Halford & Brough in the Morning - What's Wrong With The Blue Jays Bullpen?

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get the latest Jays updates from Blue Jays television commentator Dan Shulman.  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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough You're listening to Halford and Brough. First pitch from Hoffman and Walner gets underneath it, sends it on a pretty good ride out to right field on the track looking up and watching it go. What did I just say? Comes to play. Pit. It swung on high-fly ball, deep left field.

Big G's dead it again, everybody. Two-run Homer into the bleachers, deep left field. The theme song. For what? Pokemon. Good morning, MacCher, 6.1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford.

It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adol, good morning to you. Good morning.

Mattie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in 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. This is them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. We've got a lot to get into on the show today. Guest list begins at 6.30 today.

I'm excited for it. We got a four-guester today and a guest at 8.30. I know you love those. And a special guest for you, Jason, Rob. I'm a stadium geek. We'll get to that in a sec. Guess list today begins at 630. Dan Shulman, play-by-play voice of the Blue Jays is going to join the program.

Tough night in Toronto last night. Jays blew a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Four runs, two home runs, eventually losing 7-5 to the Twins. A lot of concern, a lot of concern about closer Jeff Hoffman right now, so we'll talk to Dan about all that at 6.30. 7.30, Dan Meese is going to join the program. Dan Meese, the plural of moose. Yeah, he's not a moose, though.

He is an American architect who has designed numerous sports and entertainment facilities, including the Staples Center, which is now, of course, crypto, Saveco Field, which is now, of course, T-Mobile. And most recently, Everton F.C.'s Hill Dickinson Stadium. Yeah, and it's a beautiful stadium on the docks of Liverpool. This is a Jason Brough special, but I, too, am excited to talk to Dan Meese because obviously, Stadia talk. That's how we like to say it around here. Stadia talk. That's very prevalent right now.

It's important in Vancouver. Our first question is going to be, if you were to design a practice facility. Right. Now, how about you took an existing racetrack? He's like, I've never designed a practice facility because I've never seen a professional sports franchise not have one. They all have one.

Nobody's ever asked me. Because who would need to build one? You should already have one. So Dan Meese is going to join the program at 730. Very excited to talk to him. Eight o'clock hour. It's already fully booked. I don't know when we're going to do what we learned.

I don't know how we're going to do them. But 8 o'clock, Bill Armstrong is going to join us. General manager of the Utah mammoth. Big off season for the mammoth. First, they were named the mammoth. That was a big deal. Then they traded for J.J. Baturca. They also signed Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanniv.

So a big off season. We'll talk to Bill about what year one was like in Utah. We should ask Bill what a mammoth is. Sure. And compare his answer to Addox. He's like, I believe it's a retired Lano. Yes. You know, people keep saying.

And we'll talk to Bill of O what year two has in store for The Mammoth. That's coming up at 8 o'clock. You could do what we learned at 7, by the way. We have an open segment. That's too early for what we learned. It's way too early. We're not going to get any submissions in. We could do ours.

The 6 a.m. listeners are not what we learn people. Tyson Barry's going to join us at 8.30 in the usual what we learned spot. I like the fact that we apparently have 6 a.m. listeners and those dastardly 8.30 a.m. Listener. Call the 6-8 listeners the stupid listeners. They're not texting in. They're going to work. Are they tired because they're stupid or are they stupid because they're tired? It's hard to say. But anyway, Tyson Barry's going to join us at 830. Victoria Native 14-year NHL defenseman no longer called it a career on Monday after 822 games in the NHL. Colorado, Toronto,

Edmonton, Nashville, and Calgary also represented Canada internationally a few times. So we'll talk to Tyson about a very lengthy and very decorated NHL career. Hi. We were coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. I thought something felt off. I just jumped right into the guest list. I guess I was so excited about Dan Meese and Tyson Barry and Bill Armstrong. Less we forget Dan Shalman.

You just really wanted to say four-guester. I love a four-guester. I don't love a three-guester, especially in August. Working in reverse on the four-guessed guest list. Tyson-Berry at 830, Bill Armstrong at 8. Dan Mies at 730 and Dan Shulman at 6.30. That's what's happening on the program today. 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? Missed it? You missed that?

What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies of best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online. B-C-C-S-A.C-S-A. Not a good night for the Toronto Blue Jays and their pen. In particular, Jeff Hoffman, Mickey Gasper, one of my favorite names,

game tying home run to start off the 9th, and then Matt Walner with this bomb, which will play the audio for, as the go-ahead, Jack. Twins rally on the 9th, beat the Jays by an eventual 7-5 scoreline on Tuesday night in Toronto. Here is the Minnesota Twins call

of the Walner Jack that gave them the win on Tuesday night. With the go-ahead run at third base. And Walder with a blast. High and deep to right center field. Back it goes to the wall and that is gone. Matt Walder, puts the twins on top as he homers for the third straight game. It's number 20.

And the boobirds are out here in Toronto as the twins. Surge in front seven-four. Let's go. Yes. Yes. Let's go. You drop the let's go in there. That's great.

