OverDrive - OverDrive - August 14, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes and Dave Feschuk for hour two of OverDrive! The guys discuss Serge Savard’s comments on Lane Hutson, the Habs’ outlook heading into the fall, Auston Matthews’ goal total for the upcoming season, and if the Leafs or Golden Knights are more likely to win the Cup. The guys then discussed the Jays’ series win over the Cubs.

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.ca.cai. Alpine News Network is here live with one of our superheroes. People sometimes ask, sure, you can consolidate people's debts using telekinesis,

but what else can you do? As if changing lives isn't enough. Well, I can also use my power to make it rain hot dogs. It's still not as cool as consolidating debts into one easy payment, though. Own your home, need a loan, Alpine credits can help. Alpine credits where homeowners get approved. Fistral License 12-6-16-1-6. Power 2 Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel,

bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Brian Hayes, Dave Fast Truck of the Toronto Star in here. Get into more NFL a little bit later this afternoon. We're tracking the FedEx playoffs as well. It's pretty cool to see McRoy and Sheffler play together. Yeah. Like just every time you can, I wouldn't say pit those two together because they're not enemies, but...

I don't like their friends. I'm not sure that that close yet. they're both Nike guys and both tailor-made guys. Yeah. Which is kind of interesting that, like, the two best players in the world are using the same clubs and in the same commercials all the time. And, you know, Nike's got both of them. And they're the two, you know, with Tiger not even affiliated with Nike anymore.

Yeah. It's the two of them. Those are them and I'd say Nelly Carter, the face of Nike golf. Yeah, they're the flagship Nike guys for sure. You know. But, you know, the Ryder Cup stuff, you know, it's, there's some tension there. I think that'd be great.

I think that'd be great. And I think McElroy would embrace it. Like, he'd be happy to do it. And Schaeffler's chasing him. He's got his career slam. Yeah. You know, he's done it all. He's won his Rider Cubs.

Sheffler hasn't. Sheffler's off to a great start. Number one player in the world has held that title for a long time. Three majors, tons of tournaments, tons of money. Best player in the world, tons of compliments in terms of how he controls his golf ball and everything. But that might be the best way to get that personality. out of Sheffler's just pit him against McElroy. For sure. That'd be outstanding.

Forget Liv. Pit a couple of PGA tour guys against each other. It would be nice if it just kind of naturally developed that way, you know, if it really did. I mean, I think the problem's been that, you know, Schaeffler's just been so dominant. Yes. Like Rory won his masters and got his career slam, which was really will be the biggest story of the golf year. I think no matter what happens beyond, you know, maybe the Ryder Cup could kind of overtake. it, but that's a pretty big sport. I doubt it because that's

a team sport. Yeah, you become one of six people to get the career slam. It's a mass of the way it happened. The way it happened. He almost choked it away. It was incredible. It was, yeah, it was pure drama and it was absolutely an incredible moment. But since then,

of course, it's well documented. He hasn't been particularly a particular threat to win anything since. And Scott, he's gone about his business, just doing what he does and reasserting the fact that, yeah, you know, I don't win the masters every year but I'm going to win most everything pretty often and I think he'll win at least another green jacket like at least one more he kind of feels like one of those guys

that could end up with four or five I would think like it's Nicholas and him and like those that's kind of the aura of Schaeffler around that place he just stalks the grounds of Augusta you know yeah it's like it's amazing and how important it is to know the course and to have control of your ball and he's got all of that when it comes to the way he's playing and the way that course suits him. And now that he's putting well, I mean, he's just really unbeatable. It's just scary. Yeah, really. Like he's

200, today's on 16. I think they just had a weather delay. I think they're getting back to it now. Okay, and McRoy's even on even par through 15, but like Sheffler's right there? They cleared the course for a couple hours, but I think they're getting back out there. All right. Yeah, I mean, nice to see Roy playing at least, right?

Yeah, nice to him to show up to the FedEx. Now, I've missed the first round of the playoffs. What's the big deal? It's all good, man. I'll see at East Lake. He knows he's going. I mean, it's like what happens this weekend is completely irrelevant for the top guys. I mean, you've got a new CEO of the PGA tour.

And I think you, number one on your list of to do. And I'm sure it's a long list, right? You still got this divide and you still get the live tour out there. And you don't know when they're going to strike next poaching players. I mean, they always threaten to. And you always hear murmurs about there'll be another round eventually. maybe the cash tap is dried up, you know, from the oil, rich Saudis. Or it's going to be directed somewhere else.

Or it'll be directed somewhere else. But I think pretty near the top of your list has to be to figure out a playoff format that makes more sense. Because this is like, this last week was one of the big embarrassments of the history of FedEx Cup playoffs. That McElroyd has said, I'm not coming. Yeah. Playoffs? Even though I'm number two in the rankings or whatever. Exactly.

Like, he basically, Jim Morded it in reverse that I'm not going to the playoffs. I could be in it. I've qualified for it, but I have no interest in showing up. I mean, I just don't know how you get around that because you can't compete with the majors. No. Like, it's always been major driven in golf. That is always going to be the case. And then beyond that, it's generally more about, like, the golf courses.

