OverDrive - OverDrive - August 12, 2026 - Hour 2 - Steve Phillips

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips joins to discuss the Blue Jays' winning stretch, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s production decline and Trey Yesavage's injury. Feschuk looks into his crystal ball on the outlook in the Toronto sports scene and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

Hour 2 Overdrive continues, powered by Fandul. Brian Hayes, Dave Best Truck of the Toronto Star, Jay Sox tonight. Maybe Kauai Leonard in attendance, right? We saw him at the National Bank open last night. I don't know. Maybe Kauai decides to show up at the Jay's game tonight. But Soriano on the mound making his home debut. And they're going with a very similar lineup.

You got McAdoo leading off, Bateman hit in second. Bateman had his most impactful game as a Blue Jay last night. right? And that's a prominent position. It's obviously Varsho has held it for the last couple of years. And I don't know if he's an everyday center fielder. I don't know if he's an everyday center fielder on a World Series contending team. But they're going to give him some play here, right? And last night, pretty good start.

And Schneider said he's a no-nonsense guy. He kind of know what you get out of him. And right now they're throwing a lot at the wall, but it's leading to some wins. And I think Blue J fans will take it. Well, hey, you say is this guy an everyday center field or on a World Series team? You can look back to last year on a team that ended up going to the seventh game of the World Series in extra innings and nearly won the thing. There were a lot of guys on that team that we had those questions about, right?

It was like these guys came out of nowhere, the Nathan Lucases of the world. Speaking of naked Lucas, because he's been on fire lately, defensively especially. the Ernie Clements of the world and the Addison bargers of the world. Like, that's what the Blue Jays are good at, right? Theoretically, if they're going to be good, they're going to be good at this, which is bringing a guy up that maybe is not the most highly touted guy in the world, and then he turns into something that you didn't expect him to turn into. They do have a good track record of that.

Like, they have found guys via Tray, the Shapiro and Atkins, you know, duo. They've done a very good job of that. and allocating money to starting pitchers, they give them a lot of innings. You know, and that's kind of what we're going to see tonight. They're obviously banking on that out of Soriano, that he's durable, he's a guy that they obviously believe in his talent

and his ability to get out, but the best ability and most important abilities, availability, and we know that when it comes to starting pitchers, and that is two areas that I think this front office deserves credit on is the ability to find guys in trades that you did not, really think we're going to pop, you know, like that didn't just get a ton of attention when they were acquired and acquiring starting pitchers that are going to work for them. Dylan sees obviously the most recent example that Kevin Gosman was very good for them.

Chris Bassett gave them everything you would expect out of three years from Chris Bassett, right? And they're obviously planning on the same thing with Soriano. So yeah, I think the front office from that standpoint has shown enough and has enough sample decides to have belief in that. But it's all about momentum right now. And the Jays have got it. How long it lasts is really up to them. But they've won the first two games of this series, game three going tonight. And the chat about it. We're joined now by our TSM Baseball Insider. Here's Steve Phillips joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What's happening? Steve. Hey guys. Good to be with you. How are you? We're doing very well. And, you know,

tonight we're talking about Charles McHenacter leading off. You got Bateman hit in second. This is a mojo play. Like, Bateman had a couple of big hits last night. You know, he's going to play every day in center field. That's fine. But I can't say the analytics scream this should be the way they do it. But I kind of like it because if you're going to rack up some wins for the first time, basically all season, why mess with a good thing?

I kind of feel like the good vibes mojo is factoring into the lineup card every night. Do you see it the same way? Yeah, I think for John Snyder, he's got to play to win and play the high. hot hand, ride the hot hand. When you're not hitting, you're ranked 29th and run scored in Major League Baseball, and you've got some guys that are doing something to get the line moving a little bit, play them, ride it out, see what you can do with it. And, you know, the reality is that with 41 games left, you've got 25% of the season left right now, it's going to come down to really, it's not going to be Bateman or McAdoo, it's going to be Vladdy. And if

Vladdy can hit the ball on the ballpark and get going, I mean, to think about they have 120 homer player that they have only two players with double-digit home runs right now. It's pretty remarkable. But, you know, they've got some momentum. I'm worried about the starting pitching with Tyone and going down and Ergeti not being ready to come back just yet. And so they're short-handed. And the bullpen, they've made 31 more pitching changes than the second most team in baseball. They've made the most pitching changes.

they've got six, there are 16 relievers who have appeared in 55 games or more, four of them are Blue Jays. The only other team with two are the Yankees. And the other ones are just one guy on every team. And so, you know, there's a lot of things screaming, it's impossible. But a short sprint to the finish, they've got the wherewithal to do it and the time to do it. Well, Steve, if you believe in the percentages in the past week or so they've essentially doubled their chances of getting into the playoffs. I think seven or six days ago they were 6%.

Right now they're about 12% according to Fangraphs. So that's still an 88% chance that they're not going to make it, but people in town are excited, at least for now. But you go back to the numbers on Vladdy. I mean, he's had some warning track blasts of late. When you look at that, when you see a guy with warning track blasts who's been complaining at times of a back problem, at times of a hamstring problem.

