OverDrive - OverDrive - March 26, 2024 - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' victory against the Flyers, John Tavares' solid performance and William Nylander's goal scoring skill set. Blue Jays General Manager Ross Atkins joins to discuss the Blue Jays' season outlook, the additions to the roster and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s contract perspective. They also discuss the close run towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL.

Hey, who invited climate action to the party? We did! Hey, I'm Shannon Burns. And I'm Sarah Christie. Together, we host the Earth Day Party Podcast. Where the guest list is full of climate experts sharing their advice on how we can protect our planet. Everything from avoiding microplastics to sustainable fashion to getting a prescription to spend time in nature. Plus, we hear from David Suzuki.

This is a party where everyone is invited. Stream the Earth Day Party Podcast, starting April 1st on the iHeart Radio app, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. This Hour of Overdrive is powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, Overdrive, off and running.

TSN 1050 on the TSN app your home smart speaker and up on TSN for Brian hazio Doug Jeff O'Neill Jamie noodles McClennon what's going on? What's going on? I Would expect That someone who's nominated as the best sports host in Canada would have a great show today. Well, I heard a vicious rumor about this too. I didn't want to, I haven't said a word, I didn't say a word, I don't know how this came about. Do you want to explain what's going on? I feel like I'm not the one though I can't be the one that Canada Screen Awards in the category of best sports host the leading contender

is Brian Hayes Wow check the internet yeah I haven't had that sent to me yet I had I picked it up secondhand information as people sent it to me so do we do the you know virtual congratulations to Hayes? What do we do here? Well, it's very comfortable. Presence of greatness. That's really what it is. You're in the presence of greatness.

Yeah, it's very uncomfortable because we have spent our whole time talking about, we have a Rodney Dangerville kind of vibe on this show. We're not invited into any voting capacity right they do the canadian national the athlete of the year no one ever reaches out to the three of us maybe we have an input on that now it's fine we'll do the lou brown awards we prefer to do that goof on dot the kishe has all these nominees and all these awards and i woke up this morning it was sent to me and i honestly thought i was being pumped i thought it was a prank i thought someone had like superimposed my name in there is because it's duffy like Ron

McLean, Andy Petrillo, like in its Olympics and Copa America and overdrive. That's awesome. That's the best part. You do way more than any of them. You're on the air for three hours every single day. That's true. That's my pitch. And I'm going to use, I don't know if the votes are already in. I don't know if the winner's already been determined, but I guess I'll use the next couple of months to try and make my pitch. Do you think Duthie will send you like a condescending comment if he like wins this guy, doesn't he win every year?

I think Duthie's won a fair amount. I believe he has. TSN gets nominated more than anybody because of the amount of people that work here, the amount of great people that work here, all the different events we put on. Luke Wilson's up. Luke's up.

Stevie Caldwell. Luke and Steven Caldwell are up for best analyst. I nominated the two of you guys. I pushed for you two to get in there. You didn't know about this. How did you push for? Somebody came to you and you say ah my boys noodles and oh dog. No, you caught me a lot there I don't know who makes I push you guys Next year. I want you two in there. I want you on the red carpet next year. If you win, like I don't, like this is, this, we have to have this. If you win, like there's a trophy but there's probably a picture. Could they put the picture of your first days in

Blue Lunch like you yelling into the mic? In my striped shirt and my fat face and yelling like that would be see because if you get to choose like I don't know if you get to go up for a speech or whatever I'm not privy to it because we really don't pay attention a lot we just know that invited never right like all that so if you win and there's a picture of you on a trophy or something you get to choose it like that would be amazing if that would be amazing to the mic kind of like you choose your your cap going into Cooperstown like you write for multiple teams and you could put forth a flattering modern picture or I could put in the day one moose picture I think

I'd be willing to do that for the cool and do we find out when's the big reveal like it's not until the end of may i think early june to ask dot the dot the just pencils it into his you know is is uh... schedule every single year you know doubt these up for it and he's up for it ron mcclain like you know these are people that are very they they probably just it's routine for them as routine to be included in something like this and uh... it's not routine for me so I don't

have an answer for you in terms of exactly what happens is there a red carpet do I get a plus one I just do I bring who do I have if you want I send a group email to Ron to Duffy to Andy great season everyone maybe next year just give a little just a little I get out front of it send them all a message if you win you got to send something out saying great shot there like great season you guys had you guys are all deserving maybe next year my time like trust yeah you like you go over the top like thank you everyone like you like you know Dothie's got like the key to Ottawa he's got all these things but he never never see it. You have to put that award on your desk.

And I'm telling you, you have that picture where you're so hungry in that picture. To me, it's a cherry on top. I agree. It's been a long time coming. You know what we think of you, but it's nice for you to be recognized. Our show, I feel, gets recognized on different levels. I know. We joke around about it.