The boo birds were out in a major way for Jeff Hoffman yesterday and that was about as bad of a ninth that you're going to get from a closer because he just looked off right from the start Gasper and I think that was his first home run of the year like a light hitting Mickey Gasper got up there and what's been a problem for Hoffman oftentimes

it's that first batter that he faces in the ninth or the early batters in a closing situation and then it just got worse from there. They uncorked a wild pitch to actually hit a guy. And then the first pitch that Walner saw a 96 mile an hour right down the pipe,

there it is right there. Out of the yard, Jays lose, and there's some consternation about the closer. So is this how we're going to, assuming the Jays make the playoffs, is this how we're going to live

watching this team? Yes. Like, just terrified of what's going to happen in later innings? God forbid the Jays have a lead. So there's a few stats. floating around right now that are would suggest yeah that's how we're going to live

the first one and the the most distressing one is the amount of home runs that Hoffman gives up he's allowed 12 in the eighth inning or later this year it's a whole team problem but it's also a it's a Hoffman thing because of he gives up like we gave up two jacks last night so that bumped him

from 10 to 12 but the next closest reliever in baseball to give up that many home runs in the eighth inning or later is sitting at eight so he's got the lead by a considerable margin also in Jason passed along this stat in our text thread yesterday. The Js have the worst bullpen ERA. It's almost at 6.

It's 597 in Major League Baseball since July 27th. So as... What an odd day to start that... As the calendar almost turned to August. It's the last month. The last month. Yeah, you start to see a bullpen that's gotten more and more shaky as the month is progressing. We get closer to playoffs because now we're only 29 games away from the playoffs.

Yeah. And then watching the Mariners game last night And the Padres who really And the Padres who really invested in their bullpen Yeah Bring in two guys They call them high leverage arms They call them

Yeah And so these guys were throwing absolute gas And then they bring in their big time closer And it's not like they mowed down the Mariners 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. but they did protect a one-run lead and those guys had to go through the best Mariners hitters twice

and they got it done. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what the Js do with this moving forward because yesterday, we had the conversation we're like, what a well-rounded baseball team. They're healthy, they get contributions from everyone. They're having arguments about what the rotation's going to look like because they have too many guys.

Let's play some audio now. This is Tim McAuliffe and Ben Nicholson-Smith on the bullpen. McAuliffe asking the questions, Nicholson Smith, answering them specifically about what to do next with the bullpen and specifically Jeff Hoffman. What's happening with Jeff Hoffman in the month of August? Three blown saves, three saves.

What's the level of concern surrounding the Jays closing? It's real. I think it has to be real. It's just when you look at how frustrating this outing was. I mean, this is a game the Blue Jays really had right in front of them. It was right there for them to win, even after Louis Varlane struggled and allowed one run in in the sixth. But Jeff Hoffman, two home runs, like you said to him, I mean, this was rough. So the concern level, it has to be real.

Now, we did hear from John Schneider, and he was really, you know, backing his guy, not a surprise to see that from the Blue Jays manager. He was saying that they have a lot of trust in Jeff Hoffman, a lot of trust in all of those relievers. So I'm not expecting a drastic change by any stretch, but yeah, they need to turn this around. He's allowed 12 home runs this year. and that's a lot of home runs for a closer to allow. While that clip was playing, Laddie got in my ear, and he said, I got something to say, Laddie? Well, the next question, obviously, is if you're replacing Jeff Hoffman in the bullpen,

who are you replacing him with? That's a great question. There is nobody. The second half numbers in particular, because you look at a guy, like, hey, maybe Ariel Rodriguez. He has a 6.59 ERA in the second half. Brendan Little, he's been terrible. Louis Varlane, he's got closing potential. He's been terrible since coming over from the twins.

Raden Fisher, he's been up and down. Who are you going to put in there over Hoffman? Should they have flat? But I don't think this is about Hoffman in particular. This is about the bullpen and just like, I mean, Hoffman obviously might be the main character in this, but is it maybe something that should have been addressed more aggressively at the deadline?

So they did get Sir Anthony, one of my favorite names on the planet, Sir Anthony Dominguez, and he worked the eighth. Did you think that there was a possibility of leaving him in for the ninth? but if you do that, do you further erode the confidence of Hoffman? Because that is a spot where your number one closer is supposed to come in for. I do love all of the ideas that are being throwing out where at the point where it's like, there's no bad ideas right now. A lot of people saying like, let's convert one of these excess starters into a closer.

Shurzer. Great time to do that. Sure'ser. Get them in there. How about some of these starters start throwing some complete games out there? See, now there's another thought. Jack, you wouldn't have this problem with Jack Morris. No, you wouldn't at all.

He would have gone the distance. And then some. He would have pitched into the 13th inning if you would have allowed him. I don't know what's going to happen here. But the other really concerning thing for me is if you go back and you look at Jeff Hoffman's brief playoff history in his two years with the Phillies, also not good. In matter of fact, last year with the Phillies, his ERA was a whopping 40, which is tough to do. It's tough to get an ERA of 40, but he managed to get it. If there's going to be an Achilles heel for probably every team going into the play,

playoffs, right? No, there's not a perfect team in baseball. Everyone's going to have their weakness. Maybe the good thing is that the Jays have identified theirs now and they can try and go well fixing it. But as you pointed out, do you have an answer on hand? And as Jason pointed out, did you miss the opportunity to address it at the deadline when a lot of other teams went out and got those arms? And a lot of Jays fans are saying, oh, you're Savage, bring them up, bring out. He's averaging four walks per game still in the minors.