I mean, are you seeing that he just doesn't have that pop? I mean, to your eye, what is wrong there? And is there any chance that it could turn around given the things he's been complaining about? Yeah, I mean, certainly back and leg issues can affect the power for a hitter. There's no question about that. It's, you know, the legs, the feet all the way up are the foundation of the swing, the kinetic links that connect all of those to allow the hips to rotate to get the bat in the zone are all part of that.

But his exit velocities are still pretty good, down a little bit, but still pretty good. And so it really is the angle at which he hits the baseball is the thing. And so when he's not comfortable, he gets, he cheats a little bit, and he gets halfway. And when he gets his body out, it's really hard for him to then get on that back leg and lift and hit the bottom of the baseball. And so what he does is he gets out here, and the only angle that he can go to the ball is level or down on it to be able to make contact. And that's what we're seeing in the results right now.

And so, you know, it can change, you know, a little trigger where somebody says to him, hit the ball out in front. Go ahead. Don't worry about it. If you strike out, don't worry about anything else. Hit the ball out in front. Make contact out in front a little bit more. Don't worry if he get jammed.

Maybe there's a way he can catch fire. I think if he got going, then the back would feel better, right? The back hurts when you're not hitting well. Your hamstring is a little tighter when you're not performing well. I think if he started performing, people started cheering, I think it would heal a lot of things for him. Well, in terms of the other team, you know, playing tonight, the Red Sox, I've noticed, you know, Red Sox fans all of a sudden saying, I knew it, they peaked too soon. You know, they're coming back to Earth because they were so hot and they won all those games in a row.

And now they do look all of a sudden like somewhat of a flawed team. How good or how bad are the Red Sox? Like what exactly are the Red Sox as you project the rest of the way? Right. So will the real Red Sox please stand up, right? I mean, it's so hard to know like who they really are. You know, in the four games that they've lost, they're two for 36 with runners in scoring position.

But I'm not so worried about the two. I'm impressed by the 36. So they're still getting runners on in a scoring position. They just haven't come up with the big hit. And so if I'm not. them, that's the message I'm sending. Guys, this is just the nature of baseball. Timing plays into a little bit.

We're still giving ourselves chances and opportunities. We'll get going with that big hit again. Don't fret. Don't think about it. Don't try too hard. Just keep playing the way you're playing right now. That being said, I don't know how the hell they're doing it. I mean, I mean, they're okay. They're a good team, but they're not a great team. I like the pitching, you know, and, but the offense, I don't get where the

offensive production has come from. I mean, Sennon Raphael is not a power guy. William Bray, who's a really good player, but he's not a 30 homer guy. And, you know, they've just gotten good contributions. They've hit with runners in scoring position. And they give themselves a lot of opportunities. And they haven't been beating themselves. Now, they did a little bit over the last few days.

So we'll see what happens with it. But if they completely faded out of the playoffs, you know, I wouldn't be shocked by it. Because, you know, it's like that college basketball team that makes a great run coming out after halftime. And then they expend all their energy and they can't sustain it the rest of the way. I could see that happening to them. The Tigers are the team right now for me. I think people should look out for.

You know, they've got the highest run differential in the American League. So they've outperformed their record pretty significantly. The offense is starting to come around a little bit. And although they traded Scooblin-Miles, Ty Mellton, Jackson-Job, they both look great. And they've got Framber Valdez on the mound today. I think there's a chance the tigers are going to sneak into this thing and have reaped the benefits of trading away at the deadline. Oh, yeah, Dave.

On the Mount tonight. Sorry about that, guys. On the Mount tonight, Steve, for the Jays, Soriano, making his home debut. You know, there's been a lot of talk. The Jay's getting a lot of pats on the back for acquiring a guy with a couple more years of club control after this one. And there's also this theory that, hey, he's good right now, but they can make him better.

They can refine some things here with the way they develop pitchers, and he's still a relatively young guy at age 27. Are you a believer in that? Do you think the Jays actually have that potential to make this guy even better than he's been? I do. So let me tell you why. One, I have the highest respect for Pete Walker. You know, he was in the Mets organization as a player back in the day. I know him well.

He's from the Northeast. So I know Pete really well. He's an excellent pitching coach. The other thing is, I don't know if you saw yesterday, but the, the only thing is, I don't know if you saw yesterday, but the LA Angels fired their pitching coach and their bullpen coach was the assistant pitching coach. Mike Maddox, they did not use any analytics in Los Angeles whatsoever. None.

They didn't use anything about the shape of pitches, the break in vertical movement, the spin rate, nothing. And so, yeah, I think that you've got a piece of clay that with the right analytical approach and the right mechanical approach, the secondary stuff for Soriano can get even better. And so I am really excited about what he could grow into, maybe not so much for the rest of this year,

but for 2027 for sure. Yeah, he's going to have to, he's going to pop. You know, he's going to have to, when you consider what they have atop the rotation, you got Dillon C's, Trey is Savage, is obviously, I don't think he's going to start again this year, but they have high hopes for him and then he got Soriano. Then beyond that, you know, they're going to have to fill that rotation out.

