitting in the seats. but there's no question each time they were retired in the fifth, in the sixth.

It, you know, as Yogi Berry used to say or whoever said it, you know, it gets late early around here. It was getting late. And with Munoz being so good, that's why that bottom of the seven felt huge. And it started with a barger walk. And then I think the single most important overlooked play of the game, not the most important play, but the most important overlooked play of the game is Isaiah Kiner Folefa comes up with a base hit on an 0-2 pitch against Brian Wu, who's a terrific pitcher, and now it's first and second, nobody out.

And now with two men on, they can think about bunting Jimenez, and he gets the bunt down. But before that, it almost felt like people were, oh, man, I can't believe it's going to end. And, you know, they've had such a great year, but it just doesn't look like it's in the cards. It felt like there was an error of resignation in the ball. park until barger walked and kinder for leffa singled and then from then on obviously everything

changed what were you thinking when it was bizardo who came out of the pen well i thought munoz would pitch two innings yeah um so i assume dan wilson was thinking eight nine um i guess in hindsight i'm a little surprised he didn't have both bazaardo and munoz up and if nothing's going on but Wu runs out of pitches, you bring Bizarro. But if something's going on with Springer and Guerrero coming around the bend, then you're bringing Munoz. So I do admit to having gone on Twitter today and just typing in Dan Wilson to see what came up. He did too.

And I know, I'm sure a lot of your listeners are Mariners fans too out there, right, because of where you are. But I was surprised. I don't think he was, you know, and if you think about it, of two like Springer and Guerrero probably would have come around again in the ninth inning because this was just the seventh and it was one out when he came in but um I think and I don't want to say we were out in front of it because we just said man the blue jays got a score before Munoz comes in they got to get the lead before Munoz comes in and so obviously if you look at it again uh I think you can make a great case that he should have come in for the seventh

inning. So, you know, Wu was obvious, if Wu had just gotten out, maybe he just finishes off the seventh inning. Maybe Bizarro doesn't even come into the game. And Bizarro's good, right? A 252 ERA and 73 appearances, but he's not Munoz. But I guess in hindsight, I'm surprised maybe he didn't have both of them up and then made his decision based on, you know, how many guys were on base at the time he made the change. We're speaking to Dan Shillman, the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Let's jump ahead to the 9th here.

And Jason and I were talking, and I think it was ahead of game 5. We said, you know what? We both kind of came to the realization. There had not been a Jeff Hoffman moment in this postseason, good, bad, or otherwise. I don't until that point, because none of the games had really required that high leverage clutch moment. And then we were texting back and forth. I'm like, it's happening now in Game 7.

It's going to happen now in the biggest moment of the year. This is incredible theater. And I don't even know if you can see. say enough about the job that Hoffman did to close that thing out. After 35 pitches the night before, right? Two innings for strikeouts the night before. I am

among, he's among the players I am happiest for. There's a handful that for whatever reason, I'm even happier for them than just all of the, you know, some of the other guys. I'm really happy for him because A, he's an awesome guy. He's a team player. He wants to take the ball. It doesn't

always work out, but he wants to help his team anyway. He can and I don't know how you got how long you guys stuck around with the broadcast last night I think I said it after the game ended because I didn't want to jinx anything in the moment I did hear this yes oh you did hear this yeah if I'd been braver I would have said it two days ago then it would have been really good but so I walked up to him in the clubhouse on Sunday before game six and I and I'm really lucky I've got a really good relationship with him and stuff like that and I can just kind of walk up to him and I just walked up to him and I said you got six out in you tonight. And he just smiled and said, and three more tomorrow. And that's exactly what happened. And I give him a lot of credit. I talked to him again before game seven. And I said, how are you feeling? He goes, I'm good to go. Whatever they want, I'm good to go. And I think we all knew we wouldn't get two innings after going two innings. That's just asking a little bit too much. So, but yeah, that was a Jeff Hoffman moment. And, you know, the drama, firstly, it's Julio

at the plate. Secondly, Cal Raleigh's in the on deck circle. I mean, by all, October standards, this is, this game is like a nine and a half out of ten on the tension and drama scale. It really is. It had, you know, so many different things. And I want to just for two seconds, I want to say, and Kevin Gosman walked a couple of guys, but Gosman in the seventh, and especially Chris Bassett in the eighth. Yeah. Fantastic stuff, right, from guys who have never been in a World Series before, neither one of them, nor has Hoffman. Fantastic stuff from them. And I want to give John Schneider a lot of credit. Obviously, game five, it didn't work.