I don't think he's a legit option, especially for closer position. they're kind of between a rock and a heart place right now. They have to figure it out with Hoffman. So Jason alluded to this earlier. The other game last night that a lot of people were paying attention to was the Padres and the Mariners' second game of that series. Padres got back thanks to a 5-0 lead, which was whittled away, but then they came back and beat the M's 7 to 6 on Tuesday night.

You did mention that Padre's bullpen, and it is pretty lethal. Like all of the guys that can come in and throw pretty much close to 100, almost every single pitch is remarkable. Like you were talking about Mason Miller yesterday, my guy, the former Oakland Athletic, who... He had 103. He has the fastest recorded pitch in MLB All-Star history. He throw...

I mean, the problem with him, unfortunately, is that sometimes he relies on the gas a little too much. Well, the Mariners nearly did get to him. Yeah. Like, he just likes to try and overpower guys. I would, if I threw 103 miles an hour, I would also try and throw every fastball imaginable. Like, it's pretty cool, right?

But Suarez also... It was a pretty hard slider, too. Yeah, it's all coming in pretty quick. But it's, yeah, so that series wraps today. It's an afternoon affair. We'll keep our eyes on that one as well. I'm trying to get through all of this because we do need to get to two of the biggest stories of yesterday. Canada announcing its roster for a pair of upcoming friendlies.

And of course, Taylor Swift getting engaged to Travis Kelsey. Yeah. I broke the news to my family. Oh. And there was a lot of excitement. And I was like, my first thought was, How is this going to affect the Chiefs? Yeah.

As a Travis Kelsey fantasy owner, I'm not loving it. He seemed like he was really focused. Going into this season, Travis Kelsey. Now he's got to plan a wedding. Yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. Right? You got to get a DJ. Is he going to do that?

Is she going to do that? She's probably busier than he is. When he was going into this season, Travis Kelsey spoke a lot about how disappointed he was with last year. I don't know if you were all that familiar with what he did last year, but it wasn't a lot on the football field. And a lot of people were very critical of his lack of production. And a lot of people projected that perhaps he was too distracted with things outside of football,

like his podcast and his world famous girlfriend, now fiance. So he was very, very pointed in his remarks in the offseason that he wanted to get back to the player. That means the future Hall of Famer, right? Wanted to get back to that level where he was one of the best tight ends in football, one of those productive tight ends in football. and he was going to help the Kansas City Chiefs win another Super Bowl. And now he's engaged to Taylor Swift,

and I feel like that might be a distraction. I don't know. I feel like this might be a distraction because everybody, and I mean everyone, was asked for their opinion yesterday, including the president, who had some very nice things to say,

weirdly enough. What do you have to say? He said that he wishes them. He's not a big Taylor Swift guy, right? He said she was a very nice person. You know what? Sometimes he contradicts himself a little bit. I don't know if anyone's noticed that.

The big Cheeto, God bless him. He changed his mind yesterday for a brief moment. Also to Cracker Barrel. Yeah. Just shows that you can do it. You can change your mind. You can. You can go one way and then, bang.

You're back to, what's the guy's name? The Cracker Barrel, uh, you know it. I don't because you told me this morning. Uncle Herschel? Uncle Cletus? No, Uncle Herschel, yeah. Uncle Herschel is back. He's a good guy.

You say Uncle Cletus? Cletus, yeah. That was my first thought. Get off the dang roof. Well, I can understand why they're. I would cancel him if his name was Cletus. But anyway, okay, we got a couple minutes here. I didn't want to talk about the Canadian men's national team.

Yesterday, they announced their squad for upcoming friendlies against Romania and Wales. Now, for those of you being like, why are you focusing on this? Well, there's a couple things. One, all these friendlies do really matter for this team because they don't have any more competitive matches before the 2026 World Cup. And by the way, the World Cup was in Vancouver yesterday. Did you see that? It made an appearance at the Italian Cultural Center yesterday. Yeah, if there was one place

who was going to go is the Italian cultural center. Vic Montaliani pulled some strings. He's like, you know where this thing's going. It's not going to the Croatian center. It's going to the Italian center. Did you go?

Did you see it? No, my kid went though. Oh, okay. I got some pictures with it. Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah.

So, um, Trump was holding it recently. He was. Yeah. And he still got the FIFA Club World Cup in his, in the old office, I think. I don't get,

Chelsea was like, whatever. Just keep it. They're like, we need that back. You'd whip back. No one really. want for no one really yeah it was one of those what was it was it when robert craft

let putin have his um yeah super bowl ring to try on and then it like mysteriously disappeared that that's what the same conversation was like that's good power that's just like you know what you gave that to me to look at it but i'm gonna keep it what are you going to do about it that's like omar on the wire that's what he used to do it's like no simpsons like if we can't trust the president of cuba yeah anyway back to getting focused here there were a lot of interviews with Jesse Marsh about the release of the roster. I don't really want to pay attention to the roster release so much because it's kind of

the standard fare, although no Alfonso Davies, no Moist Bombito, and no Alistair Johnston, who tore his hamstring playing for Celtic recently, which is a tough development. But Jesse Marsh, it's a small clip, but I think it's very important about