But, you know, the injury and the surgery now to you savage, we talked about it last week when I think we were anticipating something was coming. I think you called the shy. He said it kind of looked and felt like a meniscus issue. Now that we know that he has had surgery on that, how do you thread this needle in terms of wins and losses, his recovery, and, you know, what's right for him long term compared to what might be right for the team short term.

Yeah, the way I always looked at it was I let the doctors make that decision. So I would never rush it. I would never put pressure on the doctor to, you know, just tell me when he's ready. And when he's ready, we'll see if there's time left in the season for him to pitch. And if there is, I'd pitch him. I wouldn't, you know, if you get clearance on it and he's not going to injure himself in any way, and it's not premature, then I would put him back out there and do it and see what would happen the rest of the year if he gets.

back at some point. But I think they have to be careful and not overdo it. And that's kind of the issue right now. With Tyone down, you savage down, you've got a four-man rotation, you're going to have to have a bullpen day on the most overworked bullpen in all of baseball. And so that's where it just, it seems daunting to me that, that, you know, that to try to make a run the rest of the year. But I think that if guys are healthy and can play, then I run them out there and play them. with Steve Phillips. Steve, go ahead. Go ahead.

Go, go. Sorry, big story, league-wide or MLB-wide, Steve, is the fall-off in Paul Skeens. I mean, this is a guy that was just wowing people as he sort of made his introduction into pro baseball. And here he is, I mean, a young guy, the velocity's way down. He gets pulled after six innings last night. what do you make of this? Is this a massive red flag to you, or is this a blip on the radar? Well, it's a red flag that the velocity's down. And I know that they have made the playoffs in a while. I know they're desperate to try to do it. But he is your franchise. And when a pitcher's velocity drops as significantly as it has, I think you have to back him off and shut him down. I don't care who he is or where you are in the standings. I think you have to protect him. And so I'll be surprised. if he makes another start. Even if he says he's okay,

you know, I don't, I don't, something's not okay. And whether it's mechanical, whether it's physical, whether it's fatigue, whether it's the wear and tear of a full season and logging innings and being cut loose, whatever it is, I think they need to figure that out and do the right thing for the franchise, both for the short term and long term and for him. So I am concerned about it. The fact that he's not saying there's pain or anything else, although, you know, he's a tough guy. And guys don't always speak up about injuries. And this will be a learning curve for the organization.

Sometimes you learn as you go, players aren't always truthful about how they feel. They want to be tough. They want to pitch through it. And then they end up with a more significant issue. And so they're going to have to understand he may be one of those guys who is unwilling to take himself out. And you might have to be really conservative and protect him against himself. Well, you know, when Skeen's arrived,

obviously he took the league by storm and everyone knew he was coming and he was famous before he even arrived he's got a famous girlfriend but Jacob Mizorowski in Milwaukee what he is doing right now is insane like we talk about the American League and the pursuit of the the Cy Young and that's a battle there is no battle in the National League like he is a massive favorite he's like minus 5,000 or something to win the Cy Young on Fandul

and watching him pitch as amazing as Skeen's is and all these guys, these great pitchers in their primes, to see him hit 104, 105 with ease, Steve, to me is just absurd. I remember when a roll, this Chapman showed up and he would hit 101, 102, and it was like, what the hell is this guy? He'd come in, you know, he'd throw 12 pitches and leave. This guy's throwing 90, 100, 110. How does this continue for the next 10, 15 years?

I guess this is what I'm getting to. Like how does he pitch like this for the rest of his career? Go ahead. Yeah, I think that's a concern for sure, you know, that we've never seen anything like it. Nobody has tried to max out on every pitch that he throws and has been able to sustain it for any long-term, you know, period of time. I mean, he's throwing 53 pitches in a game over 100 miles per hour. I mean, it's just ridiculous. He's a freak of nature.

We've never seen anything like it. And the reality is the perceived velocity for the hitter is even higher than the radar gun reading because he's got such long extension with his stride to home plate. The ball gets on you that much. You know, he's releasing it like seven feet four inches where the average is like six foot nine or something like that. And so like the ball's just exploding on hitters. And I honestly, I think that somewhere along the way, I hope that they get and they do a really good job of the pitching stuff. there in Milwaukee. Their pitching lab is fantastic. But he could get guys out at 97-98 and save the 103 for the big moment rather than airing it out the big, you know, and talking about having

longer, you know, stamina during the course of a season and endurance, longer for your career. And so I think that, that I think he's going to have to reconcile that and get there because if he doesn't, then we're going to have a year where he's not going to pitch because he's going to have to get something repaired with his elbow or shoulder. And I don't think any of us want that, including mostly him. Yeah, no kidding. And like, it's, it's kind of fascinating that we're basically in a, in kind of a stage of baseball where you've got to ask guys to, like,