Whatever the, all the reasons behind it are, we may never hear all of them, but it didn't work. But the buttons he pushed in game six and seven were great. And he could have gone, you know,

Braden Fisher, Mason Flew Hardy, and maybe that would have worked. But he, you know, those guys, as good as they have been this year, they're both rookies. And he went with a 34-year-old and a 36-year-old,

and you guys have watched them for years. I mean, these are two legit veterans. and guys who have been waiting their whole lives for a moment like this, and especially Bassett because he wants to be starting. He's a starter, but he wound up on the IL and he's not stretched out. And the only other appearance he had was in a mop-up situation. It didn't really mean much.

So for him to come in and get those three outs in the eighth inning, I thought was awesome. Hey, Dan, as a broadcaster, how do you approach big home runs? Because I'm thinking back on the postseason already, and we're not even into the World Series. and, I mean, you've got to call some incredible home runs. Vladdy's Grand Slam, well, pick any of the Vladdy home runs. There's been like six of them. Aaron Judge's home run. I mean, that was, that could have been a turning point in that series.

Suarez's home run in Seattle. And then last night, the biggest of the mall so far, Springers. It's hard to approach them. It's like saying how do you approach a goal in hockey, I guess, right? You don't know what's coming until it comes. So I've never scripted anything in my life, nor will I, and you can't script them. I mean, usually my calls are kind of, you know, it's gone is usually a part of my call, although for some reason last night on the Springer home run, I said she's gone,

which I've never said before in my life, and I didn't even know I'd said it until I said it. And I was like, you know, I'm thinking to myself as I'm still talking, boy, where did that come from? But, you know, it's all about the moment. A first inning home run in June is different than a third. three-run shot in game seven of the ALCS. That goes without saying. So I just say what I see, just kind of call what I feel, you know, and it's not always perfect, and I'm not always happy with them. And actually, as a broadcaster, I like my RBI single and two-run double calls better than I like my home run calls, but the home runs are the ones that everybody remembers, and home runs

are such a big part of baseball right now. You know, they can turn a game around on one swing. But You know, it was clear that that bottom of the seventh inning probably was going to make or break their season. So, you know, you're totally locked in on the moment, but he could have hit a ground ball to Shepard. Like, we have no idea. So I just kind of say what I'm feeling in the moment, you know, just trying to make people at home feel like they're sitting in the ballpark. I mean, not to get too personal here, but this run and this must be kind of a dream come true for you. It is, actually, yeah. And it's, you know, you go back until a few years ago, like, if this was happening, you would just be watching it on Fox.

You wouldn't be watching it on Sportsnet. This is relatively recently where we have been able to do this. Fox or TBS, if they had to have the series, those are U.S., you know, domestic broadcast partners of Major League Baseball. They don't have Canadian rights. So we're the only team, and I'm sure you guys know this, but we're the only team in baseball where we can do this. this. The Mariners who were watching Fox, they weren't watching their local guys on, I guess it's still root sports. It may have changed this year, but you know what I mean. So we're incredibly lucky and listen, I'm born in Toronto, raised in Toronto, was at the first game, April 7th,