You know, and the players might be the fifth majors, but, you know, TPC Sawgrass has an or a pebble beach is something people want to watch. just don't know how you're going to make this work with the golf courses that they go to that are just not really renowned they're beautiful but no like they're where are they caves valley no one knows what the hell that is the hell is caves valley

I don't even know you know like East Lake kind of but it's an okay it's a cool course and it's got history but there's been some big moments there too yeah sure you get to the tour championship it pops but the year tiger won it at Eastlake right yeah and the ropes closed in on and everyone walked with them that was an amazing story That was where you felt like they were starting to build the legend of the tour championship.

It felt more important. It felt like, wow, okay, now you're talking about something that people can pay attention to. Right. But it's not going to happen like that every year. You're not going to have a storyline like that every year. And so I don't even know what it means now. And that's part of the problem. When the money, at first it was all about money, right?

When they first started it, you know, when it was a $10 million person, it was like nobody had ever heard of such a thing. And now the money's so irrelevant because these guys have so much. They make so much money. And it's like, oh, another 12 million, 15 million doesn't even matter, right? Like, it just doesn't move the needle. Well, last week's an example. There's a purse. Like, Rory could have shown up and won it and made $3 million or whatever.

He's like, I'll pass. It just doesn't mean enough to it. Yeah, I don't really care enough. Like, he can make, I mean, I think his revenue opportunities are so vast. And whenever he wants to show up somewhere and make money, he can show up somewhere and make money. Yeah, it really is an incredible business for that because, like, you, I'm sure other athletes charge money or could charge money for a fantasy life style. You know what I mean?

Like a fantasy world where, you know, pay Sidney Crosby 100 grand and he'll come out and play pickup with you. I'm sure I don't think Sid does that. I don't know if players are doing that. But you could do that. Right. Like I'm sure there are millionaires in Canada, billionaires in Canada or down in Pittsburgh. They'd be like, I'll pay sit a hundred grand for him to come and hang out in the dressing room and come out and play. Come to my son's bar mitzvah.

Exactly. You see that with rock stars and pop stars. It's like, you know, come to the prince of Saudi Arabia. We'll pay you $5 million to come and sing at this kid's birthday party or whatever it is. There probably are avenues out there for other athletes to do it. But it's very prevalent in golf. Oh, yeah. You know, and it's just more conducive to it.

It's a four-hour round. You're out there. You get a chance to talk. Everyone can play with you and feel like they're learning something and have fun. And to your point, Rory can basically. fly into any city around the world and say, I'm here, find me a course, find me three other guys,

tell them they each got to throw me 50 grand and I'll play. And he can probably do that. Maybe more than 50 grand a guy. That's essentially what happens on the PJ Tour, right? It's not well documented and there's not real above board way of tracking it, but when guys

roll into town on a Monday or a Tuesday and then the pro I'm on the Wednesday, those Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Monday is generally the day a lot of them do it. They do a corporate event. you know and when they come to the Canadian Open RBC's the big sponsor so you know there's just it's not an appearance fee but it kind of is an appearance fee yes you're doing an event on the Monday with clients

with shaking the right hands going out smiling yeah and Rory is probably you know to go to bat for Rory like if you had to pick an athlete top of the list of your clients yeah like your best clients this he there's nobody better yeah this guy is an impeccable you know human being

in terms of just being in a room and, you know, being, you know, acting humbly, but also having an aura of a super rasping. He's a gregarious guy. Yeah, he's just flat out nice. Yeah, he's flat out nice. He's lived at all, seen it all. He's also seen it all.

He's got his demons. He's got his complications, but he's, you know, but he's also very, he's not afraid to talk about him. Well, and that's, again, what separates him in Sheffler.

Like we heard Jordan Spieth say, I think when they were overseas, I believe it was after the Open Championship. And Smith has known him forever. Both Texan boys, both grew up playing together. And he's like, this guy's completely different than everyone else. And he referenced those corporate events. He's like, Scotty doesn't do them.

Like everyone else does them. Everyone else gets a call from a bank or a business or an apparel line and says, would you show up here? We'll give you $250,000. Yeah, I'll show up and do that. Like, Scotty didn't do it. No. Like, no, I'm not interested.

I'm going home. Like, I'm going to hang out of home. Because guess what? I'm already, I've had a very short career relative to the greats of the game. I'm already like top five in the all-time money. Right, exactly. Like, you can't even imagine how much this guy's. It's so much money.

And that's a great reference because I want to play a famous clip from 33 years ago. We'll play it a little bit later this hour. Tom Kite, the O'Dog's favorite clip. He and I were texting back and forth about it this morning. It's one of the great, great anniversaries. So we'll play the Tom Kite shot, heard, and seen around the world a little bit later this hour. But we were talking about this just at the end of the last hour that Serge Savar, the obviously all-time great Montreal Canadian Hall of Famer.

Speaking very highly of Lane Hudson, as he should be. I mean, Hudson was an incredible story. Like you and I, we were both in Montreal last year for the President's Cup. You were over there. Were you? I know, I didn't go. Okay, you weren't there. Okay, so when we were there, first thing I noticed when I landed in Montreal,

because camp was open was everything was about Lane Hudson. Right. Everything was about Lane Hudson. Hudson. Like, wait till you see this guy coming out of school. He's going to be a stud. And to the credit of the Montreal Canadiens media and the fans, like they were out in front of this. Oh, yeah. And yes, you have to take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to fandom. Every single fan base is going to pump the tires of their own players more than anybody else and be a little bit delusional at times and a little bit overly optimistic, which is fair and fine.