actually pitch instead of throw. Like, that's kind of what we're indicating here, right? Like, your stuff is so nasty and you can get there where you just challenge a guy. But, you know, Maddox, and he's obviously an extreme because he's an all-time great, he was thrown in the mid-to-high 80s, but he was just, confusing people. And I just don't know of like the young flame throwing arms, how often that comes up and how you can change what they do in the mechanics

because that's kind of what got them to the major leagues. Yeah. So when a player, you know, pitchers can get away with mistakes the harder they throw. So they can throw one down the heart of the plate. And if you throw in 98, 99, 100, you can make a mistake and get away with it. Just because it's hard to time that. But hitters have gotten to the point where they can time and have caught up to the high velocity. When I was a general manager, believe it or not, the average fastball for a right-handed, it was 90 to 92,

and for a left-handed pitcher was 88 to 90. Those were the average fast. Average fastball is 95-96 right now. And it just feels like everybody's throwing 100 coming out of the bullpen. It's nearly impossible to time 105. Like, in order to click that, you've got to get started. started early and you've got to swing where you think the ball is going to be instead of actually swinging at it, which is why he's going to be so hard to hit home runs against him, too.

So, but he'll only be great for the Brewers if he ends up pitching in the postseason and having that same level of, you know, success. And the more he throws 100,304, the less chance he's going to have 100,304 when the games mean the most. great stuff Steve as always appreciate you doing this enjoy the games tonight we'll do it again soon okay guys you bet thanks for having me there is steve phillips or tsm baseball insider joining us here on the maple toota hotline time to Toyota check out the toyota tocoma toadota tundra pickup trucks both available as hybrids maple toroid near canada's one of land on the maple auto mall um yeah it is amazing how almost every big relief arm hits 100 with ease or close to it yeah and

Even just the kind of chess game of the playoffs now is like power arm, power arm, power arm. It just never slows down. So like you get into the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth inning in the playoffs for a lot of bullpins. It's just consistently crazy stuff being thrown at you. But the ability for batters to turn on it now, too, Dave. Like it's, you know, like he says, 105 is different. Every mile per hour counts. And 105 is like crazy.

But I think it was Varland. I think it was game one of the series. Marlon came in, and he'll hit 100 when he comes in, 99 to 100. And guys like Nick Sogard are like turning on it with, with like heat on the swing. And that's a guy, not a power hitter, not a guy who scares anybody. And that's the guy who can come in and he can time it up even at 100. It's kind of wild how not only the arms are doing something that obviously they weren't 20 or 30 years ago. But basically every hitter in baseball has to have the capability of turning on those

pitches and a lot of them still can. Yeah, they can, but the pitch is out of the upper hand, right? Hazel. We just saw that all-star game, 27 strikeouts in an all-star game where there was just no offense at all. And so it's harder and harder. But the pit, you know,

you read the stuff about how the hitters are battling back. They got these simulators with digital recreations of every pitcher's motion. So you can essentially groove, you know, learn an opponent's motion and where the release point is and how you can time it because how else how else do you battle these guys if if you don't

even know what's coming it's a great point about technology and i saw i've seen a guy online do this and i don't know his credentials he's obviously an athlete i'm probably a college player or something like that and he's got a cool it's either instagram or ticot probably both where he has he's got something set up in the cage where he can program it to throw anything at him you know 105 mile an hour, you know, cutter that's got movement on it. And you can do it, right? A 100 mile an hour knuckleball that you can do it. You can set it up.

And he just goes for like hours. He's like, I'm going to sit here and attack this until I hit a home run. It might take 200 pitches, 250 pitches. And obviously, if he's got access to that, then clearly the major leagues do as well. But conversely, to Steve's play, maybe everybody but the angels. Yeah, exactly. to spend any money on anything. No, but they just fired a bunch of staff members, too.

So they're going to turn that over, I guess, as if that's going to do anything. But you're right. It is kind of insane how they do have that level of technology. And I wonder if that applies to like goaltending in the NHL. Can a goalie get set up where Austin Matthews shot can be mimicked and you practice against it? I'm guessing you can. You know, I don't see why not. So, yeah, I mean, that's that's kind of fascinating.

how game planning and preparing for a pitcher, you can literally step in the cage and face him like day of and know kind of the stuff that's coming at you. Yeah, that's your only chance, right? Because there was a time where, you know, as Steve says, it hasn't been in a very short period of time, the pitching is just taking a quantum leap, right? Big time.

It's just the way they've developed pitchers and gotten them stronger and thus gotten them to be able to, you know, push the ball with more velocity and more speed. in and crazier, crazier spin rates and crazier sweeps and angles. For all of that, you know, the batters have had to try and keep up. And there's not a lot of ways to do it outside of, hey, let's go into a simulator and watch this guy pitch. And I think basically every team, most of the Js have one of those things in their cage

where you can essentially program in the guy. You can see him essentially a lifelike image of him coming at you with his pitches so that you have some idea what you might be seeing out there in real life. Yeah. But it's almost, there's a part of me that's, you know, it's definitely valuable. I'm not, I'm not downplaying that at all. But it's like playing Sim Golf where when you're just breathing easy and you know what's coming, you know, 100 miles down the middle of the plate, okay, that's one thing.