the future of this team and the direction of this team. Talking about leadership, Jason, talking about that less than a year out from the start of the World Cup, they're still looking for the guys that are going to be identified as leaders on this team. So it's a short clip, but I want to play it. This is Jesse Marsh yesterday talking about Canada's search for leadership and leaders going into the 2026 World Cup. We have a lot of really good, talented, established players in the national team now,

but we need more big leaders that understand what the best games are about and how to manage moments and how to make sure that next summer we know as a group on the pitch. pitch how to handle how to handle things so those are i think the areas of of focus moving forward here in this window and you know when he was um saying that i was kind of nodding along because i know exactly what he's talking about well james sherman wrote wrote up that article for sportsnet and you can go read it at sportsnet dot ca and he kind of theorized like maybe the game plan against canada is to try and get under their skin because you got some guys that that run a little hot, and I'd include the manager, Matt.

Yep, that's a big part of it. And he needs to also lead by example and not get kicked out of games and maybe not bring so much attention to his team in a way that other opponents would be like, let's needle these guys because they seem like they're running a little bit hot. That's totally fair and totally valid. I think that Marsh, for all of his enthusiasm and exuberance, at times, the squad too often mimics him. I think what he's trying to say is, like, I want to coach and manage and, you know, run sessions and run games the way I run them because I want to be, like, authentic and true to myself, I need someone on the pitch to, and that is the thing. It's like you're a manager.

There's only so much you can do from the touchline. You need someone on the pitch to sort of keep things calm. And the most the guy that keep things calms while, while maintaining. that intensity and bring that intensity up, but not so much intensity that you lose your composure, but not so much composure that you don't have the intensity either. It's a very tough balance. You're joking, but that's actually what he's looking for. That's why it's been hard to find that guy because it's a hard balance to strike. Here's the thing. Davies, I'm not sure, will ever be that guy. So you've got to consider like where he's. But he's going to wear the

captain's armband or he has so far. As he has so far. Yeah. But here's the thing. He's no one. They're going to strip them up and right before the World Cup. He's not that guy anymore. Like, it used to be de facto Davies because he was the guy that was playing for the best club of all of us. Now it's like, Jonathan David's at Juventus, Tejohn Buchanan's at Villa Real. Like, he's one of the, right now, one of the best scorers in the Spanish League. Like, there are guys that can say, hey, Fonzie's not a cut above everybody else anymore.

Like, we're doing the same things that he's doing. And the tough thing with Davies for a lot of the early stages with the national team, especially at the World Cup, was he was kind of forced into that role without it really being his personality. And you remember when he played with the White Caps, he was a kid. He was a kid. He was 16 years old. And I remember interviewing him for an article when I actually used to write back at the Athletic. And, you know, he said, when I go to training or when I go to games, like, I'm just trying to stay in the background.

Like, I'm a kid and I know I'm around adults. So I'm basically just trying to soak all that information in and not make a big scene of myself. Where is he now? Well, it's kind of the same thing at Byron. Yeah, because there's so many established stars of Byron. There's a lot bigger stars at Byron and domestic guys too. Like, for example, his former teammate,

Named Kure, White Cap, Thomas Muller. Like, if you go into the- Speak the language and be able to do that sort of thing. And if you go into the room, he's been with the club for 25 years. He's going to instantly have 10 times more clout than the Canadian guy. Now, this isn't to say, Davies isn't a fantastic talent, but he's never had that. I wonder who the next guy is going to be because this is one of the things.

And I would honestly say maybe the biggest challenge that Canada is going to have in this upcoming World Cup is how do you keep your composure and maintain both expectations and keep a lid on the energy level, especially when you're playing at home? There's going to be a lot of pressure. Like, there's going to be a couple opponents, especially I think in the group stages, where Canada will, at the very least, be, you know, there'll be a draw will be the most likely outcome. Or they might be favored going in. Like, there will be that opportunity. They won't be like they were in 22, an underdog in every match. Yeah. Like, that's gone.

And it's going to be a decidedly pro-Canadian crowd in at least one of these matches. Which is overall good. Which is good. It's overall a good thing, but it does come with challenges. And it's also unique. Like, it's never happened before. So how do you plan for something that's never happened before? Well, you start to look for leaders.

And I'll be very curious to, for me, honestly, I think Jonathan David's the guy. I think his personality, he's very stoic. He's very quiet. He's calm. He doesn't lose his head. And now he's playing for one of the best clubs in the world. I wonder if he's the guy that Marshall looks to and is like, you're our leader. You're the guy.

And I'm not worried about them having enough guys that, bring up the intensity because first of all Jesse Marsh will and then you've got guys like assuming he's healthy by then which he should be Alistair Johnston and Shaffelberg and even Davies right like those guys aren't like I mean they play pretty intensely sure and I also think the style that Canada plays under Jesse Marsh

like it's the you know correct me if I'm wrong here high press lots of pressure you got to have energy just to play that game. Absolutely. But sometimes when you're running a little hot the other team can needle you and you get a guy, let's say in a veteran like Modrich, what he did to them

over in Qatar. Sure. They were kind of like you know they're like all right we'll take care of Canada here because I've been through these games and you guys have not. Yeah they I mean he sliced them into ribbons and they kind of lost their composure right and that's that is a concern. Okay. We are up

against it for time. What happens in the books? We're going to move on to this four-guester of a day of the guest list. Coming up next, Dan Shulman, the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. We'll talk to him about a tough loss yesterday. The bullpen concerns specifically with Jeff Hoffman and what's on the horizon. Dan Shulman for some Jay's talk. Coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. 6.31 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody, Halford Gruff, Sportsnet, 650. Alfred and Brother of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates, V.C.'s first and trusted choice for dead help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands.