But this one they nailed. Like, it was so much buzz there. It was. It was. was palpable. You could feel it. It's like this is his town already. The guy hasn't played a game yet this season. And they nailed it because he he exceeded those high expectations that were hovering around him in September. Guy was a phenom this year. He was absolutely

spectacular. And Savard is saying that, you know, basically the most talented skater anyway since Gila Fleur, which is incredibly high praise and also a 40 year gap since Lafleur left the Montreal Canadians. So we're talking about a significant amount

of time here, but also puts pressure on the kid. Like, how do you follow this up? What if there's a sophomore slump? Like, I'm very curious to see what happens with the haves this year, because they caught lightning in a bottle post-all-star break last year, and they were outstanding, and they were winning a ton of

games, and they just crept over the line, and they found a way to get in, and other teams that were around them kind of faded a little bit. What are you going to be this year? If the, if the expectation is playoffs, because I don't believe it was last year. I don't believe it should have been last year. Again, they exceeded expectations, but I don't think anyone was thinking they were going to

make it. Now they have. Now Demidov is going to play a full season for you. Now Hudson is an established defenseman in the league. Sam Montembo is possibly your third string goalie for the Canadian team. Now it's like, what do you got, Marty St. Louis? You're right. What do you got Montreal Canadians? Now that you've got a target on your back and no one's going to take you lightly. What do you have? A hundred percent. And that's, it's a completely different landscape, right? Like, we've seen it in Toronto where expectations when they get high can be a burden, right? And that team played last year, to your point, without any. And there's nothing better in sports than being the team that nobody saw coming, although, you know,

even though they saw Lane Hudson coming in Montreal. They did call the shot on that one. There were moments last season where that team looked horrendous, right? Like there was early... Early in the season, they were the worst defensive team in the league. And Marty St. Louis had seen... that swarm that he was trying, that just wasn't working. And to Marty St. Louis's credit, he went away from it eventually

and realized that that was going to be the death of them. And when they started playing, you know, maybe you could argue more conventional defensive style, and, you know, they found some rhythm, they found some success. And it's great. Like, that's a great season. But you're right, Hayes. Like, that's a tough season to follow up. Yes, it is.

It's a very tough season to follow up. Very difficult. And with that in mind, I figured I put together a couple of, better chance of happening options here. I'll throw these out you, Dave, you and I, we can go back and forth on this. Again, we're less than two months away from the opening night in the National Hockey League. Like, it's going to happen quick here, man. Elisa will be in camp in a month.

So better chance of happening. Lane Hudson makes Team USA for the Olympic team, or Connor Bedard makes Team Canada. Ooh, okay. This is a really good one. Because they're loaded on defense in the U.S. That's the thing. Like, they are loaded. I mean, it's, it is not an easy team to make.

No, it's not. Like, you know, Quinn Hughes is on it. You know, McAvoy's on it already. Slavin's going to be there. Favor's going to be there. I think Adam Fox will still make the team. I think. Yep.

You know, Werensky's on the team for sure. So there's six guys right there, who I believe will be playing. Yeah, I'm just looking at their depth chart. Just, you're right. Like, it's a, it's a tough. They're loaded. Now, Canada's loaded, too. So it's not like Connor Bedard is going to be, you know, cakewalking his way into a spot.

They got, yeah, they had Faber, Fox, Hanofin, McAvoy, Sanderson, Slavin, and Wroewensky on their four nations teams. I didn't even mention Sanderson and Hanofen. That's seven guys. So who's coming off to get him on, right? That's the issue.

Maybe Faber, I don't know. I don't think so, man. Faber and Slaven were phenomenal as a pairing. Faber's really good. And he's a right-shot defenseman. I don't know. That would be the one for me. And the thing is Sanderson and Hudson, they have a similar style of play.

Maybe he knocks at Sanders. That's the question. Like if he continues to play, although Sanderson's really good. Yeah, we saw it. Jake Sanderson is really good. He plays a ton of minutes. He's gaining confidence every single year. I'm going to say Hudson is more likely to make USA than Bedard.

And I think it's more about Bardard. I just, I don't sense he's that close. You know, I think Chicago's been so bad for two. two years. He's not helped him. He's not had a ton of support. Not a big guy, right? Not a big guy, not a guy that I think at this point in his career would allow John Cooper, the head coach, to feel comfortable putting him in a position that is not conventional to him. In other words, he is a goal score, like a pure goal score, offensive thread. He's not doing that on this team. Like, he's not, that's McDavid's role. That's McKinnon's role, right? That's going to be

Marner's role, and Sid's still going to play a role in that. If Bredd's on this team, you're looking at like a 12th or 13th forward. Can you play 8 to 10 minutes and be a checking role? He can't do that. I was going to say, that's not the role for him. That's not the role for him. So I think it's more likely Hudson's on team to stay than Connor Bidard's on team Canada.