Step out there with 40,000 people in front of and you don't actually know what's coming. Or it is a human on the mound and he may miss and hit you right in the head if you're not prepared for it. Right. It's a little bit different. It's like Sim Golf. You get out there and all of a sudden you really see the pond in front of you. changes your mentality a little bit. All right.

We've got best bets coming up later in the hour. Dave's going to look into his crystal ball. I got a couple of more than likelihoods. I'm going to throw out as well. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. I'm Cynthia Lois and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments.

The things you think about but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments. and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, Best Betts coming up a little bit later in the hour. We've got Jay's Sox tonight, National Bank Open, continuing the FedEx Cup playoffs beginning tomorrow down in Memphis, which is great. again we saw kawai last night the lakers have been sold for a lot of money and you know we're waiting for the uh nchel camps to open up in a few weeks i i saw recently actually well because i i don't know if people are bracing for this dave i know you're aware of this but they're going to 84 games this year in the n hl right like it's 82 to 84 this year so they're adding adding games to this to the schedule which gets them

started in September this year, which is great. So be in the camp a little bit earlier and get the NHL season started a little bit earlier. So with that in mind, a lot on the horizon here. Leaves and Raptors soon to be in town. Kauai's already here. I wonder when Austin Matthews could roll through back, you know, back through town. We thought you'd kind of look into your crystal ball here. You've got a little bit of a list for us in terms of projections.

You can take the floor here. Explain where you're going with this, and I will respond to it all. Yeah, you could call them projections. I'm going to call them expectations. And I'm going to put my – since we're talking about ownership a lot today with the Dodgers – sorry, the Lakers changing hands. Obviously, the guy who owns the Dodgers once owned the Lakers now is selling them to a couple of other guys

who now are going to be owning the Lakers for $12 billion. If I'm Edward Rogers, Hayes, this is what I'm saying. If I'm Edward Rogers, I just took 100% control of MLSC. This is what I'm expecting for my money. Okay, love it. Love it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Let's put on your ownership hat and tell me what. what needs to be expected this year. So my number one thing, and this is going to change, this will be, this will set the tone, Hayes, of the entire sports year in Toronto and beyond. It's Austin Matthews starting to act like a captain and getting back to scoring 50 goals. Okay, so it's interesting, like, you know,

the idea of him acting like a captain, you're tying it directly to goal scoring. and I think you're probably right because that is when he is most likely most comfortable and feeling like he's contributing to most. You know, it's not that he isn't capable of doing a lot more, which he is. Brubay had him killing penalties, a very good defensive player. But in order for him to pop and likely feel emboldened in terms of leadership, it's got to be tied to goal scoring.

That's why he's getting paid. You know, there's other guys obviously blowing past them. but he's not getting a discount just because Macklin-Sellabrini is going to make a lot of money in a year and a half. You know, like Austin's still going to be a top 10 paid player in this league for quite until this deal expires likely in the next two years.

And in order for him to really make the impact that he's capable of doing, he does have to return to basically best score in the world territory. You know, like there was a time a few years ago where it was just expected. It was almost a formality he was going to win the rocket. I think he's got to get back into contention on that. And 50 plus goals would certainly do that. So I agree with that.

100%. That should be a bare minimum expectation. Yeah, to me, that's his best way of leading. And we all know, like this team needed leadership last year, Hayes. Like there was,

you know, when you think about Stolar, is calling everybody out in game six. And then, you know, the idea that Matthews got, you know, kneecapped by Goudis and nothing happened.

I mean, all those, and there was a long list of other incidents and kind of, you know, shrug and, you know, shrug and move on losses that did not

sit well with anybody in that room. And there was a cryo for leadership. And maybe, hey, you know who the finger got pointed at? It got pointed at Craig Baroube. And I think it's now Austin Matthews is, you know, it's his responsibility as the highest paid player on the team and the guy wearing the seat to set the tone that that year was not acceptable. Yeah.

And this is going to be a different one. No, you're right. You know, a lot of the, a lot of the criticism was directed at the coach of the GM last year. Like the players got off the hook. in a lot of ways. And that can't happen another year. Like you got what you wish for if you're looking for new coaches, new GMs. You got basically a completely new staff running the operation,

both behind a bench and in the front office. And you got massive turnover. But you're right. I mean, like you look at the Vegas game. Like Vegas rolls through town Mitch Martin. It's such a big moment. And they just were flat. They lost.

Yeah. They blew the game in Vegas. Vegas prior, you know, 10 days earlier, they had that game and they let it get away from them. Remember it was Matthews, not really getting back in overtime. And it was Eichel, his man that ends up winning it. Like, it just, there's, there should be a lot on his plate in terms of him. And I don't know if he's capable of doing it. Like being a raw, raw leader, I just don't know if that's his DNA.