We are an hour one of the program with the midway point of hour one. Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Play-by-play voice at the Toronto Blue Jays. Dan joins us now on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Dan, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing? We're good.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So let's just get right to it. It was a tough outing for Jeff Hoffman and the Jay's pen yesterday in the 7-5 loss to the twins. I did want to ask you, maybe not necessarily just last night, but over the course of August, what are you seeing specifically from Hoffman

over a month where he has as many saves, three as he does now blown saves, which is also three? Yeah, I think he's had two problems at times walks and at times home runs. And last night, there was a walk in the middle of it, but the home runs were the problem last night.

Obviously, the outing out in L.A., he walked five batters, And I think we can chalk that up to Rust because he's never done that before or since. At times, though, there has been like a lead-off walk that gets him in trouble and then a home run later. It's a concern. And he's not the only one. I mean, Ariel Rodriguez doesn't look like he looked most of the season. Brendan Little doesn't look like he had a much better first three months than last two months.

He's had some very good outings, but just not as consistently. Louis Barlin had five or six really good ones when he came over. and now he's been scored on five times in a row. So it's all of them. And the irony is like this is the one part of the team that they tried to strengthen the most at the deadline and look like they did strengthen the most at the deadline. And now it's become the biggest weakness of the team the last couple of the weeks. So I'm a big fan of Jeff Hoffman's.

I'm a big supporter of his. I think he's got the mentality to do it. I think he's got the stuff to do it. His velocity was a little down last night. And I don't know if all of these guys are just a little, worn out because they've been used so, so heavily this year, which is a bit of a problem. You know, there have been times when those guys have had to go into games when you'd rather not have them in games, but they haven't had anybody else available.

So I don't, like, let's say they have a safe situation, and I don't know what they're going to do. Like if they're up a run going to the seventh, I don't know who's pitching 7-8-9, but they've got to figure this out because it's cost them some ball games recently. Yeah, what are some things they can do about this? That's a great question. I mean, right now, you know, you can't change your whole bullpen, right? I mean, these are the guys you have, and you expect these guys to be good. They're a man down in the bullpen right now because at least right now they're going with a six-man rotation,

which to me is a big risk because you only have seven relievers, and they don't really have a long man in the bullpen. Justin Brule can go two, Tommy Nance can go two, but everybody else is really kind of a one-inning or maybe a four-out guy. So, like, they had to use five guys last night and lost the game. So in terms of what can they do about this, I mean, it's try to figure out what's going wrong for the relievers, and hopefully they can fix it soon. Unless there's a roster move coming, that I guess this is their group through the end of this week. As of Monday, it's September, and the rosters can expand, and they can bring somebody up. But unless it's an injury situation, it can't be Braden Fisher.

And it can't be Mason Flew Hardy because they've got to stay down 15 days when you send a guy down unless somebody else goes on the IL and then you can do whatever you want. So I don't know who they're planning on bringing up right now. But, you know, a month ago, it looked like, wow, this is going to be a great part of the team and really solidify things. And it's been the opposite. I think the bullpen ERA is over six in the month of August and the walk rate is the highest in baseball by a wide margin. And that's a big part of it. not only do the walks jeopardize the game that you're in, but they raise your pitch count and that can hamper your ability to pitch the next day.

And then they've got to use another guy and use another guy. And they're kind of in this never-ending cycle of how many guys do they have available on a given day. We're speaking to Dan Shillman, Play-by-Play Voice of Toronto Blue Jays here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Dan, how much of this is just the life and the cyclical nature of being an MLB closer? because I guess unless you're Mariano Rivera, who was virtually unhittable, you are going to blow saves from time to time. I was watching the Tigers A's game last night, like Will Vest came on in the closing opportunity, and he blew it.

So it's something that's inherent with the job. And I'm wondering if it's too naive or too simplistic to kind of wash away Hoffman's issues right now by just saying that this is the life of a closer. But you do blow saves from time to time when you're responsible for closing them out. Yeah, you do blow saves from time to time. And I don't, like, I couldn't rattle off of the 30 teams. How many teams who have the same closer now that they had at the beginning of the year? I bet you maybe half of them have turned over.

Right. Look at Jordan Romano in Philadelphia. I mean, a disastrous year this year. An ERA over eight, eight saves and long gone out of the closers job now on the IL, but that's neither here nor there, just a, you know, an unbelievably tough season for him. I mean, the Yankees went out and got Camilla Doval, and he's been, somewhat disastrous for them and David Bednar has been great for them and he's kind of taken over the closure show because Devin Williams who's been one of the best relievers in baseball the last two or three years he's had a very rough year like it does happen and to be honest with you I was surprised

to hear booing last night when Hoffman came off the mouth he still has 28 saves I know he hasn't been perfect and I know he hasn't been great at times but he's got 28 saves it's a first place team and I was surprised that there was booing last night at the Rogers Center. I know the Maple Leafs get booed when things go wrong. I'm not used to hearing booing at the Rogers Center, and it surprised me. So some of it is, you know, the other guys are trying to, right? Now, it's Mickey Gasper who had never hit a home run in his big league career, a guy who's just been up a little while here and there

and really hasn't shown much of the big league level. The second one, which was obviously incredibly damaging a three-run shot, Matt Walner, who's got mammoth power. So, you know, Hoffman was throwing nine. 96 last night instead of maybe 97 or 97 and a half, like the velocity was down a little bit, but it wasn't like he was throwing 88 or something. And sometimes you just got to tip your cap. But that having been said, Jeff would be the first guy to tell you that he's got to be better.