I think you're right. I think the one thing about Bredard that I think you have to keep in mind, though, because this is a hockey Canada production. And he's been good to Hockey Canada. They have a lot of time for him. as evidenced by the fact they're inviting him out to the orientation camp. So that sometimes gets underplayed. Like hockey Canada's loyalties, you know, mean a lot,

especially on those borderline picks, like those last few guys on the roster, the guys who may or may not make it, the guys who end up making it are the guys who've done something for hockey Canada. And this guy's, you know, he's won a world junior essentially single-handedly. Yeah, he did. I mean, for hockey Canada. Right. And was that the world championships last year?

partake this year, which I found somewhat interesting. But yeah, no, I hear you. And he is a big part of their future still. And there could be an element of that experience, but this is the Olympic Games. That's the thing. Like, it's hard to justify just throwing a guy on the roster for his

experience. You can't do it for the Olympics. It's hard to do that. Yeah. You can do it for the world championships. You can do it. Maybe for the four nations. You could have done it. They didn't. But maybe you could have. But the Olympic Games, I don't think you can play like that. Yeah, the spots are so precious. And to your point, I do, I do think you're right. Like, it would come down if, you know, one of the last forward essentially.

And for that guy, you'd probably want more of a role player, established role player, grinder guy if you're going that direction. If that's what you feel is that. I think that's smart. Yeah, I think, and again, I think that's the way hockey can't have generally operated over the years. Yeah. Give me a veteran guy who I can trust in a lot of different situations.

I'll tell you what, though. Like, I would love to see Connor Bardt playing among star players. Yeah, that's valid. You don't get to see it when he's playing with the black ox. That's very, very true. And, like, that would have been a, that was the dream, like, when he was coming out a couple years ago, we have talked about it on this show, like the idea of 2026, he gets there and plays maybe a prominent role. Yeah.

Like, he's a right winger with McDavid or something like that. You know, and McDavid's dish and pox to him, but it just doesn't seem even remotely close to that happening. Unless he's storming out of the gates. And that spot, maybe he had a great off season, a long off season. He's ready to go, year three, you know, and that's clearly the projection of his career, the trajectory of his career. he didn't hit the ground running like McDavid did like Sid did like others have done this has been a it's going to be a slower climb for him but maybe he maybe he does break loose but in order for that to happen he's got to have an exceptional October November December yeah like top five in the league in points type exception you know I think like just be an absolute dominant force yeah or they're going to go with somebody else right better chance of happening this year Austin Matthews scores less than 40 goals or Austin Matthews scores more than 60 goals. Oh, I think the better chance is the under there, like the low end, because we don't know

what his health situation is, right? Like the idea that the idea that he's going to be fully healthy again is a big question mark. Yeah. Yeah, he's got to prove that. Like, he'll say it when he arrives. I'm sure he will. Everyone says, had a great offseason feeling great.

But I'll believe it when I see it. Yeah. And then on top of that, even if he came in fully healthy. I have a hard time believing that the absence of Mitch Martin is not going to hurt him to some degree as a producer of goals because Marner's been instrumental in his production. Like, I mean, you do the math. I probably said this that too much, but he's Marner assistant on 50% of his goals since Babcock left town and 60-some percent of his playoff goals. Do the math. Do the math.

I mean, I'm not saying that other people can assist on his goals. I'm not saying Matthews can't create a lot of goals for himself. but there's no denying that there's going to be an adjustment period where the guy who has been his number one servicer, feeder, T-Man, is not there anymore. Yeah, I think the play is the under as well. I think it's more likely it's less than 40. We just saw it.

Now, if I had to make a bet, I think he chases down 50. This year, somewhere in the middle. But also, you know, I made this argument, it's not even really an argument. It's more factual about just the history of the sport. But most players, especially like the elite elite players, the guys who put up ridiculous statistics, they do that their first like six, seven, eight years in the league.

And then it slowly falls off. And I said it last year about McDavid. I'm like, I don't think he's ever going to score 64 goals again. I don't think he's ever going to get 160 points again. Like, that's not the way it goes. Gretzky, like his first seven, eight years was unbelievable. and then it kind of dropped. Ariel Lemieux.

Like, that's just the way it goes. Guys get 10 years into their career. Doesn't mean they're still not great. It means they usually focus on different areas of their game. They've kind of done it all, seen it all. They've chased points. They've been in that position where they're on their toes every single night when they're 22 and 23,

and they almost can't wait. They're salivating to play a bad team because it could be points night. I think his players mature, they don't look at the game the same way. Yeah. And I think Matthews has to fall in line in this. I think he could still be and I think he should still be known as

the best goal score in a game and the best goal score in the world I still believe he owns that title and is worthy of still owning that title but that doesn't guarantee you're actually going to score the most goals every single season it did for quite some time where he was a lot he was going to win the rocket every single year felt that way and he did in many ways

but I do think it's reasonable to expect that he's going to hover more around 40 for the rest of his career. And there might be a, there'll be a couple of years where he gets to 52, 54, 55. That would not shock me at all. And I wouldn't be surprised if it happened this year. He had 50, 52, 53 goals. I would not be surprised at all. But 60 plus, he's done that twice.

It's so tough to score 60. It is. Ovechkin did it once. Stamcoast did it once. and I believe they're the only two guys and then McDavid did it and obviously Austin's done it a couple of times. Very few guys in the history of the game have ever done it.

