OverDrive - OverDrive - August 11, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Join Jim Tatti, Keegan Matheson and Michael DiStefano for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Former MLB Player and Host of the Diggin' Deep Podcast Eric Hosmer joins to discuss the Blue Jays' winning culture, the importance of a strong clubhouse and the comparison to the Royals' teams. They go around the sports world in the latest edition of Yes Guy, No Guy and Postmedia Senators Columnist Bruce Garrioch joins to discuss the Senators' agreement for the arena at LeBreton Flats for the team.

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I made it to my tournament. And lost in the first round. But you got there on time. Intact Insurance. Your auto service ace. Certain conditions. and supply. Overdrive, hour number two. Jim Taddy, Kagan Matheson from MLB.com, Al's brother, Mike DiStefano, in the house, guiding you through a sizzling, a sizzling Monday.

Sizzling, did I say that? Coming up very shortly on the Maple Toyota hotline, Eric Hosper, former MLB player, and just to update, we were talking about things that could threaten the Jays in the American League. According to the poll on X, Astros leading the way, 31%. Can't count out the Astros. always some teams just get that postseason magic i know some of it used to be aided but it doesn't go away and they've got some of those pieces back together i'm disgusted that 10 years later they're still so so good well yeah this team just the longevity here in this club they train away Kyle Tucker and they're still so so good but the farm system does like

finding a paena to come up and then bringing back array like that that's what a farm system does man you can uh sustainable winning is a myth a lot of the time unless you have a lot of money and a farm system, but they got it. I think it had a hobby are back too in the rotation. I thought I said. Yeah, the pitching is getting better. It's working there, man. They're always scary.

Astros are just always going to be scary in this competitive era. We just don't like repeated excellence unless, of course, it's in your city. Yeah. Then there's nothing boring about that. Yeah, we don't get to experience that a whole lot here in Toronto. No, no guy. None at all. In fact, none.

No, 2019 was nice. Yeah, well, it was. 29 team was nice for the Raptors. It was. I guess the Argos won a couple championships since then. Boy, that was a... But not this year. It was a tough loss on the weekend.

Oh, boy. 88 points. You imagine 88 points. Hope he took the under, King. Wow. 88. I think it was a 40... Good Lord.

41. A lot of reasons. Coach called out his team. Yeah. I didn't we. Yeah. We have that clip. Let's do that clip.

Ryan Dinwiddie calling out the Argos players. He called them pretenders. Wow. strong. I sound like a broken record, talk to them after games, you know, I just told him I'm not going to quit on them,

you know, and I don't think those guys quit on us, but I think we got some pretenders in the building, right, like to talk a big game and don't show up on game day. So when, you know, after I got done speaking, said, you know, similar message,

we just don't have enough dogs, man. We got guys that I said, look, when we walk in the building, you know, I mean, we all leave country from the United States come up here, and we have Canadians lead from different provinces come up here.

Guys, we sacrificed a lot to win football games. You don't love it. Let me know. I know I love it, and I ain't going to quit. Wow. That's strong. That's strong. That's awesome.

We don't have enough dogs. If you don't love it, let me know. Now, that can either land like a dud in your locker room, or it can really, really work. I hope for his sake it landed because that's risky. I don't know. But I love that. The team that's really two and seven now.

I've been losing to Ottawa down at the bottom of the rankings there in the east. Like there's no sign of Chad Kelly You're going forward with Arbuckle I'd love to know who he was talking about though I mean for a coach to talk like that That has to be so obvious that if he didn't say it It would be noticeable right? They know the pretenders know

And everyone else is looking out of the side of their eye Like oh that guy That guy knows I love it That's a great press call How do you pretend in football? I just get excited about a press conference like that Because I imagine I mean John Schneider

wouldn't do that but I get excited about a dynamite quote like that. Sometimes that's the end of the code. That's incredible. When they start talking like that, but in this way, you've got a record like that. Now, he's won a championship last year, and there's a lot of excuses that you can make for why the Argonauts are having such a tumultuous season, but

A lot of player turnover, but it's a quick way to lose a locker room. But it has to be absolutely obvious for you to say that. Otherwise, people are going to doubt you. You can keep that in, like you could say that to your group, but Bring that to the media.

I don't know if that's the play. Well, it would be if you've said it many times in the room and nobody listened. If that's the case, if that's the case, you've already lost your room. Well, no? Well, two and seven. You're in desperate shape. I think the seasons are hanging there. That loss to Otto, I think, just crippled the season this weekend.

I think so. All right, let's switch gears. Let's go back to Major League Baseball. Eric Hospers here, former MLB player. Wow. And host of the Diggin' Deep podcast. Eric, welcome. How are you? Doing right, fellas. How are you doing? Very good. We can see you. There you are. Okay. So we were talking about, we had a little segment before this, talking about things that are threat to the Jays. And we talked a lot about Boston. What you read on the Red Sox? Red Sox are a dangerous team. I was actually just at Fenway Park when Kansas City was in town, a couple games. And what's dangerous about the Red Sox right now is they got a guy, Garrett Crochet, the whole world knows about him. And it's basically Wind Day. He's going a night for them. And they fully expect,

each and every day that he takes the mound that they're going to win. So any kind of momentum when they get close to his start day, if they win one, two, three in a row, it feels like four with him going the next day. So they're dangerous right now. Well, Crochet's a guy where, you know, a month ago wasn't even on the rate. Well, maybe on the right, but like Tariq Scoop was running away with the American League's I young award. I'm looking on Fandul right now.