He's got to locate better. He can't fall behind. He can't show him as many pitches as he's showing him and that sort of thing. But it's a good question you ask because some of this just does happen. And like I said, the other guys are trying to, right? and they're big league ball players too. And, you know, we've seen the Blue Jays do this to closers on other teams all year long, many, many times. And, you know, Jonathan Clasey hit a home runoff Ryan Helsley in St. Louis to tie a game in the ninth inning in the Blue Jays wanted an extra innings.

And I guarantee you, nobody in St. Louis had ever heard of Jonathan Clase before that day. And their, you know, their local radio station was probably having this conversation about Ryan Helsley the next day. He throws a hundred. Like, it does happen. Right. And part of this has to do with the fact that the Jays are having this outstanding season already at 77 wins and on their way to the playoffs. Expectations are heightened for sure. And that actually works nicely into what I wanted to ask you next is that, you know, the Jays have the third best record in baseball.

They're leading the AAL East. They're a half game behind Detroit for top spot in the entire American League. We had someone text in the other day and say like expectations are high because the Jays are playing great. And also like the two teams that went to the World Series last year, the Dodgers and the Yankees, maybe look more. mortal than they have in previous year. So I'll put the Dodgers and Yankees aside for this conversation. In the teams that you've seen this year, either extensively or maybe even just in a one-off, who have you been most impressed with and who are you kind of short-listing as candidates

to be World Series contenders now that we're almost at the end of August? Totally wide open. Like totally wide open. I mean, if you said to me, let's say the six American League teams in the playoffs are the Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Astros, Mariners, right? And those are the six right now. And if you said to me, the six in the National League are the Brewers and the Cubs from the Central and the Dodgers and the Padres from the West and the Phillies and the Mets from the East, those are the six in the playoffs right now. Of those 12, I think any of them could make the World Series, to be honest with you.

I mean, the Mets have been so up and down and inconsistent, maybe I don't have quite as much faith in them. and I'm not sure I do in the Red Sox, to be honest with you, except Garrett Crochet can pitch with anybody and a Rollis Chapman can close with anybody, and they've got some bats. So I think it is a wide open year. I do think the top teams in the National League are a little stronger in general than the top teams in the American League,

but you don't have to worry about all six of them if you're the Blue Jays. If you're fortunate enough to get to the World Series, you only got to play one of them and you figure it out there. So I think it's wide open. And I think as frustrating as, you know, baseball, and I think it does this more than hockey or basketball, maybe that's just because I'm very close to it. But, you know, the emotional highs and lows that fans can go through

from day to day to day. Like the emotional roller coaster is wild. And as you say, this team is 20 games over 500. I have not met a living soul who thought this team would have this record at this point. No, no. No. And good luck. Go back and Google whatever you want.

search on Twitter, whatever you want. Go find me somebody who picked this team to win the division. They've had a great year. Have they had a perfect year? No, but they've had a great year. They might have been playing over their heads a little bit in that, you know, that middle part of the year, that two and a half month stretch or whatever it was. I think they're like 13 and 13 in their last 26.

Like they're not playing great now. And the problem is they're letting some games slip away against the likes of the pirates, the Marlins and the twins. And the schedule is going to get harder. And the Yankees and Red Sox both have an easier schedule. But they're having a really good year. I hope they can hang on for the division. But then I think it's wide open.

You know, if you look at them, there are some things that make you say, maybe they're not as well equipped to win in the playoffs. If you believe power hitting and power pitching plays, you know, they've got good power, but it kind of comes and goes. And they don't have a lot of power in the rotation. They do have power in the bullpen. It's just not going very well right now. They're not throwing strikes with it.

But, like, if you told me it was going to be the, you know, the Phillies and the Tigers in the World Series, I'd believe you. If you told me it was going to be the Mariners and the Padres, I'd believe you. Like, I think it's really wide open, and that's why I think it's good that they went for it, getting Bieber and the two relievers. And, you know, hopefully those guys can help them in the bullpen. And hopefully Bieber keeps looking like he looked in his first start. But if they're playing well, if their bullpen is good, if Laddie is Vladdy is Vlad. and if they're starting pitching keeps them in games, I think they can compete with anybody.

We're speaking to Dan Shillman, play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. So it's funny, you know, you talked about the schedule getting tougher and we're talking about all these contenders. Well, this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, a three-gamer against the Milwaukee Brewers.

I do not remember the last time that a Toronto Milwaukee series in late August had this much hype and this many implications. These are two of the top three teams in baseball. Was it when they blew the lead back in the day? I guess. Lost three straight to the Brewers.