Really short list. Yeah. So like to expect Matthews to do it a third time without Marner at this stage in his career, I just I think it's very, I think it's asking way too much. And I also think he knows and we know that no one's impressed by it. Like whether he gets

40, 50 or 60, it's going to be about what do you do in round one, round two, Hopefully, hey, how about round three for a change? Yeah, let's... And maybe even round four one day. Right. But for a guy who's got four playoff goals

in his most recent 18 playoff games, I think it is, that's where the production needs to be bumped. That's where he's got to prove he's the best goal score. Yes, exactly. Because there is a distinction to be made here. In the regular season, he's the best goal score. Yeah. In the playoffs, you can't shine a light to dry saddle

or Miko Ranton in or, you know, there's a number of guys. Not a small sample says anymore. It's 50-plus playoff game's career. Yeah. He scores as if he's a 15 to 20 goals score instead of a 50-plus guy. At times he does. You're right.

He's had a couple of nice series, but not enough. Yeah, that's where it's got to change. And you're right. Ultimately, that's where he is in his career now. You know, and that's, you look at Ovechkin, who got one. You look at a guy like Mike Medano, who got one. First overall pick, American superstar, stayed with the same team forever, captain, blah, blah, blah. He got one.

Yeah. He got it, right? Eisenman always gets used, and understandably so, and that would be great, but Eisenman ended up winning a bunch of Stanley Cups. With a bunch of other stars. With a bunch of other superstars with the highest payroll in the league, and they had a million Hall of Famers come and go. I don't think that's a reasonable, you know,

Bard has said. It's Ovechkin's career. It's, again, Mike Medanos, you've got to get one. That's it now. Well, unfortunately, in this town, of all, No, exactly. Exactly. The hope was when they all came up.

It's like maybe they can run off two or three or four or something like that. Babcock was the guy, Babcock was, you know, comparing them to the Blackhawks. We've got three and six years, right? He was the guy saying, doesn't that remind you to that? That was the hope. Yeah. And now it's, that, that is completely left out. Find a way to get one.

That's just that. All right. Well, with that mind, better chance of happening this year. The Vegas Gold Knights win the Stanley Cup or the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup. Oh, both juicy stories. I mean, obviously, the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup is the juicest of the juicy. And the most difficult one to actually envision because it's just been so long, but it can happen. There are still people living that's hot.

Yes. I know some of them. Yeah, I do too. Yeah. But, yeah. It can happen. It has, and it can. Will it happen?

Look, I mean, I think if you actually had money on this, you'd be crazy not to bet on the Golden Knights. Yeah. Based on their short history. but very successful history. They've shown an aptitude for figuring it out, right? Even though you worry about the injuries on the back end, obviously. Petrangelo is huge. Petrangelo not being available.

I don't think they're like this superpower team. They're not. Vegas. They're a very good team. And they've earned the reputation that they have, which is they're Uber competitive, top down. They're going to do everything they can to win. And it's been thoroughly impressive to watch them operate.

Full credit. And they've won. And they've won, so they can drop the mic and say, no one can come at us. I get it. They're a very good team, but they're not the best roster in the league. Not right now. No, they're not. And the Leafs, yeah, the Leafs roster, I don't think, is much different, like, guy to guy.

I really don't. But based on history, the choice is probably Vegas. I mean, choice is probably Vegas. Well, you're right. But Ico gets hurt a lot. Stone gets hurt a lot. You know? What's ain't in hell going to be?

I mean, and the bottom line is like, if you really, like, you can chart the path. If you really want to be as like the optimist and the glass half full and the rose-colored glasses of this past leaf season, you can make the case.

Look, Stollars doesn't get hurt. They take advantage of the sleepy panthers in game three and get up three-nothing. I mean, different world. They have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. They have a chance to get to a Stanley Cup at the very minimum.

And you know what? You can believe that when you look at Stolars and you look at Wall, you can see in their play at its best, albeit with the caveat that they always seem to get hurt at the wrong time, and they both have gotten hurt at very wrong times in a big series very recently, you can see Stanley Cup champions in those guys. You can see play that befits a Stanley Cup champion, which is more than you've been able to say for the Maple Leafs in the

Matthews era. Okay, well, let me skip ahead to that one here. Better chance of happening this year. Anthony Stollars starts 45 plus games or Joseph Wohl starts 45 plus games. That's a good one. Like this, I think it's, unfortunately, I think it's Joseph. No, I shouldn't say unfortunately, but I think it's Joseph Wohl. Yeah.

Like Stollars has been in the game longer. He's older. And he's just, he's never been able to do it. He hasn't been given the opportunity necessarily. but this year he was given the opportunity. Oh, yeah. And it was, just the injury showed up, right? Not just in the playoffs.

He had the high ankle sprain or whatever it was. He was out for two months. And it was a long time. And remember he returned in Seattle right before the break. And he had an unbelievable season. But I think it's more like Wall State healthy all year. He did. Like I, this year.

Yes. But I think it's a better sign for what I can predict could happen in the future. And I'm not sure either guy's going to get to 45 starts this year. I wouldn't necessarily put money on that. I'm going to say probably the best, the best money bet is neither gets there. Neither guy gets there. But if I'm choosing one or the other, I'm going Joseph Wall.

