OverDrive - Matheson on Vladdy's impressive series in Cleveland, Brett Bateman's hot start in Toronto, and if we see Yesavage and Bieber again this season.

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to highlight an impressive series in Cleveland for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Brett Bateman’s impressive stretch to start his tenure in Toronto, if Toronto can make some noise in the playoffs, and if we should expect either of Trey Yesavage or Shane Bieber to return this season.

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Bell, connection is everything. All right, we got to get to our guy, Kika Matheson, who is here on the Maple Toyota Hotline Jays Reporter for MLB.com. You know what we left out as a major story of the summer? My boy, Keegan, getting engaged. Congrats, pal. That was a major story. Was it last week, two weeks ago in New York? A couple weeks back, fellas, it's right up there with Kauai.

I think so. Less scandalous, depending on who you ask. You know all my favorite part, guys, of this whole Kauai mess? It's all a couple things. Number one is that statement where he says, I apologize for the lapses of judgment from people in my inner circle. I'm going to use that for the rest of my life. The next time I make a mistake at home or I'm hungover, you know what, I apologize for what the people in my inner circle have done. And I've loved fellows listening to, especially U.S. media, talk about this, asking, how will fans in Toronto react?

This guy could walk along courtside punching people in the face and they'd still be cheering. Come on. Yeah, I don't care. They expect there to be booze for Kauai. No, come on. There's this expectation in the U.S. among media, I think, that people in Toronto will be booing this guy on the court day one. No chance.

For what reason? Like, I don't understand what the reason could possibly be. Like, he wanted to come to Toronto. He's here is going to extend. I mean, I just don't see how they see it. The Clippers, that's a mess. I mean, of an organization. When he walks into the Intuit dome this year, boy, that'll be a, a,

a roaring amount of boosts. Yikes. Yeah. I fully trust he had no idea where those millions came from. He's so focused on rebounds. If a couple million went in my bank account, I wouldn't notice either.

You know, I respect it. Hey, it's the show Aotani School of Accounting, Keegan. He doesn't... Totally. I don't know. I'm not the money, man. I don't deal with my own money. Yeah. Too focused on the sport.

Too focused on greatness. Speaking of money, is Vlad's starting to earn a little bit here? of life over the last couple of days in Cleveland? He's earned a few bucks of it. It's overdue. And guys, as much as the home run and the big swings are exciting, I just like the energy around him, frankly. I like the fist pump on a sack fly. I like that he's flipping his bat on a walk. Some people might think that's stupid, whatever. There's some energy

to that. And everyone else is going to follow that. Because he's locked in right now, and that has not always been the case. Now, everybody cares. I'm never going to say that Vladdy or another player is slacking off or not caring, but it's a very long season. The days are hot. You're with the same people every damn day. Okay, it gets tiring. There's a level above it when you're locked in. Like, it's what Max Scherzer is right now. He is locked in. I think we're seeing that from Vladdy. Finally, it's taken a long old time, and he has had five months of bad baseball. That does not go away. But the rest of the AL Wildcard race sucks right now. And if Vladdy does anything, he's their shortcut guys.

He can decide all by himself that they are going to make the postseason. I can't believe they still have a shot. I cannot, with a straight face, say they've earned being a half game back right now, but it's where they are. They've been given this gift. And Vladdy needs to reach out and grab it, man. It's right there. Well, speaking of things we didn't see coming, Kegan, you know,

when you look at the guy that's been in the lead-off spot and really injecting some energy in his own way, it's Brett Bateman. And I don't know how you feel about it, but I just think this guy's been a godsend in terms of, you know, Al's brother put it, he's almost three-pronged, right? He's obviously, he's, you know, he's hitting, he's running the bases with, you know, some real disruptive energy,

and he's also playing some incredible defense. I mean, did you see it coming? No, not at all. Frankly, guys, I didn't like the Gosman trade. I think some other teams got better value at the deadline for Gosman level of starters. But that's before I saw Brett. Bateman play baseball. He's been great for this team. And will the batted ball luck last forever? Is he going to hit 3.30 on balls sneaking through forever? No, but we can, like, let's save that for

next year. I can be cranky next year, okay? It's working right now, and that's all that matters. Yeah. The speed is undeniable. This is a slow team, a team that does not do much on the bases and didn't have enough chaos. Like, I even put like Kaz Okamoto in that category. Yeah, he strikes out a lot, but there's home runs. That's a little bit of The rest of this team, all year guys, has frankly been quite boring and quite predictable. Anyone who's watched every single game and had the same experience for like 140 nights this summer, I think would agree. It's been a very predictable team.

Brett Bateman is chaos. And that's so welcome on this team. What he can do on the basis, the energy he brings to the top spot in the lineup. He just feels like that classic leadoff guy. Now, whether it lasts forever or not, we'll see next year. We'll care about that next year. right now it's working right now he is a step ahead of pitchers he's making contact and his speed is so refreshing guys just even watching this team every night it's refreshing it feels different

and that's really changed everything around him he's got a guy on base now when vladdy comes up it just feels a little bit different for a team that spent a long time looking for a leadoff guy yeah i like to he pimped a bun single last night too he had a little stare down after that i don't if you saw it, but he had a nice little stare down. I appreciate that out of a kid like Brett Bateman. With Keegan Matheson, I want to go back to like Bladdy and more the big pitcher. Like if the Jays actually do this thing and they get into October,

and they get Vladdy back. Like October, Vladdy reemerges. Like, how, would the Jays be a team that other teams fear? I think that, maybe not fear, but I think that you would look at the star power that Vladdy brings, and he's a player you could fear at the very least. You need one of those.

