OverDrive - Matheson on Bichette going on the IL, Santander facing setbacks and the Blue Jays' division race

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss the Blue Jays and Astros' matchup, Bo Bichette going on the IL and the next man mentality for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the lineup, Anthony Santander's reoccurring injury, Shane Bieber back on the mound and more.

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Yeah, guys, it was. I mean, it was surprising that he finished that game Saturday when he came back in after the rain delay. And I figured that yesterday was just a regular day off, get two out of Monday. I didn't think this was coming today. And it's hard to overstate how tough this news is, guys. He's their hottest hitter. They need him in the middle of the lineup. There's no way around it.

and this one caught me off guard. I thought it was just a cut-up shin, but it sounds like you woke up a bit sore the last couple of days. They did an MRI. You found the sprain. And right now, all we know is that he's not going to do anything this week, and they don't have a timeline from there.

So it's a pretty worrying one, guys. One of your most important players, 19 games left, tight race. There's no good news out of this one. How sincere were the old next man up? We've got to find a way to get the job done comments. Extremely. It was like the old captain my captain scene in that movie. You know, everyone's standing on the desk, raising their fist. It's going to happen, man. It's got to be everybody because there's no top prospect. There's no next big thing in AAA. All the guys are here right now. It's got to be somebody in that room. And as much as you want to believe that Isaiah Kiner Folef or Ernie Clements are going to come like the world on fire, it's probably got to be every single player doing 5% better. And that's not a fun answer. It's not an exciting. answer, but it's what they're stuck with right now. And frankly, guys, that's what everyone will point to, the whole roster needing to be better. I pointed Vladdy. Vladdy needs to go in a heater,

period. Like, this is the time to do it. Your running mate is down. This is your team. You signed the big contract. These are some of the biggest games of your career. Go nuts. Like, this is when the Blue Jays need Vladdy. This next couple of weeks, man, if he puts the team on his back right now, that changes every conversation we have about this team going into the playoffs. And, man, It is time right now. I totally agree. I think Vladia would say I did my part of Yankee Stadium and we still lost two or three.

You know, he was great down there. So that has to continue clearly. I guess you need to pretend as if the Rogers Center is Yankee Stadium because he loves that park. But I agree with you. I think this is a perfect opportunity for him because Bichette's out. And there's still two games up on the Yankees.

They have the tie break on them. You got 19 games left, 12 games at home. it's a big hit, but they still, I don't think the expectation should change this deep into the season, Keegan, that they need to hold on to the American League East. Like even without Bo, that should not be an excuse. Beaver's got to give him a game tonight. Vladdy's got to be great. Springer's got to keep playing well.

They've defended well throughout the season. Go get it. Oh, exactly. And there's already been, I think, a bit too much stock, but, okay, this team has overcome a lot already, dealt with so many injuries not any more than anyone else right exactly everybody deals with injuries i mean come on it's it's not a tragic season by any means frankly a lot of things have gone right and they've gotten to this point because they deserve to be here period and this is not the lakers losing lebron this is this is not a superstar carrying a team

he's a damn good player absolutely but there's a lot of other players who are going to impact every single game along the way here and the expectation still needs to be be winning the East. And on top of that, guys, which is topical with the Astros being here, the expectation needs to be top two spots in the American League, because then you get to bypass the wildcard round and skip right to the ALDS. The ALDS is given this team fits. Man, we think back to that ugly Mariners loss here when it completely fell apart. Think back to in Minneapolis, the Rio's coming out for Kikuchi. They get shut out, that mess. They've gone in every one of the three wildcard rounds

they've been in in this decade. It doesn't work. They need to be skipping to the ALDS and that can't change just because Boba shats out. It's a little tougher but you take turns in this game. He is one of those nine turns. He's not a pitcher either. You've got a lot of other guys

who should be able to win big league ball games here. What's the latest on Anthony Santander? Well, fellas, it is now not the shoulder. It is the lower bat. And You've got to be kidding. Unbelievable, this guy.

They're calling it tightness, I think. It kind of locked up on a bit from taking a bunch of swings, which I guess the old lower back was not used to after how this year's gone. He was supposed to be tentatively, maybe asterisk, asterisk, in the lineup in AAA Buffalo tonight. He's obviously not there. If it's tomorrow or the next day, yeah, you've probably got enough time to still pull this thing off. Remember, the AAA season does not go to the end of the month.

I think it's September 20 or 21 right around there. You don't have a ton of baseball games left to work with. He hasn't played baseball in three getting close to four months. He needs to get into some real games and do it regularly. You don't have many left. So ideally this is just a one or two day thing, guys. But the fact we have talked about Santander 100 times since he last played in the game suggests that these things can linger with him. We'll see how it goes.

But another one I wasn't expecting today. I thought we were going to be talking about him batting cleanup. the D.H. in Buffalo. He's not there. Feeling better about the relief pitching? A little bit. You know, down in New York, you saw Ryan Baraki, Brandon Little, a couple of these depth guys looking a little bit better. But for me, guys, it still needs to be the big dogs.

Like, that's all you care about at this point. I care about Sir Anthony Dominguez, Louis Varland, and I care about Jeff Hoffman, more than anything. Because in the playoffs, ideally, you're getting six out of your... starter. And you're throwing workloads and who's tired out the window. It doesn't matter anymore. You're trying to go to your best three or four guys every single day. No matter how tired they are, you've got to go to your best guys. And Tommy Nancy is another who's been fantastic lately, and he's in the middle there. So I want to see a few big outings out of them

so far. A bad bullpen can screw up any team. I don't care how good you are. They've looked a little better lately, but they've got to be rock solid. That's another thing with bow out guys, the defense, the pitching, the bullpen, it needs to be airtight. Because if one other thing starts to wiggle on this thing, it gets ugly. If you're without bow, you've got to be really locked down across the board. Well, and Shane Bieber's got the task of, you know,

go on those six, seven innings tonight. And, you know, he's been good. Yep. So we'll see what he's got tonight. It should be a big series. It's going to be a big series. That's the beauty of baseball in September when you're in a pennant race. Every single game matters, starting tonight.

19 more for the Blue Jays. All right, Kegan. Enjoy it, buddy. We'll do it again later in the week. All righty, fellas. Take care. We'll talk soon. Kegan Matheson, MLB.com.

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