Yeah. I think that's probably the best bet. I think that probably is the best bet, although both of them have. I mean, you probably want to consult a handful of physiotherapists on this and, you know, biomechanics guys. Pretty deep question. Because, I mean, like, who's more likely to get hurt is essentially what you're asking? I guess so.

I mean, listen, there could be a play. there could be a performance dip, right, at the same time. But we really haven't seen that from either guy. No. Almost all of their problems have been injury-related. For the most part. Pretty much. Yeah.

Yeah, Stolars was phenomenal. He was very good in the playoffs. You know, he was, and Joseph Wall, he was thrown to the wolves somewhat. You know, like they held on for dear life in that game one against Florida. He gave up a couple of soft goals, but he gets thrown in. You're not, you're not, like, to get thrown into it, environment like that. That's tough.

Very difficult. He was very good in game six. I didn't think he was great in game five or game seven, but nobody was. Nobody was. But that, you know, that didn't really come up much because, again, it was more about the no-shows by the best players, which is understandable and definitely deserved in terms of the analysis. But I have been saying for years with this team, like what maybe their best bet at getting

over the top is get to a game seven. and they just have a goalie that has a miraculous game. Yeah. You know, and I understand predicting that is someone of a loser's mentality, and it puts a lot of pressure on one guy, but it can happen.

And it has happened before. And I think both these guys are good enough to be that guy. Right. Like we're talking a 45-stop shut out, and it's like, I can't believe they, we got goalie. The other team's like, we just got goalie.

What do you want us to do? Got goalie. That's, I think you're right. That's the path, man. That's the path to a real success. It might be. with this team. It might be.

And just basically drag them into uncharted territory and then tell Matthews and company, all right, you guys got to dance now. All right, we'll continue with some more of these. I've got my hazy B list coming up as well. Dan Gratziano of ESPN. He will join us later this afternoon.

The Jay's just picked up a win. They won in the afternoon against the Cubs. Hoffman came in close the door. Vladie with a two-run, home run in the seventh to give them the lead. They went two-one, tight game. Cubs are a good team. So you take two out of three against the Cubs.

And we were wondering that going into the Dodgers series, right? You end up three and three. Dodgers and Cubs, you'll take that. For sure. Right, 500 against really good teams. And you move on with your season. So the Js with a big win today, Scherzer on the mound again. And he pitched well also.

So we'll recap what happened in this series against the Cubs. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. All right, the Js won again this afternoon. So they take two of three against the Cubs. And whenever you have positive news on Max Scherzer starting and getting through the game and not giving up many runs. Yeah.

And Jeff Hoffman coming in and getting the job done closing the game out the ninth. Vladdy hits a home run. It's like a trifect of everything you want to hear if you're a Blue Jay fan. Without a doubt. And beating another good team in a series. Yeah. Right? Like you look at their numbers against good teams.

And it's, this is not like them beating up on the weaklings of baseball, right? Like, they are a legitimate, really good team against the best teams in the league. And the Cubs are right up there. And they're now, what, 38 and 30 against 500 teams are better? No, yeah, something like that. No, sorry, 37 and 28 against teams that are 500 or better. And you look at their record against all the playoff teams, Kay's. Like, I was just looking at it.

They're 29 and 25 against all the teams that are in the playoffs today. So, like, they, like, they're enough. They're seven and three against the Yankees. They're two and one against the Cubs. You know, they've beat almost everybody. They've got a winning record against the Tigers, against the Mariners against the Mariners. Against, no, their own three against Houston.

But they've got a six and four records. They got swept in the second series of the year, whatever it was. That was early in a long time. I didn't really pick up any steam. But they've got a winning record against the Red Sox six and four. I mean, they've, yeah, they've got a winning record against all the American League playoff teams right now other than Houston

to your point. So, I mean, that bodes well. Absolutely. This isn't some fluke that they're just reeling off wins. No, they're checking every possible Michael K. Box, right? They've got a plus what, 47 run differential now. Yeah, which is not not all world, but it's also not

horrendous. It's just, you know, it's upper third in the league. But the point being is a month ago, month and a half, ago. I personally, I still had some reservations. I'm like, let's see what's going on here. Is it just a hot June, a hot July?

Is this actually going to continue with Addison Barger and Ernie Clement and, you know, all these different guys who have come up and contributed to this team? Is Eric Lauer going to continue to pitch this way? And I think that was reasonable that the Yankees were kind of stumbling a little bit, but they deserve the benefit of the doubt that they would get themselves out of that. I'm not sure that's going to happen anymore. with the Yankees.

I'm not convinced they make the playoffs. We'll see. They have to prove it. But the J's, now that we're into mid-August, and they've been playing like this for about two and a half, three months now, it's no longer a mirage,

and it's no longer them having to prove that they're worthy of the record that they have. You're right. Because of everything you just said, they're not just beaten up on soft teams. They're beating the best teams in baseball. The Cubs are a really good team, and they just beat them two out of three.