We're looking at just plus 150 for Crochet. He's shrunk that lead pretty good. What do you like his odds if Boston can go on a big run here? Definitely do. And, you know, Crochet is a guy that he was a reliever coming up with Chicago early. Then he transitioned to starter. So he's really, you know, this was the first year that he was going to take on that 200 innings. And he continues to get stronger.

You can tell by his body, I mean, his lower half, the guy looks like Travis Kelsey out there on the mound. He's a monster. He's like every bit of 250, 260 probably. But the thing with the Red Sox that's dangerous about them is you look at their lineups against left-handed pitching. And the Yankees, I know they're fading away. The Blue Jays are doing great. But if you look at them against a tough lefty, which there is in the East, or I'm sorry, an A.L with Scoobol and a couple other guys that you mentioned in the American League,

they match up real well against them. But I'd certainly love the way Toronto plays. And it's going to be a fun, exciting pennant race in the ALE East, that's for sure. Eric, sticking in the A.L. East there with the Yankees, who you mentioned. Things do not seem to be going well, though. It seems to be frustration. We've seen Boone even kicked out of a few games there lately. From the outside, looking in as a former player.

Do you see this as one of those things that just happens in a season? or do you think they're in trouble here coming through August? Well, I see a lot of things. You know, first of all, I think Aaron Boone, I credit what he's doing right now, believe it or not, because, man, he continuously takes it for the players. I mean, you continue to see sloppy baseball on the base pass defensively, and he continues to take those bullets, so to speak, in the media,

and he's not, you know, he's putting his players in a position where it's like, hey, I'm going to take all the bullets, I'm going to take all the attention. You guys go out there and play. So to me, it's on the players. The players got to step up because the manager's taking shots for him. The managers, you know, doing what he is doing in that tough market so those guys can focus on going out and playing ball.

And the thing with the Yankees is it's always been they got all these mistakes. They've got to clean up and we'll wait until Judge gets back. But at the end of the day, when you're trying to win a world championship, you've got to do more than just clean it up and rely on Aaron Judge. You've got to start playing some baseball. Well, and Judge since returning, he's been in the lineup for six games now, has yet to hit a home run. how much you think that elbow injury is kind of hindering him at the plate right now? It could be hindering a lot. You know, if you see mechanically, if it's something that really he's trying to switch up

so he can, you know, get fully healthy until that can throw something off. Baseball, you know, you take a couple days off from seeing live pitching. It's almost like you've got to tune all the way up again. So, you know, I remember saying that with you guys a couple times last year and mentioning it throughout the postseason, I do not know why teams pitch to him. You know, I would, unless obviously they're putting. their hottest hitter behind Aaron Judge. I would give him the four pass every single time.

So he's in a tough spot because he knows guys aren't trying to attack him. He knows he's not getting pitches to hit. And he's got to find a way to get it going. And sometimes that's only one pitch at night. Eric, let me bring you to the local Toronto Blue Jays here. We've been talking a lot today about kind of the magic that they've been able to recreate this year. We're not projected to be this team. They were not projected to be the best in the AL, but they've made it work.

And when I speak to these players, a lot of them point to the clubhouse. and I'm in the clubhouse a lot every day covering this team, but that's not my space. I'm not there when the doors are closed. I'm not on the charter where I know a lot of the important stuff happens. What does a good clubhouse as a former player do to you? And what can a bad clubhouse drag you down? Like how does that actually feel?

How does that change your day? Yeah, well, first and foremost, the bad clubhouse, it just feels like it's clicked up and everything is individualized. You know, you go get two hits, the team loses, and you're back at your locker and you're like, man, this isn't right. I want to win the game. want that you see clicks and all that the winning club houses i mean you can tell these guys with a 162 game schedule you got to find any type of motivation and that can come from anywhere

that can come from a plane ride with the boys that can come from a bus ride you know when these guys hit doubles and they're signaling something back into the dugout i'm sure that's something crazy that's happened on their plane ride or bus ride and it seems like springer's a guy that bring that whole group together vladdie junior obviously if he's going to be your superstar he seems like a guy that has to make others around him better and he certainly does and uh that At Toronto Club, I tell you what, if you compare it to hockey, you know, their offense, the way that they show athleticism on a baseball field, it's almost like, okay, if the bats aren't working today, we can go to a second, third line change, we can beat you athletically

on the bases, we can play baseball defensively. So there's many ways that team can beat you, and it's a fun team to watch. I've been watching them a lot this second half. Eric Hosmer with us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. So to continue that point, you know, Kegan mentioned earlier that in the Dodgers series, they could out-star the Jays, the talent would be better, the top-end talent. Obviously, it puts a bit of pressure on Vladdy, but that's part about death players,

people coming up rising to the occasion. How relevant is that, and does it remind you of anything you've seen before? Yeah, it certainly is. Like you said it, you're not going to match up Star versus Star versus the Dodgers. So, you know, you really can't just try and beat them that way. You've got to find ways to beat those guys, whether it's on the base pass. You know, a lot of the relievers come in, and they're 1-6, 1-7 to home plate. They really don't really care too much and put too much value into holding runners on.

So, you know, maybe you beat them on the bases. Maybe you play some small ball, drop a bun down every now and then, get a hit and run going, which I see from Toronto a lot. Those guys can play baseball, and they seem to know when the right time to push those buttons, especially for the role guys. And the guys that come up through their system know exactly what their job is to do. And I think that's something special. And I hate to be that guy, but, you know, obviously, it kind of reminds me of 2014, our Kansas City Royals team. you know, we weren't, you know, they have superstars. We didn't really have that big superstar.

We can play the game and beat you many ways offensively. And I think the Toronto Blue Jays team right there have the superstars, and they can beat you in any way if the bats aren't there that night. When you compare it to that, that team there, we talk a lot about contagious hitting, Eric. And I hear this a lot from the Blue Jays players there. The lack of pressure. If you are Vladie, you do not need to hit two home runs.

Your team can still back you up. If you're bow, you don't need to go four for four every single night, even though he's kind of doing that lately. How's that feel and how much do you think it helps role players? I'm talking about guys further down the roster who play four times a week. What does it do for those types of players on a team chasing a postseason spot? Well, you just look at the Rogers Center right now. You look at the games, the energy in that place.

I mean, it's electric. So when you get the Yankees to roll in there for three games, you come in off the bench, you steal a big base and you feel, you know, 40, 45,000, whatever it is, people going nuts and that place is shaking. you know, if you're a young guy, you feel like you just contribute it to that game and you can just walk out and throughout the city with your chest out, and that does a lot for your confidence. So I think that's just for the reality of what they're in.

They're in a pennant chase right now. They're playing each and every game in this second half as if it's almost a playoff game, and that's what the energy certainly seems like. So that's where the confidence for a young fellow can really go through the roof there. If you make any kind of big play defensively, contribute to anything late in the endings there, late in the game, it's electric, man. I'm telling you, watching the Roger Center through TV. right now. It looks awesome. And it's going to be fun to watch the postseason go through there if they

continue this lead on the ALE East. He said, you know, a couple times now, you've been keeping an eye on the Blue Jays. When you look at them, I mean, do they look like a World Series ball club to you? They certainly do. And I think, you know, they went out and got Beaver throughout the deadline. I love Bieber. I hope he's healthy throughout their postseason. But they have a couple wild cards that it's going to be interesting to see what happens and what they do. Obviously Hoffman's their closer, but something I've always teased is Matt Mack. You know, Matt Max, if he were to see him in a relief role or maybe even a closing role, you know, with all due respect to Hoffman and Max, I don't know who you would give the ninth inning to whoever's more comfortable. But, you know, Matt Max has had so many innings.

He's had a lot of miles on that arm to get him up and going for 200 innings is a hard ask. And obviously the postseason, having him go six and seven every four or five days is tough. So I would love to come see him air it out for one inning. In the eighth, ninth, you know, he's got that mentality, that high energy for a closer. you guys can throw some LED lights and get some fire for them to come out of the bullpen there and get them fired up to go in the ninth inning. So give us a player's perspective. Maybe it's 2014. When you're a player on a team like this, how do you know when it's legitimate?

Do you just feel it every single night? And then I think when you know it's legitimate is when you're going through all your pregame meetings and you know your formula. If you execute your formula, then we're going to win. We have so much confidence in our starting staff offensively. If we play the defense that we know we play and we find a way to execute. Q, three, four runs, four or five runs, that's good enough. That's a good enough standard to win each and every night. And it feels like that's where they're at, because you can just see the confidence.

And they're going out there saying, if we play our game, we're going to win majority of these nights and they are. When you look around the league now, when you're having conversations with people around different parks, you go to, you say, you're Boston. I know you're bouncing around the league. How do you find other people talk about the Blue Jays right now? Because they've surprised people in Toronto and in Canada and around the league. I think it's still at a point where people are looking up and saying, oh, the Blue Jays. Jay's who were bad a year ago and were supposed to be 500 or something like that are suddenly up at the top of the AL battling the Tigers or taking over the Yankees.

What do you think the conversations are like about that surprise around the league? And are you hearing that more? Yeah, the perspective has completely flipped and I'm one of them. I'm hand up, I admit, because I did not think very highly of the Blue Jays and maybe that's lack of knowledge of their system. You know, it kind of seemed like Vladie, at the beginning of the year, Vladie, Bichette, they didn't know whether or not they wanted in or out. And I tell you what, I was completely wrong and so was everybody else because the way they're playing in the AL East now, Baltimore's kind of taken a step backwards and it seems like Toronto is taking two, three steps forward.

And in the off season, it seemed like they finished second on a lot of big time free agents and they've just bounced back from all of it. And they're playing some meaningful baseball out there and credit to those guys in that clubhouse because, you know, that's a, in baseball terms, that's a lot of adversity, so to speak, to rally up on. and they certainly are getting rallied up and they're playing a beautiful ball out there and I'd love to see it for them. We're talking earlier, Eric, about the Blue Jays coming off their big win against the Dodgers over the weekend.

Jeff Hoffman couldn't get it done. They brought in Mason Flew Hardy, who's a middle reliever, Otani, Mookie Betts at the end. You have been on some of those good flights home. And I know that's sacred ground, you cannot take us entirely inside the airplane afterwards. What's it like, man, when you are chasing a posting spot, you've got everybody pulling in the same direction.

you board that plane you've got an off day the next day i imagine that's going to be one of the best experiences in baseball oh it's electric and you know i went right up to hoffy gave him a beer cheers him and said hey man like we bailed you out we got you we're going to get this matchup again and you're damn sure right you're going to lock it down again that is if my mad max idea doesn't happen whether that's the type of uh you know that's the type of uh you know that's the type of atmosphere those guys have and hoffman's enough he's had enough time in the league that he's comfortable, you know, within his abilities, that he knows that's not going to happen. He's going to bounce back.

And when they're there in October, those saves and those meaningful outs late in the game, he's going to be there for those guys. You know, he's done it in Philly in a big-time market and big-time games. So he's confident. The team's confident. And that's just how you pick one up, one of your teammates up right there. And I feel like that's exactly how the Blue Jays are treating it. Well, Matt Max, you know, had an all-time pitching matchup the other night against Clayton Kershaw.

You would have played against both of these guys, sat in a batters box, against both of them. In their prime, who was the tougher pitcher? Who, man, I tell you what, I mean, their primes were so long. I don't know when you would actually, like, you know, nail down two, three years. So I definitely faced Mad Max when he was in Detroit. And that's when, you know, that staff out there, him Verlander, they were just, you know, on top of their game.

Kershaw, I got to Kershaw's prime, I would say, late when I was in the NL West. But, man, it's so impressive because it just, feels like both guys have really lasted throughout like three generations of baseball they've changed their game they've outlasted these trends and uh you know when they became older in their career and their stuff has dialed down just that one notch whatever it is they still find ways to get out so both guys incredible and uh man both hallfambers for sure that was a cool matchup so for the jays i mean what is the biggest surprise you know we could talk about the roster but the manager's a pretty good surprise too isn't he yeah and that's a big thing too is you know he's familiar with a lot

the guys in those system. And it just seems like every guy that comes off the bench, every roll guy, every guy that comes and fills a spot, you know, does exactly what they know that their value is to that team. And it's fun. You see when the Yankees rolled in there, man, they put a lot of pressure on the Yankees. And the Yankees from the start, you know, they were kind of shaky defensively. You see certain guys trying to do certain things, pickoffs and field bunts. And it put a lot of pressure on those guys. So that can change the outing. You know, you look at a guy, like we said, Garrett Crochet, and all of a sudden he's rolling, no one's hitting him. If he's now got to worry,

about these guys running, these guys, you know, playing small ball, button, hitting and running, that really changes the whole entire outing for him or his thought process, and it takes a lot of comfort away from him, and that's what Toronto does. Eric, when I look at that Max Scher's idea, I want you to be the spokesperson for this in Toronto here now. But you know what, man, I'm bringing up your numbers against Max Scher. 309 career batting average. That should be in the front of your T-shirt most days, even the house. That's all right.

That's a good thing to hold on to. He was a guy that I made sure I got a good night's sleep ahead of that because he was a guy, you know, you had to be ready to go. And, you know, I do have a couple good things, a couple good results off him, but I was his 3,000 strikeout, which I was trying not to be that guy. And, of course, I landed right on that guy, and there's nothing I can do about it. Hey, made history. But when you look at a guy like Schurzer and the, the Blue Jays have tried this in recent years.

They've brought in players like Brandon Bell to Justin Turner. Obviously, Scherzer is just a completely different level at this point. but when you think back to your younger years coming up with the Royals and some of the veterans that you guys had around the clubhouse and on this team still lots of young players what's that value actually feel like to you we talk about it a lot I talk about it a lot

but I don't think I actually know what that feels like and how that can make you better make you more comfortable as a player what's that what's that happen it just simplifies it I mean we're playing a game it's a game of failure that is so hard each and every night and you just see all these guys come with this elite

stuff, these defenders that are catching every ball. So it's like, man, how do I have success here? And one thing that really helped us in Kansas City, you know, via some veteran presence of guys like Raula Banya, as guys that have been around, was we as an offense, we just try to simplify our game plan. And the one thing was 2014 against John Lester in the wildcar game. You know, that's one thing I always go back to. It's because he hadn't had a pickoff attempt in like three years.

So literally we're in this pregame meeting and we're saying, boys, if we can just get the first base, it then becomes a track meet. We got a lot of guys on our team that can steal bases. So then we're thinking about how how are we going to get three, four runs off of John Lester? It then simplifies that mental game, thought process, whatever you call it, to if we can just get the first base,

we can then turn it into some runs here. So that was kind of our little game within the game. And I think that's what the veteran presence can do. They can find any kind of tendencies, any kind of flaws, any kind of edge they can get on the other team, the opposing pitcher, and simplify a game that's already hard enough, and it's a game of failure, we all know.

Eric, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Eric Hosmer. The podcast is Diggin' Deep, former Major League Baseball player. He's joined us in the Maple Toyota Hotline Drive, the built-in-canada fuel efficient, Thunder Drive, Toyota Rav 4,

gasser hybrid models available. Visit maple-toyota.com. Shurzer and the closer role. Wow. It's an interesting... So much for number three. I think you need to give him the glamour of the closer role. You know, I do not want to tell Max Scherzerzer you're coming in

like middle relief. No. I always think of that highlight of Scherzer. I think there's been a few of them where he has his glove up to his mouth, but he appears to be cursing out the baseball. And it's just an image of someone who, you know, if I walked into this workplace and did that, you'd be thinking, what's going on?

Yeah. Well, it's when you're the best of the best. Oh, we'd say, Guy, what's happening? Yeah, come on, what's happening here? When you're the best of the best, I can get away with that, that type of Mad Max behavior, and crank him up in the ninth. I like the concept, but as a guy has followed Canadian Major League Baseball for a number of decades,

the starting pitcher coming in for short work is kind of a scar tissue thing. Yeah, yeah. That's baseball and on the playoffs, man. That's baseball on the playoffs. All aboard, man. Sure, he's done it a couple of times in his career. I think once with the Nationals, then once more recently, he's come out of the bullpen a couple times. That's one of my favorite things in baseball.

I think of like Madison Bumgarner coming back on short rest or something. One of my very favorite things that can happen in the postseason is that old start. trying to come back on two or three days, rest to throw an inning, throw four innings, so cool. Well, that's one thing, but actually penciling him in as, like, your ninth inning guy, that's a completely whole... You are hitching your wagon to something, and you better hope that works out. So, I mean, like, how many options are we going to have if Hoffman doesn't work out there?

You will have Louis Varland, you'll have Sir Anthony Dominguez, you'll have Yarioel Rodriguez, probably out of that group. Yariol, I think, can do it. I think Yariol's a sneaky option, honestly. You might want to leave well enough alone because Yariol looks really. really comfortable in his role. But I think that, number one, the persona. Man, I like the scary, intimidating scowl of Yariol Rodriguez, and those icy eyes looking

down as a closer. It works, man. It works as a narrative. But you also have Varland, who is one of the better relievers in Major League Baseball and throws 100. And Dominguez has been great in the postseason. You have options. I'm always still a believer, though, guys, that a bullpen works best when you have a closer,

and everyone knows they're the closer. closer by committee kind of means you don't have a closer and it means that one of those guys is not good enough or dominant enough to run with the job it's like when you have two quarterbacks no quarterbacks everything makes more sense well he talked about churzer with detroit the tigers on those teams had great starters but no finish

exactly and you need that you absolutely need that because then if everyone knows that jeffens the closer and i'm domingez i'm farland i know that i need to focus on just the seven just the eighth and i can start looking at who's coming up, getting ready. It really matters to guys. I've seen it go the other way and it does not work. Well, and the other team likely has that guy. So, big difference. Coming up next, yes, guy, no guy, followed by Bruce Garriac from the Ottawa Senators, post-media senators, callness on the new land deal there for the new arena. So yes, guy, no guy next. Overdrive

continues live on YouTube, TSN 1050, TSN2. From managing successful careers to raising families, women today are busier than ever. Thinking about their needs, including their own financial planning, often falls by the wayside. Yet at some point in their lives, 90% of women will have sole responsibility of their finances, whether they're divorced, widowed, or single. It's never too early or too late to start planning for your future financial security. Call Calvin the Money Guy 416-457 plan or visit askkelvin.cai. Overdrive. Today, Jim Taddy, Keegan Matheson from MLB.com and L's brother Mike DeStefano, time now for for this.

Yes, Guy, no guy. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, drivers, and passengers. Time now for Yes, Guy, No Guy, and overdrive the radio and television show. Are you guys all set? First time for you. I'm happy to be here. This is incredible. First time for you.

I've dreamed of this moment. Okay, sorry to hear that, but nonetheless, we'll start with you. Yes, Guy, no guy, number one. Blue Jays will hit the 90 win mark this season. So they are at 69 and 50. They've got 43 games left. They'll hit the 90 win mark this season. Yes, Guy.

A few days to spare, big champagne. celebration. I get soaked. Walk home selling like alcohol for a different reason. But yes guy, firm yes guy. New suit. Do they pay for the cleaning? Unfortunately not. That's okay. My clothes don't cost that much. Okay. 100% yes guy. Yeah. Like I, they would have to finish 20 and 23, so under 500 the rest of the way in order to not hit the 90 win mark. If this, there's no way this team goes under 500 the rest of the way. I mean, they've proven to us that they're a very good ball club.

In what way do you look at this team think, yeah, they're probably going to sputter down the stretch. This is when you start to pick up, you're in a divisional race. There's no shot that they can go under 500. I think anything less than 90 would be a major disappointment. 100% it would be. Their win total starts with Nate, that's a mess. Yes. With Bieber coming back and the additions they've made, they are a fundamentally better baseball team now than they were 10 days ago.

It's got to be over 90. You're talking about five or six games over 500 anyway, right? Yeah. In the last 43? They can pull that off, I think, easily. You would have to, you only have to win 21 of the next 43 games to get there. Yeah, that's no-brainer stuff. It's better.

It's a bit of a tough, I'll say this. It's a bit of a tough sked. I'm looking at it. The eighth hardest schedule down the stretch in baseball. Got the Brewers, the Cubs three times. You get the Astros, the Red Sox, the Yankees. You do have some serious against some serious ball clubs, but you still would have to think that this team,

at least goes 500 down the stretch. Oh, yeah. And that'll blow through that number. Absolutely. Yes, Guy, no guy, number two. Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are both a lock to return to this team next season. Yes, guy, no guy. Yes, guy.

I've covered a lot of seasons where I've said, this has got to be the year it falls apart. And it has. Well, it should have. If they've made it through to now, like what? How could they possibly be on the outset at this point? they finally are reaping the benefits of the process, of the plan, right? Like, this is what they have been talking about, the internal improvement. How many press conferences in the last three years have you done?

They talked about how they like the team, internal improvement. Every guy they get, they talk about the control of those players. Well, that's all finally starting to come to fruition now, and the plan is starting to yield results. There is a 0% chance that this duo, does not return next year. So I looked at it as the do-all. I mean, there is some talk that maybe the structure doesn't want the separate president

for the baseball team. I don't know how that stuff moves forward, but I'm going to say, yes, Guy, they're both back. And I'm going to base it on their patience and their player development. Yeah, I think that's important. At this point, I view them very differently. Mark Shapiro, a lot of what he does is business side. There's still a lot to go on that plan.

There's still a bit done with. Yeah, and I think we're going to be hearing. and all that. Sometime soon, I'm not exactly sure, but there's more to come. They're not done renovating the don't. Right. And when I look at Mark Shapira, when we say ownership, I kind of look at Mark Shapiro in that direction,

the president who interacts with ownership. And their job is to handle the business side and to convince ownership to give the baseball people money to win game. And I think he's nailing that. Well, what part of that isn't working? Exactly. The Blue Jays have higher payrolls than they've had in a very long time. They're winning.

The stadium looks awfully pretty. So I think that what he's doing right now, the people involved in ownership and with the organization are really happy with. And it's a farm system. On top of all of that. Now, when I look at Ross Atkins and his job, I look more specifically towards the baseball. I don't care about the bars and the lounges and the patios. It's all baseball. And that's working this year.

We have had year after year, and I've been at all of them, these press conferences, but Ross Atkins has asked directly, do you think you should have this job next year? which has got to suck. That's got to suck to sit up on that podium and be looking down. That's a good question. Thank you for asking. Yeah, thank you. So I do think I should be employed. Thank you. But he's been asked that question for a reason, and it's happened multiple times. Year after year, and I said it again this spring when we talk, talking to the guys on overdrive saying, this is the year it's got to happen. And if the Blue Jays again this year go 78 and 84,

I'm covering all new people next year. New GM, probably a new manager, a lot of a new roster, maybe a new president. Now it looks like a lot of it will stay the same. I don't know if bigger, grander things will tempt Mark Shapiro. There are not many bigger or grander things than this, in this market, this country. But I think everybody's back if they want to be back and they've earned it at this point. Well, they said it was going to be 2025 and it is. Yeah.

It feels like something that feels like an April, yes, guy, no guy. Yeah. I'm just reading them. Normally I create my own, but in this particular case on this show, I read what's handed to me. Yes, Guy No guy number three. Shane Bieber will record more than one win. And I didn't write this, but the producer Dougie did on the mound.

Oh, yes guy. Yeah. Yes, guy. He's expected to he's got one more minor league start, goes to AAA. If all goes well, he should be back within what, the 10 days. He should be back to weeks. Yeah, likely on that road trip coming. up. So I think he gets five, maybe even six

starts down the stretch. You've got five, six starts. Can he get one win? Absolutely. Yes, guy. I have 100%. You better hope so. The story would be if he didn't. Big yes, guy. I think he gives the Blue Jays a couple. And when you're looking down the stretch, some tough teams sure, but this is Shane Bieber.

And this is a winning baseball team. By default, he's an above average pitcher, and the Blue Jays are winning an above average amount of games. I think he gives them a real strong stretch run here, and he's just about back to normal. His pitch count is all the way up there. He looks exactly like himself. Not all Tommy John recoveries are like that. We see that with Alec Manoa right now. He's getting kind of the same point Shane Bieber's at,

but it's not quite as encouraging. Beaver is nailing this. He's right where he needs to be. I think he blows that. Wow. So three yes guy, no guys, all are resounding. And yes guy. I mean, forget about the no guy. Maybe we have it here. Speaking of Alec Manoa, yes guy, no guy, manoa would be a fit in the bullpen once he returns to the lineup. No guy. Hard no guy. He's a starter. And when I look through the Blue Jays rotation, there's lots of guys who are just starters. I say that even about Jose Baerrios. He's a very talented pitcher. Sure, he could make it work as a reliever.

But he is built and designed and thinks like a starter. Right now in the minor leagues, Alec Manoa building backup, he already was not a velocity monster. He wasn't a missing bat's guy. It's crazy considering his size. It looks like you should be. You always think it's going to be the big guys. And then you see Yusay Kikuchi, who's small, not big built, and he's throwing 97. It never makes sense, the torque of the body. But Manoa, no.

At this point, it's got to work out as a starter. I think I'm writing about him competing for the number five job next spring. Does he have an inside track on it? I'm not sure. It's been a few years since he was like Alec Manoa. It's been a few years. And in a bullpen, I don't think there's any role there. You want a guy who can throw strikes in your bullpen.

Manoa's been struggling to do that now for a couple of years, ultimately. And that's where I look at him, and I just, I don't see him as a fit in this bullpen, especially if we're talking about this season, no chance. That's a no guy for me. You have a bullpen you like, but you would have to get really, really in the weeds in terms of injury to even think about Manoa being part of your bullpen this year. Yeah, so it's a unanimous no guy. I mean, that's the ultimate pressure spot for him.

and I just don't see it. All about next year for him. Well, speaking of which, yes, guy, no guy, the Yankees, I don't know if I've ever said this, the Yankees will not win one playoff series this year. Yes, Guy, meaning they will not win. That's right.

Playoff series this year. I don't think they're built for it. I think they're a bit top heavy. I think they're leaning on Aaron Judge for just about everything, and their power goes well beyond Judge. They get more power from this roster than I think people talk about. But at this time of year, I want to see a team that has some momentum

and some moxie and a good feeling around them, the Yankees are over three on that. I'm going to say yes, guy. I'm going to know it. Will not win one? I'll say no guy. I believe they'll win a series. Improperly worded.

Yeah. I believe they will win a series. Yes, guy. I can see the Yankees do it. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, we need to find out who they're playing, realistically. But I think there are multiple teams that are in the ALE race right now that they could conceivably play in a wild card or an ALDS that I believe they could win.

I think that it's possible. They got some, you know, if they can get Louis Heel to get back to pitch in the way that he was a year ago, that'll go a long way, right? Garer Cole can be back by. I haven't heard an update there in a long time. Yeah, haven't heard of a good thing. Probably not Gary. They've really missed him.

Yeah, absolutely they have. But if you can get Louis Heel back, you get Aaron Judge, if that elbow can, you know, satisfy I suppose. I for sure think this is a team that can still win around. I'm going to squeeze one more in before we break and do the bottom with Senator's story. Jeff Hoffman needs to be the team's closer in the playoffs. Yes, guy.

He's got to be. Signed for it. Needs to be it. And when he is, let's compare everybody's best. The best version of Hoffman, Dominguez, Varlane, Rodriguez, I want Hoffman. Yes, I guess that's if you're looking at the best,

but are you getting his best? That's my big question. I'm going to look at the word needs. Does he need to be the team's closing the playoff? No. They need to go with the guy who's pitching the best at that moment. And if it's not Jeff Hoffman, that's not my closer. It's not the guy I'm calling on the ninth inning.

I'm going to go, yes, guy. He has to be. Even if he's serving up home runs. Well, hopefully straightens that out, but he's got to be the guy. Otherwise, you're entering the bag of tricks. And John Snyder is going to trust him to be. I mean, I had to ask John Snyder a ton of questions about why is Jeff Hoffman giving up

a million home runs? Yeah. And it was a strange that's played out. You know, the first percent of barrel rates this year. Rocked for a while there. Those seven or eight home runs and a real tight cluster. So let me rephrase. Is this the biggest question mark for you? Yes.

It is because I think the offense is what it is. The rotation is good. The defense is rock solid. But you've got to look for squeaky wheels and you've got to get really picky to do it when you're at this level and this could be one of those. A couple more outings that are back to who he was, fantastic, boom, you're happy, but

you've got to worry when you see those five walks. Yeah. Hmm. Okay, we'll leave that. Coming up next, Bruce Garriac will be with us. Post-media senators columnists, the Ottawa senators have their land deal. The new rink is on the way as overdrive continues on TSN2, TSN1050

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416-457 plan, or visit askkelvin.cai. Overdrive continues. Jim Taddy, Keegan Matheson, MLB.com, and L's brother, Overdrive is brought you by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. And the headline is senators sign an agreement of purchase for the arena project at LeBretton Flats? Long time and coming, but it's here. Bruce Garriac is with us from post-media sentence columnist. Bruce, welcome. Your thoughts on that

headline? Well, I think if you ask anybody in Ottawa, Jim, they tell you it's about time, right? You know, this has been going on. It feels like for a lifetime, but the first time the Senators made a real bit on LaBretton

was in 2014. And, you know, And since then, there have been stops, there have been starts, and a lot of fall starts, but I feel like this time there is finally momentum to make an agreement. You know, one of the things that happened last, I think it was in April, the NCC said they hoped to have an agreement by the end of 2025. I don't think that made anybody happy that they felt that they could drag their feet until the end of 2025. And there really was haggling over what was fair market value.

But I think a third-party assessment made everybody agree on the fair market value of this land, which I've reported is just north of $30 million. And once that hurdle was completed, I think they were finally able to get to the point where, you know, the dream now looks like it could be reality. and for people in Ottawa, this is a very major step because, well, LeBretton Flats is in downtown, it's two kilometers from downtown, it has two stops on the light rail transit,

and, you know, I think that this is something, it gives them better proximity to the fans in Gatno. I think this is something that the city and the region wants. Well, Bruce, like, what's the timeline for, a project like this, like how long before sense fans will actually get to watch the Senators playing in the LeBretton Flats Arena?

The timeline is I will be retired by the time this arena is built. That much I can guarantee you. I think you're probably looking at anywhere from five to six years. I think that the reality

is there has to be clean up on that land. It is contaminated, the land needs to be remediated. That is, I am told that process can take anywhere from a year to 18 months to clean that up. And then you're at the point where you can get shovels in the ground. But there's not only, you know, I think you have to look at the timeline. I think they could probably build the arena itself in two years, but it's, when are they going to get to the shovel, get shovels in the ground? and obviously, so I think that's why they're making upgrades to the Canadian Tahrir Center right now

because they know they're going to be there for another five years. You know, the Canadian Tire Center will celebrate its 30th anniversary in January of 2026. And my guess would be that if you put me on the spot right now, my guess would be that opening night at the new arena would probably be in 2031 or 2032. So the obvious question is what happens to the Canadian Tires Center? I was recently in Calgary and the saddle room when it was built was state of the art and it's on the way out. I mean, these things just don't last that long, do they?

No, and you know, like I said, it'll be 35, 36 years old then. I mean, that's the question. I mean, do they, I know that Eugene Melnick had some plans for it. I think, you know, his thinking was maybe it could be turned into a casino with a hotel. I don't know where Ann Lauer's head is at on that front, but that's a fairly valuable piece of real estate. And it's sitting on, think about it, they bought 11 acres at LeBretton's Lutz today.

Right now they currently have 75 acres that it surrounds the arena, right? And so that's going to be a very, very valuable piece of real estate when they put it up for sale and I don't know what they get per acre I'm not in the real estate business but I think that they get a pretty penny if they

even if they decided to just take it down I do think that you know there's a there's a new casino in kind of the south end of the city the hard rock is I could totally see a situation where that's turned into some kind of casino know with hotel to maybe make it, one of the things they talked about is maybe making it

some kind of destination for people in the West End. Bruce, as you look at this news coming today, I mean, I cannot imagine the number of bylines and the number of words you have written about this over the years as it's coming. Now that you're talking to people, especially on the team side, what do you sense for a lot of the folks involved? I assume there has to be an incredible amount of relief at this point, but what are those feelings you're getting from people involved here? Well, you know, I mean, Cyrilater, Bruce Firestone,

Cyrillator's been there since the beginning, and Bruce Firestone went to the NCC in 1990, when the senators weren't awarded a franchise, and he wanted to build his rink at Labetton Flats, and he was told in no uncertain terms by the late head of the NCC, then Gene Piggott, that just there was no chance. And, you know, really, since 2013, 14, they've been chasing this.

And I think that while they looked at other options, every time they looked at LeBretton Flats, they felt like was this the place they should be. My sense would be they feel relief, right? They feel relief that they're able to get this agreement in place. Michael Ann Lauer has a number of partners in his ownership group who are developing, not the least of which is the Malhulcher family of Claire Homes and Paul and Michael Poletta of

all any of the holdings who are Burlington based who have done a lot of development in that area and and I think those will be the people who help lead this project you know Mike Langlauer has been pretty frank with me about the fact that I'm not a developer I'm a business person you know I own a health care company and And the idea that he wanted the experts on this, and I think that's why I got across the finish line the first time because of, because of the Malhulcher family, the leadership of the Malhotra family and the input from the people at Alenia Holdings. And I think that this time people here feel pretty confident that this is going to happen.

Chris, just a couple of minutes left. We'll squeeze this one in Brady-Cuch. I mean, these trade rumor talks, or I guess, just leave them at rumors, but not quite as long as the search for land for a new arena, but they've been around for a number of years, and he obviously put some water on that fire. What are your thoughts on that? Well, I think that Brady Kachuk has committed to the city of Ottawa,

and the city of Ottawa certainly loves him. I look at Kach and I say, you know, I think it was important for them to make the playoffs last year. I, you know, or I think some, some frustration would have grown in that camp. But obviously now, and I think that, you know, Kachuk has always wanted to do it here. He's very tight with Thomas Shabbat and Tim Stutzler, and he was obviously very tight with Josh Norris before he got traded. But I think, you know, Kachuk wants to get this done here.

he really, you know, I spoke to him at the end of the season, and he really felt like they had just made one step, now they want to make the next step. But for that to happen for them next season, Jim, the growth is going to have to come in with him. And because I think the teams around them have improved, and I think everybody's looking at the Florida Panthers right now, and Sarah's saying, you know,

can we be as good as the Florida Panthers? And I think that Ottawa and Toronto in that department have their work cut out. for them. Bruce, appreciate your time. Thanks very much. Good to talk to you guys. Have a nice day. Thank you. Bruce Garriock, Post-Media Sins columnist. You know, the LeBretton Flats land, you always wonder in retrospective analysis, what else was going to go there?

I mean, it's an obvious fit for the hockey team. Yeah, it's bizarre. It took so long for this to actually get to the finish line, realistically. It has been talked about for years. That nauseam, it sounded like there was a deal in place, you know, prior, and then it kind of got buried at one point, And luckily, cooler had prevailed and this got to the finish line. And this is a big, big thing for Michael Ann Lauer. Like for him to kind of put his really putting his stamp on this organization, his spot in the NHL,

it's like, hey, I finally got this done for Ottawa. And let's see what we can do now that we're in the meat of the city, right in the heart of the city, as opposed to out 40 minutes in Kanata, where it takes literally 45 minutes to get out to the game. Like that, that was a big problem. for a lot of people. 30 million bucks, just slightly less than 3 million an acre in downtown. So the 75 acres where the Canadian Tire Center sits is probably somewhere around two. So that's 150 million.

Oh, not a bad day. No, not. But the Libretton Flats were starting to sound like this mythical land that did not really exist over the years. Now I'm interested to see what else they put there. It's not going to be the size of an NFL complex, but every new stadium that goes in now, you're trying to have the infrastructure around it, the businesses, the food, the hotels. It's not just a stadium, and that gets exciting. A little community.

Coming up in hour number three, Mark Ross, NFL network analyst will be by at 630. And coming up very shortly, our good friend Richard Griffin will stop by Griff's The Pitch.com. You sat real close to him in the press box on a regular basis. Yeah, poor Griff is about from me to A, B, away from me in the press box today. So today will be a little more professional. Normally, I'm swearing a lot.

I'm complaining about the heat. Today I'll keep it a little tighter. That is next. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the meat. Music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams.

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