Honestly, when I say I can't remember, I legitimately cannot remember, but this is going to be a really exciting series. It will be. And Milwaukee is, you know, like if you say the Jays are exceeding expectations, Milwaukee might be exceeding them by even more, right? I mean, they've got even more mojo going right now. So their pitching is better than the Blue Jays. Like, for all the names and the potential on this Blue Jays staff,

I think they're 20th or 21st in ERA at the 30 teams. Like, they've got to be better than that. The brewers are better than that, and they don't have as many big names. They certainly don't have the payroll of Blue Jays and some other teams have. But their pitching is excellent, and then offensively, they are annoying and pesky and frustrating. They've got some power, not as much as the Blue Jays, but they put the bat on the ball, they move runners, first to third. They steal bases, all that sort of stuff. All the stuff that the Blue Jays had in that great three-month stretch the Brewers have as well.

They're just a really good team. you know, they're going to walk in here when the casual fan is going to say Isaac Collins never heard of him. Sal Freelick never heard of them. Caleb Durbin never heard of them, but they're good players. And they're playing a brand of baseball that is fun to watch and a very team-oriented

brand of baseball. And I can't wait for the series. You know, Bieber starting Friday, it'll be his home debut against the best team in baseball. And yeah, it's not the Yankees or the Dodgers. They don't have the name value. But it's still against the best team in baseball so far this season. And with Bieber

starting at home, too. It'll be sold out. It'll be loud. It'll be fun. So I hope they get this one today. If they lose this one tonight, now you're four and five against three weaker teams, and the mojo's not good, and the Yankees and Red Sox are playing better and have not only a quote-unquote easier schedule, easier series now, but also on the weekend. I think one of them is going to play the Pirates and one of them's going to play the White Sox. So they're probably going to keep winning. And the Blue Jays need to win tonight. and then hopefully, you know, you can hold serve and take two out of three against the brewers. But Friday night's going to be a lot of fun.

Friday nights are always fun. Like it's kind of a different, a little bit of a different vibe. And I don't know if it's the City Connect thing or that it's just the weekend and it's night mode, whatever you want to say. But it's a bit of a different vibe. But it'll be a really good vibe if they win tonight. If they lose tonight, it's going to feel like a long 48 hours, I think, until Friday starts. You know, at the risk of looking ahead at things, this is going to be such an awesome postseason. Because, I mean, the Js are, you know, unless there's a massive collapse, they're going to be part of it.

And you've got all these historic teams like, you know, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, and the Cubs. You've got the atmosphere that you're going to see in Philadelphia. And then you've got three teams, I guess, in the Mariners, the Brewers, and the Padres that have never won the World Series. So they're going to go in with great hopes. And the atmosphere in those stadiums is going to be incredible. Is it hard not to look ahead to the playoffs? I haven't looked ahead that much. I mean, one thing, I do think it's going to be great,

and I love wide open playoffs. And I kind of, so in my previous life, doing games for ESPN and doing the playoffs for ESPN radio for a million years, you know, I didn't have a preference, really, like whoever I got I got in the Blue Jays weren't in the playoffs very much. I think I did one playoff series for them over the years. but I loved seeing other teams, you know, that hadn't been in it for a long time, whether that was the Padres or the Brewers or Cleveland or whatever it is,

you know, teams like that. So I do enjoy the little guy getting a chance to step up in class and get in the ring with the big guy. And I like seeing wide open. I just like seeing good baseball. So I do think it's going to be great. I do think it's going to be fun. And the atmospheres are going to be great.

I think it's really, really important for the Blue Jays. to do as well as, yes, and barring a complete collapse, they're going to be in there. I think there are nine games ahead of Kansas City, if I'm not mistaken, and the Royals are the first team on the outside looking in. So nine up with 29 to go, you're in good shape. But if the Blue Jays have a rough last four weeks, don't win the division, are in the wild card series and are starting on the road at Fenway or Seattle or whatever, that's going to be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people.

because they've moved the goalpost this year by getting out to this lead in the division, right? And so there's so much at stake. They could be anything from have the best record in the American League to have to start a wild card series on the road or anything in between. They could have the second best record, which means they get a buy,

but if they were to play the Tigers, say, in the ALCS, they wouldn't have home field. Or they could be the third best division winner, which means they're, starting at home, but they have to play in the wildcard series. Or the Yankees or Red Sox could catch them. And now they're, you know, maybe they're, maybe they're a wildcard team with home field or they're a wild card team on the road.

But like, think about all the good things the Blue Jays have done this year. And then imagine them having to go to Yankee Stadium for a two games or two at a three. Like that's not what you want at this point. So I think it's a huge four weeks for them to get the best seating they can. But to get back to your question, big picture. I think it's going to be great. I think, you know, I mean, you guys know, Seattle is a scene in the playoffs. San Diego is a scene, absolute scene in the playoffs.

Philadelphia is great. Riggly is going to be great. Milwaukee's going to be great. Like, they're all going to be great because there are so many cool stories this year. And to me, it feels almost like an NCAA basketball tournament. Like it's that wide open. And those games are played on neutral sites, right? These are played in home ballpark.

So, I mean, I hope I'm working a long time into October, but even when I'm not working, you know, if the Blue Jays have a 1 o'clock game, I'll be watching the 7 o'clock and the 10 o'clock game that night because I just love October baseball. Okay, one more for you before we let you go on. It's almost the end of the regular season, 29 games left.