1977, the whole thing, right? Like everybody I know is a Blue Jay fan. So it was really cool when I came back to start doing Jay's games again in 2016. This wasn't on my radar because this didn't exist then, but I, you know, just came back to do Blue Jays games because that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in Toronto more. But, you know, when this happened, I'm not going to lie, like the chance to call a World Series on national TV for your hometown team, I think I'm the luckiest guy around. Like, there aren't many, there aren't many of these play-by-play jobs. They're precious. And to do it for your hometown team makes it more special. And to be able to do it in the postseason, makes it more special and for them to make the World Series

makes it as special as it can be. So, yeah, I thought about a lot of people after the game last night and I'll remember this for the rest of my life. Well, I'm happy for you, and Blue Jays fans are lucky to have you doing the call because you do a great job. Now, the World Series hasn't even started yet. It felt like the kind of felt like the Jays won the World Series last year last night, and I was kind of like, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

But I know they're going to gather themselves, and I know that they've got a big job ahead of them. How can they beat this Dodgers team? Right. So the Dodgers are overwhelming favorites and deservedly so. And I know the Blue Jays 194 games and the Dodgers are one ninety-three, but the Dodgers are favorites and deservedly so. They are peaking right now, or certainly were in the first two rounds. They've got four stud starting pitchers. some great hitters in the top half of their lineup.

Everybody knows how powerful the Dodgers are. I think if the Blue Jays are to have a chance, then they're going to have to be at their best in terms of running up the pitch counts of the starting pitchers, which we've seen them do, right? They make more contact than any team in baseball. We all know how their offense works. But can they get a snail out of the game?

Can they get a glass snail out of the game? Two guys they know very well, by the way, from their years in the American League East with Tampa. So can they do it to Yamamoto? Can they do it to Otani? I have no idea, but I think that's the game plan. Can they foul off a million pitches, get some guys on base,

get those guys out of there after five to six innings? You know, you can't have Snell completing a game like he did, Yamamoto going eight like he did. You've got to get him out of the game. Because the bullpen is the, potentially, the soft underbelly of the, Dodgers. So I think if the Blue Jays are to have a chance, that's where it starts. Well, we were just talking about like, okay, what have been some massive World Series

upsets? And I guess the one that sprung to mind both of us, maybe for just the ages we were at the time and how into baseball at that time. The Oakland A's were in 88 were just, I mean, they were incredible. And they were upset by the Los Angeles Dodgers. You know, what, you know, Is a lot of this as fair as we wanted to make? Is a lot of this on Vladdy? I mean, a lot of it is on Vladdy, but this isn't basketball where Michael Jordan or LeBron James can take over.

Like, you know, if you want Michael to have the ball to take the last shot, you can do that. You can't make Vladdy come up with the bases loaded. Like if, you know, if it's Isaiah kinder-Folef's turn, it's Isaiah kinder-Folef's turn. So a lot of this is on Vladdy. obviously we're all unbelievably curious whether Boba Chet can come back

and in what role and again the clock is ticking it's only three days away now and he hasn't run the bases yet so maybe he's on I don't think he's playing short but if he's D-Hing can Springer play the outfield

how is Springer's knee and if Springer plays the outfield you know now you've got to move guys around and you've got to do what you've got to do but it would be great if Bo can be a part of this. So Vladdy is huge, but I think they need to get the Clement. You know, Ernie Clement's been phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal in October. Lucas has been very good, too.

That has to continue. Kirk's got a hit. And a guy, I think, would be really important is Addison Barger. Barger, to me, when he's hot, he is as dangerous as just about anybody. But he's got some cold streaks in him, too. The last four or five games, he was great. He took the walk that led off that seventh inning last night. And then on the bottom of the eighth, remember, he smoked the ball to first.

I mean, it was a missile, but Naylor caught it for a double play. He homered the game before. He doubled the game before that. I think barge is a big part of it. And then the bullpen will have to be good. It's a team sport. Baseball is more of a team sport than most others, I think, because, again, you need so many guys to help you.

win a game. So, you know, if they're up a run or two, can Flew Hardy to Sir Anthony to Hoffman get the last nine outs, that sort of thing? A lot of things are going to have to go right. But stranger things have happened. There are upsets. And we'll see. It's fun to have home field advantage. Yeah. And, you know, just put a scare into them, right? And the Blue Jays believe in them. We all know how much the Blue Jays believe in themselves. They lost

the first two games at home in this round and came back to win the series. So I think no matter what happens, they're always going to believe in themselves. Yeah, well, we talked about that in the intro segment as well. It's that this series was kind of a microcosm of what the Jays have done all year. And they kind of

refused to go down. They never believe that they're out of anything, down to nothing in the series. Two elimination games after the Mariners went up 3-2 in the series. And again, I don't know what the odds the likelihood of winning yesterday would have been going into that bottom of the seventh, but it would have been stacked against the Jays.

But it's not just lip service from Schneider, I think, when he says, like, we take it, we want to go on like a one-game winning streak, or we just want to win this. And then if you break it down, it goes to each individual inning, each individual at bat. And they do a really good job of just fighting and fighting and fighting. Maybe that'll be the recipe to pull an upset

against the Dodgers. Yeah, I think that's part of it. It's the, if you can just get a guy on, somebody at the bottom of the order, get on base. Like, How many times have we seen big endings start with like, whether it's Clamand or Kynar Folef or or Miles Straw or anybody, just get on base, open the door, crack, and see what happens. And, you know, it's guys doing whatever is asked for them. This guy gets hurt.

That guy fills in. This guy gets sent down. That guy gets called up. You know, move Barcher from the infield to the outfield. Whoever would have thought Isaiah Kinear Folefa starts the last five games of this series and comes up with some bigots. This is who they are. and I think John Schneider and the rest of the coaching staff

have done a great job creating this culture of it's all 26 of them on every single day. It's all 26 of them. And they all believe in each other, no matter who is on the mound or who is in the box, they all believe in each other and have faith that they can help them win games. Dan, you're the best. Go get some rest.

Got a few days now. We'll let you go and take some time to enjoy this, but also get ready for the, World Series, which begins on Friday. It's going to be a lot of fun. Guys, thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate you. Dan Shulman, play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 6.50. Do you think having the first two games at Rogers Center could be potentially huge for the Jays?

Yeah, they lose them. Then they win four or five. Yeah. I mean, the playbook is there. The blueprint is there. The Dodgers aren't the Mariners, though. And the reason I say this is because the Kirk Gibson walk off home run. game one game one hey buddy like it was over in five that series was over in five it was oh no no it was over in one well that's and that's why I bring up the that's why I bring up the you know I know baseball he's like we set the tone in game one but like Dan says you got to put a scare into the Dodgers and what better way to do that than take advantage of your first two games at home where Roger Center is going to be absolutely

crazy. I just wanted to read this one. This is a nice text into the Dunbar Lumber text line. It comes from Steve in Prince George. He said, I kept my son up last night who has never watched baseball eight years old and Springer's home run had him losing his mind because even he could feel the electricity of this sports moment. Couldn't be happy for Laddie and thanks to Brough for the reverse jinks. I'm just trying to do my best here. Steve, I'm glad you were able to have that moment with your son. I think there were a lot of moments like that across the country. I'm not trying to get into the argument of who you're cheering for, who you should be cheering for. This was me personally witnessing many of these moments. The boy had a hockey practice late

last night and they stayed and found a TV to watch together and they watched it as a team and the celebration when they got the final out, they were pumped. And this is a hockey team. Like they like baseball, but now I think they love baseball. It's been a fun, sorry,

Adog's in my ear telling me to break. Okay. I love it when A Dog does that. I'm like going into, I'm just like, it was, you know, they liked baseball,

and now they love break. Impeckable time. Sorry, buddy. Sorry, buddy. Get your yawns in. Before we go to, break. I need to tell you about Jan pro from conference rooms to kitchenettes and everything in

between Janpro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quote, visit them online at Janpro.ca. Hour one in the books, hour two on the horizon. Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of your Vancouver Connects is going to join us on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.