You know, we're sitting here in Kansas City. I fear Bobby Wood Jr. Because he's one of the best players in baseball. The Yankees, even when they're going bad, if they have Aaron Judge, they've got a shot because they're one swing away. You don't have to play a perfect baseball game. Right now, the Blue Jays still have to play pretty perfect baseball without Vladdy at his best. They've got to do everything right.

They need to pitch well, run well, play defense well. But when Vladdy is himself, all he's going to do is have one good swing at the right time. We saw that in the postseason with eight home runs and 19 games. I think it was. That's the best I've ever seen a hitter in Toronto. And it's one of the best we're ever going to see in Toronto. If he can get back close to that, he at least gives the Blue Jays a shot to steal some games, to steal something. Right now they are built as a 500 team.

That's about what they are. It's not all that exciting, but with Vladdy, it changes everything. And if you have Brett Bateman creating that chaos, it changes everything. I don't think the Rays or Yankees or Red Sox are looking at the Blue Jays and saying, oh no, because they've seen them too much. But if you sneak in in the American League, is anyone else scary?

Maybe that's the way I'd look at it. Who else actually scares you? The NL does, but you don't have to worry about them until the World Series, whatever. Frankly, there's probably two or three extra NL teams that you could slide to the A.L. And it would be a little more competitive. But they have, again, been given this gift,

man. It is wide open. And I think for years, guys, well, next time there's a bad Blue Jays team, we'll be looking back and saying, Don't you wish it was 2026 when everyone else sucked to? It's wide open, man, right now. Hey, Kigs, when you look at this Royals team where the Js start the first of a three game set tonight in Kansas City.

And you can also say, hey, they stink too. They're 63 and 78. But you look at their recent results. I mean, you know, they obviously the most recent time they played the Jays. They took two of three from the Jays. They took two of three from the Indians when they played the Indians. they've swept the tigers fairly recently. What is kind of clicked for them?

Obviously, Bobby Wood Jr. being probably Exhibit A. And why is maybe the strength of schedule thing something you really can't overemphasize when you're playing these games in September against teams that don't, you know, they're not in the pennant race, or they're not in the wild card race, but they're still winning games.

Yeah, they took two or three from the Js in Toronto. They were on that winning streak. This is another example of a team that's playing with nothing to lose at this point. And you get young players into games. That adds an element of chaos as well that you can't really prepare for. You're facing some pictures you haven't faced throughout the year. It's not like you're playing the Yankees again facing the same reliever for the ninth time. There's a lot of newness to this when you are facing the Royals, even though the Js just did recently.

They're coming off a great stretch. And I think they're a better team than their record shows this year, absolutely. And this is why when we looked back, remember when there were 30 games left, It was billed as 30 games against teams with records under 500. Number one, so were the Jays. They weren't very good either. But number two, I think that September is so different. And some of these teams are either past injuries.

They've brought up young guys. Something's changed along the way. And the Blue Jays right now do have an advantage of opponent at the very least. I mean, the Guardians are playing the Tigers. You look around, the Rangers up against the Rays, the Red Sox are getting involved. This is an opening for the Blue Jays, but the moment you look at it as an opening, you get swept and you get caught with your pants down real quick. Yeah. It's happened a couple times this year where it feels like they're getting going and shoot themselves in the foot.

Really quickly, we got a mini jerry's for you. The boys are back next week, so we'll get to the full jerrys when the boys are back. But there's been some chatter about Trey Savage, Shane Bieber, maybe even a Tony Tater's sighting at some point. later in the season, what are the Jerry's percentages that we see one of those guys back in a Jay's uniform before the years end, done? Oh, baby. Let me go with, assuming the Jay stay involved, let me go with you savage 75, Bieber 35, Taters, 14, guaranteed.

I can't believe I'm talking about Anthony Santander. this point of the year, but it's just like last year, you know, maybe he's going to come back late and see, how would that work? Who would he play over? Would he be any good? Good Lord, I don't know. But he's giving it a go. He's apparently getting close to some game action, but you savage, I'm very interested in. I think he's going to take a shot at that, man. I think you savage is the right mix of close enough, talented, and stubborn, which can be a very beautiful thing when you're trying to come back late. Yeah, yeah. It'd be nice, you know, if a team, if they're within a game or half a game or whatever in the final week he comes in, provides, you know, a nice starter

too. That'd be big for this Blue Jays fan. All right, Keeks, by the way, just so you know, there's also an air show happening in Toronto as well, so it's not just in Cleveland. So you're skipping out on it by being down in Kansas City, if that makes it feel any better. I love it. I'll stay in the Midwest another week here. You've got a nice little barbecue joint that you're going to head to at some point?

Oh, absolutely. Tomorrow I plan on just wrecking my day with a barbecue business. You know, like right before working, when better to have some barbecue than when it's 100 degrees in humid. I think it's going to be good. You're going to see me on Sports Center tomorrow looking as bad as anyone's ever looked on sports center. I guarantee it. Oh, man, Kiggs, your beauty is always, pal. Enjoy the game tonight.

Can't wait to see you on that post-game hit. You got her, fellas. Good talk to you. Take care. Radio is throwing it back. 2010, the decade. To the days of huge hits. An unforgettable anthems.

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