So the awards talk heats up more and more. I won't put you on the spot for who's going to win ALMVP, although I think it should be Cal Rale. But if you had to pick a Blue Jays MVP for this season, there's still 29 games left, but who's been the Jay's most valuable player this season? I would lean towards George Springer, and I think you can make a case, and a lot has changed. Like a month ago, I don't know that we would have had Bobichette yet in this conversation, but he's gone on such a tear that I think he's got to be in there.

John Schneider was asked this question before yesterday, before the game two days ago, and I mentioned it last night, and he said, like, it's so hard because it's been the team and everybody, and then the first name out of his mouth was Eric Lauer. Because Eric Lauer stabilized the weakest part of the team at the back end of the rotation when Bouten-Francis wasn't pitching well and Max Scherzer was hurt. And he mentioned Lauer, and then he said, and Guerrero Bichet and Springer, and there could be others, and I wish I could just give it to the team. If I had to pick one, I think it's Springer, honestly.

And he's had an incredible offensive year. And maybe because I watch them every day, you see this. he's gotten big hits at big times. Like Springer's not hitting a two-run homer when they're up eight-to-one or down eight-to-one. It just feels like it's always coming to big time. And I think kind of his energy, too, has been incredibly important for this team. You know, you can make a case for Bichette. Guerrero, I guess, I would put him a little bit behind those other two, to be honest with you.

And maybe that doesn't make sense. Like I know Guerrero's OPS is like 80 points better than Bichette. but it just feels like Bichette's had so many big hits. You know, RBIs aren't something we talk about very much anymore, but if you're driving a lot of runs, you're valuable. And Bo Bichet is hitting 387 with runners in scoring position and driving in a lot of runs. So I'd have him a little bit ahead of Guerrero,

but I think I'd have Springer at the top of the pack. Dan, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Today, we really appreciate it. Have a good call tonight. It should be a good one. All right, guys. Thanks.

Thanks, Dan Shulman, play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue J.C. here on the Halford Inbrough show on Sportsnet, 650. They've got to get that by. Getting out of... They're four up on that right now. Getting out a wild card land. Getting home field advantage for as far as they can into the playoffs. For a team that's been very good.

And, you know, Dan mentioned it. You do really see the benefits of playing at home, especially in certain yards. And I would put Toronto, especially this season in that. Like, it was other Phillies with the way that they built the team with Harper and Schwery. and their ability to go yard and the way that those home runs energize that crowd and it just feels like it's caving in on

the opponent, the momentum and the pressure and all that. It really makes a difference. The alternative and I think Dan was kind of hinting at this is that you have this amazing season but you falter down the stretch and you still get into the postseason but you don't get the first

round by and then all of a sudden you're going away for best of three. All the games are away and then you lose and it's just like, is it over? Yeah, you go up against someone's top two pitchers and you're out like that in two days. 48 hours in playoffs.

And that is the really punishing part of baseball's playoff format. Yep. You're like, we didn't even get a game at home and just got swept. And then the Js know this. Right?

Well, this is all part of the expanded playoff field. Yeah, yeah. It's great that more teams are making the playoffs. I mean, it was even worse when it was one game. Right. Your playoffs can be over really fast.

And it does change the perception of what kind of year you had. Oh, yeah. Right? Because it's hard for fans to look at it objectively and be like, well, you get into a three-game series. It's not necessarily a coin flip, but it's not a real accurate representation of baseball. You don't get to see the entire, I mean, you only get to see sometimes two starting pitchers. And if those guys are able to throw deep into the games, you're really not getting to test their bullpen or their middle relief or anything. And if you have a two-game set where your bats aren't going

or you hit a little bit of a skid, season's over. So the expanded field's been great, I think, for entertainment purposes, but in terms of getting a true reflection of what the best teams are, it's a lot tougher because... But the best teams go out and get that by. That's right. They don't get involved in those short series.

Yeah. And the Js are in the driver's seat. Right, and then they just lose in seven in the next round because they've been sitting around for too long. Exactly. They're rusty. Okay, hour one's in the books. That's it.

We got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. Open segment coming up. We dabbled with the idea of doing what we learns at 7 o'clock, but that's going to be a tough, tough challenge.

There's not a lot in the Dunbar Lumber text message inbasket. I will implore those listeners, though. If you want to give it a shot, if you're listening right now, you're feeling saucy. Don't do it while driving. A little PSA there. Don't do it while driving.

Dunbar Limer Textline is 650, 650. hashtag at WWL and tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports I've got an idea okay we'll throw this out for the listeners it's not of what we learned it's a question maybe two questions

we're going to talk with a stadium architect by the name of Dan Meese at 730 he has designed a lot of pretty famous stadiums and his most recent one is Everton's new soccer stadium in Liverpool and if you haven't seen this go take a look

It is a beautiful stadium on the docks of the Mersey. I think that's the river there. Yeah. Mersey side. Ah, the Mersey. Ah, the Mersey. And, you know, there was a lot of engineering complications to the stadium. But my question for you is, and this is maybe for some Whitecaps fans, what makes a great stadium?

What's a great stadium that you've been to and why is it? Great. Text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and runner warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbarlumber.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

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