We're very thankful. I think I'm going to play the role of the guy who I haven't won anything. I got nominated for something. It's an incredible honor. An incredible honor. The Canadian Screen Awards, I can't thank them enough. It takes a team. It takes a village and I wouldn't be here without you two guys and do he JP and Joe from

the bridge no that's and everyone that's where I stand on this this is a team nomination no what if he goes up there and he's just like hey noodles he would this guy's Don Johnson he after the commercial break he'd be like those bunch of losers he's on Johnson in that tin cup movie He'd be like these are just a bunch of scumbags. Yeah, he's happy Gilmore What's the guy's shooter McGavin shooter? Well Snoop Dogg had a great one at one point where he was like last but not least I want to thank me I want to thank me for being the greatest I want to thank me for getting up in the morning and go chase the dreams and

there is a lot of on and on but uh... yeah i know i appreciate you guys bring it up by i wasn't going to and uh... that'll be it but congrats all the nominees everyone at the s and throughout the industry the canadian screen awards very very esteemed and very very honored i heard of this is the uh... nominated i heard the vicious rumor that Luke got nominated as well. He did, that's what I was saying. Luke Wilson's up there, Stephen Caldwell's up there, like Lukey for doing his thing during the NFL season, Stephen Caldwell a Copa American,

everything else he does, the Euros, there's just so many great talented people, not only at TSM, like at Sportsnet, CBC and throughout the industry. Our friends at CP24, Jennifer Shung and company up top there, they're out there for best morning show. My guy Sam Cicerello for the Women's World, Don Landis for the Women's World, John Hines for the Green Cup. I mean honestly there's so many and and we could list them all but to be honest selfishly I'm like hazy boys in there. Overdrive, it's a team nomination right? It's a team nomination and that's precisely what I intend on.

Let me ask you guys this following up on all this great stuff. How far away do you think the Philadelphia Flyers are to being up for any type of... Oh man. They look like they're tanking for Gavin McKenna next year. They're getting out in front of a tank for next season. Dude, that's what I was thinking last night. It was really bad. They're in a real bad one right now.

But for some of their good players, like Konekni, Tippett, Sandheim, what are they going to be next year? Well, you know what it is, guys? I thought of this, because they gave up a seventh spot the other day to Chicago. So I thought, OK, they're going to have to play a little bit afraid to play the Leafs, a team that has more talent than Chicago.

They're going to tighten things up, lock it down. And in watching the game and going back, like, listen, everybody has off nights. But when a bad team has an off night, it looks even worse. It looks off. It looks like what we saw last night. They looked like they were skating in sand. Like they were slow, they were let. They looked like they were skating in in in sand like they were slow They were lethargic like they just weren't and the Leafs were like, okay, you're gonna give us this breakaway. We'll take it

You're gonna give us some wrist shot from the slot. We'll take it, you know, like it was just like everywhere you turn I'm watching the game. I'm like another goal another goal and I'm taking a Second all-star vibe only yeah, the Leafs didn't get that memo because to their credit They showed up and said we're going we're winning this game and we're gonna we're gonna put a beating on this team if we have to And they're going in one direction The Flyers are clearly going in a different direction But like Nylander gets on the board for two that's his third straight 40 goal season which is an incredible accomplishment, man,

because, oh, you and Ray have always said, you each scored 40, that didn't mean you were a 40 goal scorer, you know what I meant? Do it three times, you are. Yeah, exactly, you do it three times in a row, that's what he established last night. He's a 40 goal scorer, he's not a 30 goal scorer anymore, he's a 40 goal scorer, and that is substantial, man,

and he's second in the league in goals, he's he's going to likely hit 45 plus and you know credit to him because the guy you know it's generally about Matthews and Marner and what are these guys gonna look like and how can we make them comfortable and how can we make them pop and listen Willie's not playing with scrubs like John Tavaros was really good last night. I know, but there's been a lot of nights where it's like, Mitchie, you go play with Austin, and Willie, you go play with Holmberg, and Tavares has had some ups.

He's a lot of, sometimes he's just out there with third liners, and he just doesn't say one word about it. He just goes out there and plays. He keeps going, man. And he said after the game, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. This is what I get paid to do i got a good paid so i guess paid a lot of money he knows it like he's yes of he's the son of a professional athlete to which uh... he's always had that vibe

like you show up to work it's always been his reputation get their first leave last put in work have an effort show up produce if you don't people gonna jump on you and uh... you know Willie has fought through all of that noise and has established himself as you know an all-time great leaf. Like that's again we go through these different layers of these conversations. Is Matthew's the greatest maple leaf of all time? Is

Marner going to be considered this or that? Like that's what Willie is. Like you talk about the all-time great Maple Leafs William Nylander has already established. He's one of them like it's it's it's subjective You can maybe he's fourth. Maybe he's ninth. Maybe he's 12th. Is he 15th? He's not 30th He's not that like he this guy is a rock star and he has been he has been for years and He's no different than the other guys he's got to do it more in the playoffs but generally speaking he has produced come playoff time and you know he's he shows up in the biggest games come playoff time and that has to continue and

that's what's going to allow them to go further up and up the list and same with Matthews and Marner they got to have the playoff success but if you marry that with what these guys do during the regular season It's it's just been an incredible ride. It's been a turnaround for me to just watching him play or like dude, do you remember back in the day where there was There was William Nylander to Carolina for Brett Pesci and Toronto people wanting to do it Like that was out there They're like they got to trade one of these young guys for a defenseman and Pesci and Toronto people wanting to do it. Like that was out there.

They're like, they got to trade one of these young guys for a defenseman and Pesci's name was out there and people were pushing forward. I'm talking basically Twitter trolls and people that listen to us which, no offense Hayes, with your award and everything, it just can't be trusted. Like people were saying, pull the trigger. Nomination. Nomination. Whatever it is. You're going to win, buddy. You're pull the trigger. Nomination. Nomination. Whatever it is.

You're going to win, buddy. You're going to win. Thank you. But for, people were saying, move Nylander for somebody else. At times I said it because I didn't trust him. There was something about him I didn't trust. I don't know if it was his work ethic. And the one thing that really stuck out in my mind, it took me a long time to kind of

move on from, was that bailout in Tampa where I'm like, does this guy even really care what's going on out there that was tough for me to get over like to hear Eddie Olchuk someone that was not close to the Leafs every day say I wouldn't even put him back on the ice the rest of this game probably the series like that was that was a tough moment but he's had a turnaround and it's like he's a grown-ass man now you see him I think he takes everything very seriously every day mark Masters talks about how this guy works at his game he And it's like he's a grown-ass man now you see him. I think he takes everything very seriously Every day mark masters talks about how this guy works at his game He said he's out there early and people must think oh, that's what he's paid to do

Some guys just show up and practice and leave that's what they do But this guy wants to get better every day loves the game works at it. Well awesome. It's good to see yeah It's great It is but oh in in defense of all of that, when we, you know, when we talked about Willie being to this or Mitch the air, it was because we've gone through nine years of them not having success in the playoffs. So we're like team, you know, any other team would change that course, somebody would have to go somebody and, and, you know, the Leafs haven't. So you've watched this guy grow

up before our eyes you know for a while there three or four years he was a 60 point guy now he's a 90 point guy or whatever whatever you want to call it he's 40 goal score like he's developed and reached his I would say ceiling but this is what he is he's a hell of a player good goal scorer heavy on his stick like that type of stuff. So you can focus on what he's not or you can focus on what he is. No player is perfect. So you know I think that's what you've come to the conclusion of when you think of William Nylander is this is what he is and celebrate that instead of going

geez there was a bailout here and boy he's not super physical. Like that's what the player is but that he's a hell of a player. Yeah, streamline it and do it really well. Right. Right. And elevate you got to elevate come playoff time he's no different but also why he's out of that conversation now is you know he's signed he committed he's they locked him down eight years so Willie's not going anywhere and Matthews isn't going anywhere and that's why you know you circle back to if there's gonna be changed to the core that's why Marner's here and Marner's you know the primary suspect of that conversation so to speak because he doesn't have the term left on his deal where the other two guys do where if they were all

coming up this summer I think they'd all be in a position where you could say you got to perform you know you got to show up in the playoffs or you know maybe we will look at you differently or have a different viewpoint of your future here. But that ship has sailed for Willie. I mean, he's got a full no move, full no trade. He's pulling his weight. He signed his deal. He has not dipped.

If anything, he's improved and he hit 40 last night. Again, Tavares had a four point night. He had two goals, big, big game. That whole line was really good. And now they head to California and we'll start looking ahead to that trip a little bit later this afternoon Darren Dreger coming up today roleplay level of concern but the Blue Jays are back in town first time they've had a home stand to start the season in years because all the renovations and everything that's been going on and they got Baltimore

for four starting tomorrow the GM Ross Atkins will join us on Fladdy Guerrero jr. in his situation. Mack Scherzer in his thumb. You know, did they make enough improvements over the off season to gain enough wins to get into the playoffs this year? That more still to come. Also we'll ask him, is he fluid in Spanish?

Because he was dropping Spanish earlier today in his presser down at the Rogers Center. Like is he negotiating with Fladi in Spanish and if so is that a dangerous how do you say billion dollars in Spanish we're gonna make sure that Ross knows that so we'll catch up with Ross Atkins this hour overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN for powered by Fandu will bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Some tough news on Alfonso Davies, his agent popping off and directing that popoff towards Jesse Marsh and the men's national team will get to that a little bit later this

hour. But I guess spring is in the air, it's not that warm, you know, but the sun's been out for the most part, but the Jays are at home and they have a home stand to start the season for the first time in years You know, it's always they're down in Tampa or it feels like they're in Baltimore or whatever And obviously with the renovations that was a big part of it But I think it's a good start for the Jays. You got Baltimore for four. Then you got Washington in town They got a tough month coming up, you know, through March and into April. But, uh, they've gotten through the spring, the 26-man roster's up here. Again, they start at home tomorrow.

Here's the GM of the club to, uh, set the scene for the season. Here's Ross Atkins. How you doing, Ross? Yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on, guys. Yeah, thank you for doing this. Yeah, it's good to have you back, as, you know, I just referenced you guys haven't started the season at home in a long time.

Is this unique for you now or what? It's always on the road. It feels good. Yeah, it feels good with the pandemic hitting us two years and then the renovations. It has been a while. So it's a much better transition and a lot more excitement around opening day when it is at home fired up especially for the first year guys and

Well, yeah fired up for Bow and Blatty too because it's it's special for them guys that have been here like Alejandro and Varsh and George and Jose so it'll it'll be a big day tomorrow looking forward to it Ross before we get ranting and raving on this show on a daily basis Why don't you give us some expectations this year so we know what we're getting into like what do you think is reasonable for the Jays heading into this season? Yeah I mean more raving than ranting. I would say. Okay. I like it. Alright. No I'd say it feels good we've you know the teams had some success this group that's been together for a while has some success and we had a brutal year last year and

They seem to have grown from it and you know getting spit out of the playoffs a couple of times I've just having some crash landings has I just made us a little bit better and a little bit stronger and then to come in after a trade deadline of acquiring some good players that has risen the floor and added depth, really good stories out of Vladian Bowden and Ernie Clement last year, bringing in guys like Alan Roden to start the season, Will Wagner on the roster is exciting, and then of course the off-season acquisitions that are bullpen ads and Anthony Santander, Andres Jimenez, Max Scherzer those are really exciting pieces to add to that group and they've transitioned well. I think there's a there is a difference

when guys have some link to their contracts that come in and immediately fit in and they're thinking about team they're thinking about winning and all players always do have that on some part of their windshield and hopefully it's just taking up more of their windshields because in our view it takes a little pressure off when you focus on winning and focus on the team. Ross, you talked about length of the contract. You signed Alejandro Kirk to a five-year extension.

Was that the right wheelhouse as far as term and money to to fit for both sides or what was the thought process of blocking him up that long yeah i mean that's what it takes right it takes both sides aligning on the value and when you when you can find the shared risk is when extensions happen it's hard to do free agent deals on uh... deals with extension dialogue and with Alejandro it lined up.

Well there's a couple other guys looking for extensions right now Ross and I know you're aware of who they would be and that would be Vladian Bichette. I saw your presser down at the Roger Center earlier this afternoon and I heard you speaking Spanish. Are you fluent in Spanish? what's the story there now i i mean i i i grew up in miami i played baseball in venezuela and spain and i'm all you know i do speak spanish battle call myself fluent i can speak baseball and i can get by

uh... problem you're not gonna uh... host a talk show or sell. You got to order drinks in Spanish. Well, he knows the swear word. If you order a drink in Spanish, man, you got some action play in there. I like that play. Big time with Ross Atkins. So obviously, you're being asked a million times about Vlad in the future and nothing's done

yet. But I want to ask you about his role in this and the process that he has decided to take in terms of speaking. He's done some interviews. He's gone out of his way, in my opinion, to say, don't forget the Yankees. I'll speak with the Yankees next summer. The Red Sox, and he's on Instagram liking pictures of him in a Red Sox uniform and him in a Yankee uniform.

How have you reacted to those actions and to Vladi, his approach to all of this? Yeah, it's interesting because obviously you would always prefer that things stay, the more private the better. But I think the world of Vladdy, my interactions with him are very productive. They're very warm. We obviously have feedback for him at times that isn't so warm, whether that be talking about baseball

or just how we can be better. But it comes from such a good place. There is no doubt in my mind that Vladdy wants to be a Blue J and that's the most important thing to us. And hopefully we'll be able to line up and share some of that risk with him, as I mentioned about Alejandro. So the word risk, can you give us any more detail

to what that means from your standpoint? Is that about team building? Is that about budget? Is that the owner? Yeah. What does that mean? There's another year to play. It's different to use free agent values and it's just to talk about extension is one aspect of it. And free agency is very different than an extension deal because there's other suitors and there's momentum and there's things you can't account or control for.

So trying to line up on objective values is how extensions happen. And sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. So it really just comes down to what the value we think is fair and reasonable and whether or not that lines up. Will you possibly... If you're taking on more, then you're taking on too much risk. Absolutely. And could the way you define risk be affected by the way he plays this year? Well, everything matters. Everything's information, performance matters. There's nothing that we're not going to factor into the decision.

With Ross Atkins, in free agency you landed Max Scherzer. He's broken camp with you, he's up here, I think he's slated to start the third game of the series against the Orioles Where do we stand here with you know with his thumb with with his body holding up because I know a lot of people in Toronto A lot of blue jay fans could not wait to see him pitch and you know dying to see him live I think you're gonna get a lot of fans went lining up for road trips if they know he's you know Slotted to pitch in Detroit or Cleveland, Seattle, whatever. Where do things stand with Max and how confident are you that you can get close to a full season

of production out of him? I feel very good. I'm very glad that he's here. His performance has been ridiculous. He has absolutely dominated every hitter he's faced in spring and his recovery has been as we expected. As he's communicated, we knew it wasn't going to be perfect but he's found ways to recover and we expect that to continue. And in the event that we need to be careful or cautious, we'll try to be proactive with that but we feel

like he's in a good place. He's very honest with us, obviously, about how he's feeling, and we'll try to be proactive in managing it. And you guys, as a group, yourself and Mark, your staff, you've always invested heavily in the rotation. You look at the way your rotation stacks up. I was having a chat earlier this afternoon. Steve Phillips was saying he thinks you've got the best rotation in the American League East and other teams in the East have taken hits, whether it's via free agency or injuries.

And I'm curious how you look at, you know, presuming health, Gozman, Bassett, Scherzer, you know, Francis, is he, if he pitches like he did in August and September, you've got an ace on your hands there. But how do you think your rotation stacks up and how important is it for them to set the tone for this? We focus so much on offense and run production and you're bullpen turning things around after last year, but how much of just getting the ball rolling is reliant on your rotation doing what you believe they can do? I do think it is very important and we have put a lot of resources into it.

And we also have some exciting arms coming healthy that hopefully will be in the fold here in the second half of the season and certainly beyond that. But my view on that is guys who have been successful and reliable and dependable and still have very good weapons, have an openness to evolving that you're going to put yourself in a very good position. And we've seen that with Jose making adjustments this off season, Kevin Gossman had an electric spring.

His stuff was more than effective. Bowden's last two outings were the Bowden we saw in August and September, as we've already talked about Scherzer and Bassett was extremely effective over the course of spring. The thing that I fall back on with them and it's something that Pat Gillick talked about for years is dependable and reliable and they are that with openness to improve and their weapons are not showing decline. So those are all good signs for us How often are your are your starting pitchers even bullpen arms? curious about how you know the

The rest of the roster is gonna play out. In other words, you got Varsha on the IL to start the season You know, you've probably got youth playing third base. It sounds like we're not quite certain who's going to play left field every day. How important is it for the staff to kind of have some familiarity and understanding that they're going to get defensive help on a daily basis? Yeah, part of it, I think that's been a big selling point for us. Over the years, we've been a very good defensive team and just gotten better and better. The last two years with Team Gold Glove. We add Varsh back into that fold.

We'll be an electric defense having added Andres Jimenez to it. I think that was attractive to Max Scherzer. It is something that we lean into and it's something that is important that they understand what is behind them and that they can trust what's behind them. With Ross Atkins, I mentioned, I think just prior to having you on your you know obviously gives a start at home and that's a big benefit you got a couple of serious to kick kickstart things but your first six weeks

uh... is is crazy when the schedule came out you got baltimore twice boston twice you go into new york to play the mats in the new york to play the yankees at houston you got the braves in town uh... like when you look at the scat obviously you're happy to start at home but did you have to send an email to rob manfred and say what's happening here like this is a really crazy start you got a and i get it it feels like a sink or swim

almost by may first of it i i don't want to be too hyperbolic but this is a big big star for your club. Yeah it is. It seems like it always is in the AL East. The balance schedule we're not benefiting too much from in our start because of the other opponents that you mentioned that were playing. But you know we really don't focus on that we we focus on things we can control it's not something that's a daunting to our players at all uh... just you know we can do something that we have i i i i said you can control and embrace the challenge of it

ross i was listening this morning as well and one of the questions was asked like it just it was just about the criticism if you stick how do you enjoy this on a day-to-day basis? How do you go about doing it? Is it like for a general manager in this position in big league sports, the only way to truly enjoy it, I mean to the top level, is winning the ultimate prize? Well, I mean certainly that is our goal. But I enjoy every single day. I don't enjoy losing.

That is extremely painful for me. It hits me extremely hard. But as we ask of our players, we have to learn to deal with ups. We have to learn to deal with downs. And I am very fortunate and I'm honored to come to work with a great deal of responsibility every day to do everything in my power to compete at a sport at the highest level and I embrace that every day and feel very fortunate with a great deal of joy. How much comfort do you take in the familiarity around you that John Schneider is now into

I think year three here, Mark's been here the whole time, the ownership has not changed. There's been a lot of consistency and Mark Shapiro has spoken about that, that he's a believer in consistency. Does that allow you to breathe easier? Does it affect your mentality on a daily basis? How do you respond to that? Yeah, I mean, my heart palpitations are probably at, you know, varying between as high as they could possibly be or breathing easy is not something that, you know, we're extremely driven and extremely competitive and that comes with pressure and that comes with stress

and emotion. But the people around me is exactly what gives me confidence. Not necessarily peace and just knowing that things will work out, but it gives me confidence and working with Pete Walker for every day that I've been here. John Schneider has been here every day that I've been here just in different roles. And there's a long list that we have a great group we've added to the group and our hitting coaches and our pitching staff that supports Pete this year. They transition incredibly well.

Having DeMarlo and Donny Hale, our baseball ops, adding David Bell and James Click to it. There's so much bandwidth and power, brain power here that I get better every day. I learn from the group that I'm working with and I do feel very fortunate. Opening day is always a blast. It will be fun tomorrow. It will be electric downtown, walking into the park. It will be a packed house and it's a marathon from there. So enjoy it Ross and and we appreciate you doing this today. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks guys Thanks. Hey, thanks for having me on you got it. There is Ross Atkins Yeah, listen there the beauty of opening day is you know, you can look at the standings everyone's in first place You know, you can look at it like we're all in food everybody's licking their chops with optimism. Yeah, or some

It won't take long. I mean, dude, do you remember the year the whites? Somebody posted a pic of the white socks and it said they're out of contention already Some people think they're worse, I don't know how that's possible. Not it's not. They are going to think it's possible. They cannot repeat what they did last year. They just can't. There's a chance though that they might. No. I mean those A's teams that they've been putting on the field have been awful and they won some games here and there. They can't be that bad again. We should track, like all they got to do is get to 40 wins. Which is absurd to say when they play 162 162 doogie every two weeks Give us an update on how many wins the shy stuff, okay?

But it you know what it is Hayes what we should do It's like you pick a date like when the baby's gonna be born or something their 40th win is gonna come on which day That's a good one. We should do that like a pinata kind of thing or right like it's like okay the the Their 40th win is going to fall on feels like may be all i know it's all sorry and i think it's all i said august but vandal i guess did you say fifty four and a half jp if andals got their went all of fifty four and a half

uh... i would leave the unheard of that so that's a July that's July that puts them in July July maybe yeah into August but yeah, I mean they're gonna be horrible It's it's not gonna be a fun season. I don't think and listen the Jays are There they're a good team. They're in the hunt. They've made improvements. They're a better team today than they were last year I think they've got to get off to a good start. It's not gonna be easy They got a really tough sked But if you're if you're a real-deal Holyfield Club, then you go out and win games, you know

like it doesn't matter who you play you got a you got to win ballgames and They got to have that I think they're you know, Bichette Santander Guerrero those three have got a mash and You know their bullpen's got to be way better Like these are the things that are just in my, non-negotiable that has to happen for them to be competitive. And if it all does, then they can win 88, 89, maybe 90 games and they'll get in. And if they get into the playoffs, the mood in the city will be completely different come

September. That's all it is. That's what we're asking with Ross at the end. Once you win and everything's all good, they make the playoffs, people are going to be happy. I agree. Yeah, once you once you win and everything's all good. They make the players people gonna be happy agree, but if the mood in the city like what worries me is they have a good start, but it's just Vlad he becomes a distraction, you know good good or bad You know what I mean until this gets done until something comes out. We're gonna be talking about it

This is these guys are under the gun aren't they guys like Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro their contracts are Aren't they guys like Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro their contracts are coming to expire aren't they? Absolutely, I mean it Everything's got ever it's got to be I think they got to make the playoffs like that would be how I would define it Like it's you either make it or you don't and if you finish with 85 wins I don't think that's gonna be enough to keep the flies off, you know, the fans really I don't have any and yeah I mean the expectations are high which is strange considering the one seventy four games last year but they did make improvements

you know the end there at their better club on paper the the a list is a little bit more watered down that past years now thank you be foolish to think that means the yankies are gonna finish with seventy three wins or something like that uh... you know things have got to break your way. And they're the team that's chasing. The Blue Jays are chasing.

They finished fifth in the division last year. And if you're not going to post, it's all about Ws and pro sports. We've talked numerous times on this show how that's the end result that anyone's looking for. But if you're going to go out there and lose some games and just hit dribbler's the second base like they did for two months to start last season misdemeanor you better bring some entertainment mania like number that watching that offense last year over suit it was discussed how

horrible runners in scoring position where you know they were their numbers were just horrible like the cleanup hitter, which baseball has changed in the analytics of baseball and how you run out of lineup and all that has changed drastically. But when we were kids, whoever was the cleanup hitter, that was the guy who would mash.

That guy would mash. That was Cecil Fielder. That was whoever. It was like, put him in the cleanup, this guy goes deep. They had the least amount of, I think, home runs, run production out of that four hole over any other team in baseball. clean up this guy goes deep they had the least amount of i think home runs run production out of that for all those crazy any other team baseball it was unbelievable like and it was just like one more cherry on top and and they're

aware that and listen to shots gotta be great and set a great spring they got up they got to be willing to be performers when they're playing for contracts you know all this kind of stuff has to come together but we'll see starting tomorrow. So thanks again to Ross for joining us. Darren Drager coming up in about 25 minutes. Role play level of concern as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app.

Alright Darren Drager in about 20 minutes. Leafs on their way to California. They're in San Jose playing the Sharks. The Sharks head coach will join us later this afternoon. And the Leafs had themselves a night last night and now they're sitting atop the Atlantic Division again. Sitting atop the Atlantic Division as we jockey back and forth. Now what's the separator? Because is it regulation wins? It's tied. It had been regulation. It used to be ROW and now I think it's ROW. It's RW.

But, yeah, I think there's also season matchups. Like there's a number of different ways to look at it. Because that's honest to God, guys. Like it might be, it might come down to the stats. Like if you tie, you know, let's say they end up with both the 103 points, whatever it is, right? In Florida and Toronto, like there has to be separators, right? There is a tiebreaker.

Well, it'll be the tiebreaker eventually if they have the same amount of points, same amount of regulation wins, which they do right now, it will come down to record against each other I believe. And that's- Just go out west and pump everybody and come home and pop your chest out and get grooving that's how to do it that's right because when they come home florida's waiting for them i believe on the wednesday night

their first game back here yes first came back on california is that florida on the wednesday night their toughest game will be l a l a's lost three games at home all year, right? well And they did the Habs and I guess Ottawa favor last night because JT Miller scored early in that game was up one nothing And then LA ends up winning dude. I'm telling you that LA team. I know they've they've lost and lost to Edmonton. I Don't know if they're going down this year. They're they're they're not gonna be easy to go like Evan's is gonna have to battle tooth and nail to take them down and

Speaking of those sends. I know you did the game last night noodles Well, like just when I said they were in last week There's no very comfortable though. They got a five-point buffer dude They are but if they win that game in Buffalo last night you're kind of. You're. They create separation right? Yeah. Like that's what you like to do is separate.

Like you're not separated yet. You're right you're up you've got a five point buffer and you do play I mean I was telling you earlier they have like we ran this board last night which actually was pretty cool. You look at season series against the Eastern Conference and they had a check. They beat every team in the Eastern Conference this year except for Montreal, they're 0-3 and now Buffalo, they're 0-3. And they haven't played one game against Columbus.

In their next 12 games or 11, they've got Columbus three times head to head. So that's your playoffs. Like, it is, you've got to win games. You can't sit there and go, hey, we're up five points up and that. As we just talked about, the Leafs were what? A week ago. And then the week before that, there's lots of ups and downs. You've got to win points that you should win. They did everything last night, but win the game. They chanced them. They did everything, but guess what? Buffalo win the game. They outchanced them, they did everything but guess what? Buffalo wins the game.

Yeah, it's irrelevant in the end. It's not the win-o-meter or deserved to win-o-meter. Yeah, the deserved, yeah, the world victories. I think what would make you comfortable if you're in Ottawa is that the other teams again continue to stumble. The Rangers lost last night, Detroit lost last night, the Habs lost last night. That's what's so tough for any of those teams in that mix, Hayes. For any team to get in, lost last night, Detroit lost last night, the Habs lost last night. That's what's so tough for any of those teams in that mix. For any team to get in, they've got to win every night and have other teams stumble.

That's why they're basically in the washer right now and they're just going up and down with each other. What about this St. Louis team doesn't lose? They're 14-2-2. I was going to ask you guys, if you're Winnipeg I mean they might pass Minnesota Minnesota, I don't want the blues in the fire wouldn't either like Winnipeg wins last night Ovi ties with like four minutes the most classic Ovi like sneaking in the guys in the slot and it's like oh where'd that guy go? He's like right there. He's wide open in the slot

We're at that guy go it's literally that you know the greatest goal scorer of all time you leave him there wide open in the slot. Where'd that guy go? It's literally the greatest goal score of all time. You leave him there. Wide open and he just starts doing the creepy backwards skate. He's like, no one sees me and I'll tuck this home and he does it. But Winnipeg ends up winning. And as I'm watching that and I'm seeing that St. Louis is just beating the doors off Montreal. They just demolished them last night Like if if Winnipeg finishes president's trophy like a hundred

Red hot point and you got the Blues with like Bennington Chip on his shoulder big game Bennington and Jim Montgomery's pushing the right buttons down there Tell you what if you're in Edmonton don't watch the Blues play right now cuz Dylan Holloway looks like cam Neely Dude, he's got 24 goals and the other guy broberg's playing like a stud I mean there's risk to anything you do when those situations comes up But I mean retrospective looking back on that you might want to have a match I don't know if they could have but they they could have they they were just i had it would have been you know they got it push other pieces out rather watch them play i think that you should assign them like a sign of any

showed us item i'd like i think there were mistakes there because there was a transition of power i don't think that happens if ken holland's gm i really do it though that's not a slight on stan bowman it's more about but you know i think all in new these guys probably tried to get something done couldn't get it done You know he Holland kind of gets pushed out there Bowman comes in. Hey, it's you know That's why I think Doug Armstrong snuck in there and said hey, there's a little transition here

Like I'm gonna try this little thing and and he pulls it off Those guys are good players and good good for Armstrong, good for St. Louis. There is a point though, and I don't know, like this doesn't feel like when they won the cup they marched from January, but they are in this, at some point they might have a market correction or dip here too. I would think so. Like Calgary's won four in a row, they can't make up any ground. Can't catch up.

But it is like remarkably almost eerily similar. Like different makeup, but Montgomery comes in that's Craig Borubei Right like Borubei Borubei takes over and they go red hot Montgomery shows up now They had some ups and downs when Montgomery first got there and they are lucky because Vancouver like Calgary's hot now But you know, they're not chasing 95 97 points that you know, these second wild card teams It's like a race to eighty seven points You know what I mean? Like it's and that that is what is gonna be damaging for Calgary for Vancouver, Montreal Ottawa if they if they put themselves in this position

I don't think they will if you can't get in and all you needed was like 87 points if you can't get in and all you needed was like 87 points yeah it's because that's where you are that's exactly where are you and how can you can't ask for that opportunity again because nobody here's another variety man where are you if the amount of points to get in was 87 and you had 50 or one of the garbage like well yeah i mean how far off you were like that's what it is I didn't but then you start to circle games where you go yeah I pissed away

two points there you gave away the point here on a late goal like that's where you start to look at games and go coulda shoulda all of that type of stuff but you know I've been saying all along like everything's been so jammed up condensed like it wasn't gonna be a runaway you are going to see lower point totals to get in because all these teams are alike. They're all kind of the same. They all have warts, but then they all have good players. And yeah, I don't is 87. Is that what you believe the numbers?

I kind of think so. I mean, listen, Montreal's at 75. They got 12 games left. So what's the winning percentage if you do what? 650? Let's do 700. They're not going 700 down the stretch. I don't think.

I mean, they haven't played like that all year. Look at the record. They're 536. Yeah, they're winning percent. 33, 28, 9. I mean, technically, they've left the rink with a loss more than they have with a win. Listen, I may not feel uber confident with 12 right now. I might not pounce on that.

If you go to Marty St. Louis and say I'll give you 87 points, will you sign it? I'm not sure I would. But I don't think it's going to be much higher than that. I mean, why would you think the Islanders are going to put up 16 points in their last 12 games? Hey, that's your cheat team. That's your cheat team Hazy. I realistically think you like it might be high like 87 I thought was a bit low it might be 89 like I it still might be something with an 8 in. I always thought for some reason it was gonna be 90 or 91. Well usually it is. But I don't think we're far off. Yeah I mean usually it's 92 93 94 you know something like that but these teams

they're just they're not, they're not really, they're not tracking in that direction. All right, Darren Drager will join us. Roleplay level of concern, Jason Action tomorrow, Alfonso Davies, ACL injury, and his agent is not happy. We'll tell you about that. We'll get into it. Overdrive continues.

TSN 1050N on TSN4. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Hey, who invited climate action to the party? We did! Hey, I'm Shannon Burns. And I'm Sarah Christie. Together, we host the Earth Day Party Podcast.

Where the guest list is full of climate experts sharing their advice on how we can protect our planet. Everything from avoiding microplastics to sustainable fashion to getting you a prescription Party Podcast.