Like through 10 years, it wouldn't suggest it is. But it is your job to do it as the best player. Captain or otherwise, and you do happen to have it. And I know the captaincy isn't worth what it used to be. It doesn't represent what it used to be. It was just living in a much different world. And of course he needs his teammates and he needs everyone to be on the same page. But he's kind of responsible for the heartbeat of the room.

It's got to be him. And if there's a feeling that there's a crack in it, then that's on him to resolve the issue. And he's got to do it. And if you're not going to be a rah-rah guy, that's fine. Just be a lead by example. No nonsense. All business. I take my profession very seriously and watch me do it.

Yes, exactly, which would get back to what the original point was, be the best goal score in the world, or reclaim that pursuit because it's got to happen after two down years in that department. Okay, that's the first expectation. Get to number two on the list. So number two, look, if I'm Edward Rogers and Bobby Webster's made this what looks like a fairly high-risk trade here, that's not a trade suddenly for Kauai Leonard. I'm expecting big things from the Raptors, assuming this trade goes through, assuming Kauai is not just in town for a tennis tournament this week, that he's in town and will be in town for training camp next month. I'm expecting the Raptors to get to the Eastern Final at a minimum.

Eastern final at a minimum, and they're in a division with the reigning champs in the New York Knicks who have not lost anybody, and the Sixers who bring in LeBron James Yeah, I mean, I think those are lofty goals. I think that's probably asking, I think it's reasonable to hope for that. Expectations might be a little bit of a stretch, in my opinion.

I mean, again, this was a team that last year, I think everything kind of went their way, broke their way. A lot of guys had really good year. Scotty was really good. RJ Barrett had the best year of his career. And they made the playoffs and they pushed Cleveland to seven games without any help whatsoever from Brandon Ingram, and that will change with Quay Leonard.

I just look at New York, Philly, I think Cleveland's still going to be pretty good. I'm curious what Miami looks like with Janus. Detroit's still a really good team. There's good teams in the East. So this trade alone, I'm not sure I'm going to get to Eastern Conference. I mean, top six is mandatory. You can't be in a play in here once you make this acquisition.

You can't go backwards from a year. ago. And I think they will, they'll be top six for sure. I think they will as long as, you know, Kauai is playing. You know, I might, I might grant you 25 games suspension. That's pushing it. If it's like 41 games, then all bets are off. If Ingram and Ingram's not here and Kauai's not playing the first half of this season.

But I think you're right. If Kauai's playing in healthy and fits in the way we believe you likely will, I think they're going to be a top six team in the east. So my expectation would actually be, you just got, you got to definitely win a round. But you got to get into the second. You got to improve on. year, you're going to a step beyond that. Do you think that, obviously, playing the role of ownership, that's your expectation.

Playing your role of media, do you think that's realistic that they can do that? I really think it is because you talk about all these teams. Like Detroit, yeah, they've had this incredible regular season, but they, like, they flopped big time in the playoffs. They did. Cleveland, I mean, if they, if the Raptors were gotten anything out of Ingram, they'd be Cleveland, no problem. And heck, we didn't even have quickly. Let's not forget they didn't have their best guard in the lineup. And then the next to me, I think it's just like championship hangovers are tough to overcome.

There hasn't been a back-to-back team in a while. There's been eight different champions in the past eight years. So take them out of the equation. Boston, you know, the turmoil of getting rid of Brown changes things drastically. And then Philly, I mean, it's not going to be easy for Nick Nurse to make that thing work. We all know that stat about the usage rates of their top guys, top five. guys usage is there's only 100% usage in their top five guys last year added up to 140% usage which is basically need for the ball right need for the ball a measurement for need for the ball

or want of the ball and and so that's going to be a huge challenge for nick nurse who's also fighting the anterior courts over a very unjust tax problem that he sat here in charano so nick's got a lot on his plate i saw and i just think the raptors hey is the raptors have one thing that i think is massively important that a lot of these other teams don't have they've got an identity. They are a defensive juggernaut. Darko has made that the number one priority, the non-negotiable on this team.

And I think when you have that identity, that can win in the playoffs. Yeah, and that is something that Kauai Leonard is going to blend into, like, beautifully. Like, you know what he, that's his calling card as being, like, as good as he has become offensively, clutch plays, clutch shots

against Philly, as we know in 19, among others. Like, the claw is because he shuts people down and the best of the best. And at his age, can you expect him to shut guys down one-on-one for 36, 38 minutes, like the best young players in the league? Maybe not. But I think he can shut down guys periodically. I think he could certainly take down a second option on any team in the NBA today.