Now you've got Texas tomorrow night. DeGrom's on the mound. There's a challenge. But we've seen that recently, right? We've seen them go up against Blake's now recently and Eric Scoobel recently. And it's not going to be any different with DeGrom tomorrow night. It's going to be difficult, but I feel pretty good about their chances of generating some offense against him and finding a way to beat the Rangers tomorrow night. Yeah, I'm with you.

Like, you can't have anything but optimism with this team because they've earned that. They really have. They have played themselves into a position where I think if you're watching them daily, which we all are, is you're no longer surprised they find a way to win a game the way they wanted today. And I think the Vladi in particular in this series

a couple of the defensive plays he's made. It's been phenomenal. He made that one play last night where, you know, that was a rocket that looked like he was going to get through the gap and he ends up closing the inning out

irrelevant in the end, they end up losing the ballgame, but still that stretch he made on the Bichette kind of miracle play last or in the first game of the series like those are gold glove type performances by Vladi Guerrero Jr. And then on top of it, he's got three hits in the opener

when they win. And today he hits a two-run, home run in the seventh inning. Yeah. And effectively hands them a win tonight or puts them in a position to win this afternoon. Yeah, exactly. Like, Vladdy is at the forefront of this, which I think is really, really significant.

You know, we've been talking about it this hour, like best players in every sport we're talking about. about hockey and Matthews and what's Lane Hudson going to do in Montreal and ultimately for your fans but I think most importantly within your clubhouse

or dressing room for you to really feel like you got a shot to win you got to have your best players leading away yeah and I think what Vladdy has shown over the last few games but really over the last couple of months is he's in a position to do that like he's clearly the best player

and he's playing like well you look at his numbers post all-star break right like he's he's just absolutely put the pedal to the medal. He's a different player since the All-Star break. That's one of the 26 games since the All-Star break. That was his eighth home run. Now he's up to 20 on the season. After he's kind of languishing. It happens quickly.

It's happened quickly. And his OPS, since the All-Star break is way above 1100. Like he's where it was, what was it, 818 before the break. So, yeah, he's like, there was a lot of, one of the reasons that people were skeptical about whether this was

real was that Vladdy just hadn't really turned on the switch yet, right? And now that he has that, like, today's a great example. Like, you're going to need, you're, like, it's great to have all these role players that have emerged out of nowhere and overachieved and been a big part

of this, this collective as Mark Shapiro was talking about the other day about how this is not a team built on individuals, this is a team built on the depth and the all for one mentality that this team has fostered and the, and the, the, uh, the brotherhood as George Springer has talked about,

but you still need stars, man. You're not going to win big games of the star players coming through eventually. Yes. I mean, it's just not going to happen. Over this long of a, over it doesn't matter what sport you're playing. You have to have your stars.

There's a reason you pay a guy $500 million because you believe that he will show up that matters for you. And this afternoon was an example of it. Yeah. Like it was, that's the biggest hit he's had all year. For sure. You know, and there's going to be bigger opportunities

and bigger platforms. coming. Every game you play from here on out is going to be the biggest game of the year. And the fact that it's a home run and the fact that it's at home and another sold-out day and, you know, against another good team in town. Like there was a time there, you know, but

it was about a month and a half ago, our good pal, Rich Griffin, was calling him the most expensive singles hitter in the world which is essentially what he was. Yeah, that's right. You know? He's always walks more than he strikes out. Great. That's great value. But it's even better value when you hit for some power every once in a while. Because of the home run.

is there's a reason why they emphasize home run hitting in this sport because it's it's it's an incredible weapon. Pitching so good now. You don't get many, you know, you don't get many chances to score these days against the best of the best. And so when you do get those chances, when you do get those pitches, lifting them out of the ballpark is an awfully effective strategy to victories. And, and, and Vladie hadn't been doing that for, you know, a long, good part of the early part of the season. But he's doing it now. Yeah, yes. And, again, Again, you look at Max Scherzer, man, very, very efficient. He went seven innings today.

Five hits, he only had 78 pitches. 78 pitches in seven innings is incredibly efficient. Super efficient. Really, really efficient. And he ended up giving up another home run, but it was a solo shot. You can live with that. Yeah. Like, he's giving up a home run basically every out of.

That's their staff. They give up home runs. Gosman got smacked again last night. Like, these guys, I believe they're all kind of at the top of the list in terms of starters in baseball. they give up home runs. But they're not allowing the rallies to develop. They're not allowing guys like teams to kind of small ball them to death,

which, you know, is substantial. And Atkins said that when he was on the show a couple weeks ago. Like their mentality, and again, they're trying to massage the facts here a little bit. But their mentality is if you're aggressive, every once in a while you're going to get hit out of the park. But that's what they like about Hoffman. Like you look at how he closed the game out today.

He just challenged the guy. I'm throwing 98, you know, basically center in. If you can hit it, go hit it. But I don't think you can't. That's it. And some guys hit it. And when they do, it goes a long way.

But there's a lot of guys who can't. And the mentality of this staff right now, and I guess Max Scherzer is kind of the personification of this, based on who he's been his whole career, is I'm going to come out and I'm going to grunt and I'm going to challenge you and I'm going to throw strikes. If you can hit one, go ahead. But I don't think you can hit more than that.