If Scottie's going to get the first kick at it or first kick at whoever, you know, is getting the predominant touches on the other side. So I'm with you. I mean, I think he fits in beautifully there. I do wonder about, you know, Pertil and the size of the team, you know, in terms of the playoffs and you get into a team, that was a problem with,

or it was going to be a likely problem against Cleveland. I think it did kind of materialize, but that's going to still have to be addressed. You know, it's, it's, yeah. And then, well, famously it was in 19 when they went out there and got Mark Gassol. And it immediately addressed it. And all of a sudden, you had, you had, you pushed the bucket of the bench.

You had Gassol playing starter minutes. He didn't play at time. I think he played probably on average, what, 30 minutes during the playoffs, something like that. But they're going to need some presence in the paint, in my opinion, between now and the playoffs. But if they can address that, I don't know who that's going to be,

then that would make me even more bullish on the idea that they absolutely can't chase down a spot in the Eastern Conference final. Okay. What else we got, Dave? That's two of your, what do you got, three, four, five, take it for as long as you want to go. What else you got? I got five here.

I got five. And number three for me is, you know, if I'm, If I'm ownership, I'm Keith Pelly in the CEO's office. Look, I heard all the complaining about Craig Baroubae, and Craig Baroube's system is boring, and Craig Baroubae's system doesn't suit this roster, blah, blah, blah. Now you've got a new management that's come in, and they've handpicked a guy in Jim Hiller, who's an analytics guy who has got a history working with some of these players when they were younger

during his time as an assistant to Mike Babcock. So I'm expecting Jim Hiller is going to live. lead this team back to the playoffs because it's been a playoff team. Like last year was a blip. You have to believe that if you're running this place. And I believe that Jim Hiller is going to be a Jack Adams finalist because of it. Wow. Well, it sets up for that in terms of the narrative, right?

Jack Adams, it either turns into a kind of lifelong achievement award for a guy who's been a great coach forever and has just never won it, you know, or it's the new guy on the block that takes a team that missed the playoffs by a significant amount of the year, before and gets them into the playoffs, right? Rick Tocke trying to do that. Dan Mews trying to did that in Pittsburgh, you know, or John Cooper and doing what he's doing in Tampa and what he did last year. So I think you're right that if they make the playoffs,

Hiller will be a popular name, like a very, very popular name. Now to come down to, I think, individual play under the tutelage of Hiller. And this is where I think Matthews is linked to him. I think McKenna and how comfortable he is and how much of an impact he can have his first year. also linked to a new head coach. But it's a great opportunity for Hiller to pursue that. So if they can get back to the playoffs, I think you're right that that would almost be a formality

that he will be in the hunt. Doesn't guarantee he's going to win it. But if you're talking to be a finalist, that's a top three guy. They were one of the three or four worst teams in the league last year. Like they were horrendous. They were awful last year. Defensively, they were terrible.

Their special teams weren't any good. Now, show me a good goal. I'll show you a good coach. I linked, you know, Hiller's pursuit of a Jack Adams to Austin Matthews. Probably it's more about Bob and Stolar's staying healthy and performing well, which he will not have a big saying. It's simply up to them in the goaltending department. But I'm okay with that.

I can reason with that because it's a big opportunity for him. And John Chikas, listen, he sold them on getting a gig and he sold them on bringing in Hiller. because when they hired Hiller, it was not a stop the press is higher, right? It was not a, wow, I can't believe they got Hiller. Everyone was waiting for them to get Bruce Cassidy or someone of that kind of ilk. They were going with the ab when the other people were going with the flow. So they stuck their neck out. It's a big opportunity for him to prove them right as well.

Yeah, which brings you to my fourth because I agree with you. It's going to, it's going to depend on this one thing more than any other thing. and that is that Sergey Brabowski turns back the clock because we all know he's going to be turning 38 next month. We all know he's coming off a dismal year in Florida by his standards and basically anybody's standards. But we also know this, Hayes, past five years in Florida, even if he wasn't great last year, we obviously know he's won the two cups. He's taken the three finals, and he's averaged 53 games over the past five seasons. Leaves haven't had a 50 games starter going back to Frady.

Anderson Hayes. It's been a long time since they've had a guy that they could just bank on as the, you know, the lock for all the important games, all the moments you really need him, he's there for you. But Brodsky's going to have to be that guy. I expect him to be that guy if, you know, the Hiller thing is going to come true. Yeah, no, I totally agree with that because you're paying them a premium. You know, they gave him a three-year deal. It's a, it's a Patrick Marlowe deal, possibly. Yeah. And I think they know they're not getting anything close to 50 starts in year three, they may not be able to guarantee

it in year two. They better get it in year one. Like you better get a premium performance from Bob year one. Because if you don't, that could be a sunk cost immediately and that's trouble. So that, I'm totally with you. That's a minimum expectation for

for Sergei Bobrovsky. All right, what do you have? Go ahead. Go ahead. No, just one last thing about Brodsky. We heard, you know, Andy O'Brien did a great interview with Carlo and AK in the morning show. Andy O'Brien had that very optimistic view, the new head of sports performance for the Maple Leafs,

and obviously Sidney Crosby's longtime off-season trainer is Andy O'Brien, and he had that line, basically, that was very hopeful for Maple Leafs fans, which is at, you know, Bobowski's biological age is way younger than his chronological age, meaning he keeps himself in such good shape. He's such a consummate pro that, you know, whatever it says on his birth certificate, he is performing at a much younger, much younger rate. I mean, that's hopeful and that's great, and that's a Maple Leaf employee saying that now. I wonder what he would say three weeks ago

when he wasn't an employee. But, okay, if you're a Leaf fan, you've got to hope that that's true. I hear you. I hear you. If it's not true, then we're going to find out pretty quickly. Absolutely. We've heard a lot of BS about the Leafs projections for Sergey Mabrovsky. Big time.

All right, number five. Go ahead. All right. Then number five is, hey, man, these are lofty expectations. I paid a lot of money to buy, if I'm Edward Rogers,

I paid a lot of money to buy out Larry Tannenbaum shares of this organization. And, you know, I want value for my money. And, hey, I got a little lucky with the lottery.

I'm hoping I get even luckier and that Gavin McKenna wins the Calder trophy. Yeah, like that. I think that's reasonable. I mean, it's such a unique,

it's the most unique, trophy available because the whole league isn't privy to it, only a certain amount of players, a very small amount of players. So you're talking about battling with like 15 or 20 other guys, really. And you kind of know the big names. There can be a couple

of outliers. Yes, he's going to be the youngest guy pursuing it. I don't think there'll be any other 18 year olds in the league. But massive market, lots of offensive talent, a coach who's going to try to push the envelope on the power play, which I think he is willing, I think he is a guy that is capable of putting up numbers on that front.

And first overall pick. You take a guy first overall. You know, I mean, Matthews, he won it. Wendell, I think Gary Souter won it in 85, but that wasn't just because Wendell was unbelievable his rookie year. So let's go, let's try to make this a three-pack. And I think that's 100% what the expectation should be. Yes, lofty goals, but why not for a player of his capabilities,

where it's not like you're competing against 700 other players. Yeah, and two of the last three, two of the last three called her winners, Schaefer and Bedard were number one overall picks. Yep, and it's crazy. The guy didn't get it with Celebrini. It was the best of the bunch, probably,

and that was Lane Hudson that obviously got it well deserved. I think Hudson earned that, but Celebrini was right there in pursuit of it, too. It's not like he struggled. So recent history would suggest first overall pick, 18 years old, still capable of making a lot of noise. I love it.

you go. A little crystal ball action. Expectation list there for Dave Festchak looking into the fall. Okay, we'll get to our best bets powered by Fandall. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. Hello, Canada. This is Brian Adams Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself.

We'll play a few of mine, a ton of my favorites, and some must-hear behind-the-scenes stories from the world of rock and roll. What's too many get to! One thing about doing rock and roll so long is you end up meeting a lot of the people that you admire. Sometimes you even get to work with him. Brian Adams Radio.

Now available on the free IHard Radio app. Everybody, how are you tonight? All right, Best Vets powered by Fanduel. Make your picks and assemble a same game, probably in seconds on the Fandril Sportsbook app. I'm going to look at the FedEx Cup playoffs. It's actually a field of 69 players because Daniel Berger's not in it.

This is where you've got to find some sneaky value in a top 10. I mean, picking a winner's very difficult to do when you've got such great players and it's a tough track. Heideki Matsuyama has been lurking the last little while. He's playing very good golf. And Matsiyama's always a guy that, like, he's not going to get carried away with the moment. He's been on tour for so long. He's a master's major winner.

Top 10 you're getting plus 200. I'm going to put a little sprinkle on Hideki. He's sneaking into the top 10 this week. You're getting plus money on Decky down in Memphis. So that's my piece. play. I hit on Ricky Fowler a couple weeks ago I'm going to hit on this top 10 bet. Best bets powered by Fandual.

Same game, probably is available for every PGA tour event on the Fanduil Sportsbook app. Please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. So Jay Sox tonight, Okamoto back in the line of he's going to DH tonight and Jose Soriano making his debut.

Big, big possible debut. I mean, this guy could be a Blue J for another four, five, six, seven years. And this could be the first of many starts at the Rogers Center tonight. Yeah, this is a good one to see, man. You're looking forward to watch that curve ball do its magic because this guy throws a wild one. Yes, he does.

He'll throw a knuckle curve in there, right? And he induces a lot of ground balls. And his first start, it wasn't phenomenal. But let's see what he's got tonight. This is a big one tonight. You find a way to get a win this evening. Lowly but sure, like now they're two and a half games out of the playoffs. Maybe you're two out after tonight.

And all of a sudden you've won this series, guaranteed you're going for a sweep tomorrow if you can find a win tonight. That will be buzz-inducing for sure. The Jays can find a way to figure it out. All right, Dave, great stuff, buddy. Thanks for doing us. As always. We'll catch you tomorrow.

Great seeing you. There he is. Dave Fast Juggler, Toronto Star. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today. TV radio podcast, web up on YouTube, live streaming soon up on Crave.

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