And he proved it again today. And I think there's a lot of validity to what Ackin said about, you know, just you like the mentality of the pitchers they have. And, you know, Max Scherzer is a dog. He will go at you, right? That's how he's, that's how he's become a 3,000 strike coach or Hall of Famer, right? You don't get to that point without that mentality of, here's my best, you give me your best, we'll see who comes out on top. You know, Gossman's like that. Gossman's not afraid to challenge people.

Obviously, Hoffman's not afraid to challenge people. I think you'll take that. Rather than nibbling around the edges and walking people, like today, today's a good example. They only walked two guys. Yeah. You know, and Scherzer walks one through seven. One and a little walked one too.

And Dominguez came in in the eighth with two on. And what did you do? Challenge guys. Right. Struck them out. Just challenge people. I mean, it's not always going to go your way. But look, if you believe in your staff and you believe in the guys you put together

and, like, they feel you have to believe, you have to believe that's the best strategy, right? And I'll take that. I'll take that. No, I agree. And today kind of had that playoff feel, like two teams that are going on the playoffs, low scoring, low event, no errors,

like clean game. And it's who's going to have the big moment? Who's going to strike out more? And who's capable of giving me one bigot bat in a big moment? And that's what happened today. Scher, Little, Dominguez, Hoffman found a way to get the job done

and Vladdy had one big swing. You win a ball game. You leave the stadium. him happy. Amen. That's what's coming, man. That's the way you do it. That's what's coming. All right, Best Betts powered by Fando a little bit later this afternoon. We'll get into the NFL storylines as we continue through

camp, day one of the second week of the FedEx Cup playoff as well. Rex Hoggard will join us to the Golf Channel on NBC. That's coming up in about 45 minutes. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. All right, Rex Hoggard coming up later this afternoon. The PGA tour

is I guess halfway through their FedEx playoffs. The LPGA tour, they're on the West Coast, they're in Portland right now. Brooke Anderson shut the lights out today. Yeah, 7 under. But the ladies are going to be in town next week. Atta, Mrs. Saga, I'm planning on going. I'm looking forward to it. I think the first up crew, in fact, I know they're going to be there on Thursday and Friday, which is awesome. Out of Mrs. Saga. And here's your chance to win a pair of tickets to the penalty box on Friday, August 22nd. A semi-private box located right on the 10th hole. Call number 10 right now at

416-870-10-50 caller number 10 at 416 870-10-50 will win the tickets to the event. Your tickets will include access to the sweet food and beverage and private washrooms which is huge. That's probably all you really

needed to hear. Private washroom make the call. That's a great perk. That's a huge perk man. Because, you know, it's a port-a-potty vibe. Yeah. And they're fine. They're okay. You can survive. survive. There could be lineups. It's going to be extremely hot.

If you get them on a Thursday, the porters are usually a pretty good shape. Sunday afternoon. You get them on a Sunday. Because the turnover is not necessarily prompt. I'm not sure they're doing them. I'm not sure they're emptying them daily. I think it's a Wednesday drop Monday morning pickup. I think you're right.

All right, 416-870, again, first that we'll be broadcasting live from the open on August 21st and seconds. So stop by and say hi if you're out on the course. Get your tickets today at CPKCWomenesopin.com. Looking forward to that. Yeah, Mrs. Saga, great track, great course. Broke Anderson will be there.

That'll be fun. Deli Corder's going to be there. Lydia Coe's going to be there. Yeah. Like the field is stacked. Big time. Yeah, it's going to be a great tournament. And just when you thought, hey, he said maybe this tournament could be interesting, Scotty Shephler, down at the BMW, Bertie's three of his last four, to shoot a 66 and take the lead. get at four under. You were talking yesterday about his odds to win the tournament before the tournament started,

which were ridiculous. Plus 250. Now he's at plus 190. Yeah. Like he's, and by tomorrow, you got to think he puts the T in the ground. He might be minus money.

He might be. Like it might be like minus 120. And he's got 54 holes to play. Think about that. Because that's another thing that he has going for him. Like he's kind of, he is like Tiger. Like if you give him a lead,

he's leading after 36 holes, it just doesn't feel like he loses. It doesn't. You know, like, he can chase you. He doesn't, he doesn't, like Tiger didn't chase a lot. Like, Tiger T2, T3, he, you know, he didn't win every single week. Generally speaking, when Tiger won, it was like you kind of knew after the first, like, after the, after 36. He might ease into the round on Thursday.

By Friday, you're like, this guy's so dialed in. By Saturday, you're like, he's got the lead. It's over. Never. He never threw away anything. 54 whole leads were money. It was basically over for him. Jeffler, I don't think, is far off that.

Yeah, it's Rory. He was playing with Rory. Rory shot an even par. Okay. Even par 70s. Well, he's a little bit rusty, McElroy. He hasn't played in a while. That's right. A little bit rusty.

But Rory will figure it out by East Lake. I'm certain of that. All right. Final hour coming up. There you go. Tickets to the Canadian Open next week of Mrs. Soccer. First up again, I'll be there on Thursday and Friday.

More into the NFL. seen. Best events coming up. More into the FedEx Cup playoffs as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. Seasoned gamer or just video game curious. This week in gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games from basics to beyond. The hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders and more weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie.

stream this week in gaming on the free iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts