OverDrive - OverDrive - October 23, 2025 - Hour 1 - Jose Bautista

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier involved in a gambling scandal with the NBA, Victor Wembanyama's monster performance in season start, Trey Yesavage getting the Game 1 start, Bo Bichette's injury status and Auston Matthews and William Nylander playing on the same line against the Sabres. Former Blue Jays Outfielder Jose Bautista joins to discuss the Blue Jays playing in the World Series, his bat flip comparison to George Springer's home run and the team's impressive season.

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This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, overdrive off and running. GSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN4, Brian Hasey, O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClennins. What's going on? Lots going on. Lots going on. I'm so glad to see you, Hazy-B. I thought for a minute they would have called the No. Nova Scotia chapter of the gambling. But you're alive.

You're not anywhere. You didn't have to answer any phone calls, any door knocks. They did not go after your little mini, whatever the hell you were doing. Now, I wasn't using X-ray vision or... Are you ever heard of anything like that? That's Austin Power stuff. Like number two. That's number two with his eyepatch, and he's reading cards.

Tell people what we're talking about. So you want to talk about having a difficult morning. I would say Adam Silver had an incredibly difficult morning, the commissioner of the NBA. Arrest were made, Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, Terry Rozier. Rozier is still playing. Chauncey Billups is the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers. They played last night. He's a coach.

He's in the Hall of Fame. He's a former Raptor, the face of the Pistons team in 2004. Imagine him saying, I'm checking for. curfew tonight, fellows. You better not have a late one. Right. Now, he has been alleged to have been involved in a poker scheme where all this shady business was going on in terms of belking people out of money. The other members of the NBA and others of, you know, just, I guess, regular citizens, it's more about possibly throwing props and sports gambling and stuff like that, which we saw before with Jonte Porter

and Porter is involved in the same ring, but I guess this has been an investigation that's been going on for years. But Cash Patel, who's the director of the FBI, literally said that this investigation with the NBA and Locosa Nostra, like that was the sentence. If you're Adam Silver, you were hearing NBA

and Lecosa Nostra Mafia. Connected by the head of the FBI. do you know how crazy that is and how crazy this story is and the NBA just started two nights ago so you got this you got Kawhi Leonard you know planting trees and Steve Balmer and all that all it is is controversy right now and this is much deeper than that clearly but the point being is it just isn't stopping for the NBA it's it's a it's a really deep and heavy and crazy

story well that guy Porter for the wraps I bet you he had a hand and kind of saying there's some other stuff if you want to know about some stuff i got some stuff for you that's what it is i mean you get you get guys who were saying okay you you got me but what about this what about that like now it's now it it just snowballs you know and that is going to be wild to see this unfold because this is getting it's like you say it's day one this can get ugly ugly i'm already seeing on twitter people going oh well remember this player where the guy threw the ball away and you're like you know that's what's crazy jamie all the plays are getting put up on twitter like people have like

documented games where guys are screwing up and making plays at wrong times now they're all kind who knows what's yeah well listen athletes aren't perfect right like you make mistakes you miss when you're involved in something like this and then they're going back on game tapes and you're like why the hell i mean there was guys i think from portland last night We're saying, how come when four seconds left this happened and then this happened and they fouled and they were radio hosts and they were like, what the hell is going on here? Like that's what's going to happen when something like this goes down. That's the danger.

That is certainly the danger. And, you know, these are all allegations right now. They have been arrested, but they still are innocent until proven guilty. But that is what happened with Porter. It was about props. And this is the thing about gambling being legalized now. And if you're going to use a lot of the sites, including. what we do. Our title sponsors,

Fandual, it's intertwined with sports in terms of legalizing gambling, and yet what comes with that, and I've said this forever, is it can be regulated much easier. It's not ever going to be perfect, but it can be regulated. Where if there are bets taking place

in cash, in an alleyway, there's no way to regulate that necessarily. But what has happened here, and what happened with John Day Porter, is all of a sudden there's, you know, $20,000, dollars being bet on his point total and it's like who's betting on jonte porter point totals for that amount of money or other randos exactly or

randoms and that you know again allegedly was happening with roger where it was bet my unders and then i'm going to get injured and i'm leaving the game and sure enough they believe they can connect it nine minutes in there goes terry he's hurt he's leaving the game so you can regulate this stuff and you can find it they've been searching it and it's it's in it's imperative the leagues stay on top of this because you can't have the legitimacy of your sport and your product and your brand taken into account you know you can't yeah um so it uh it's a very heavy story like there's no disputing that it's also it's tough to wrap your head around it well you know like a poker scheme and chauncey billups and and apparently he's there like as one of the

Him and others are just like the celebs where people feel cool when they sit at the table and say, hey, this guy's going to be there. Who else knows what the other big names are? And they're just there to say, this is the cool place to be. But the eye vision and the card stuff is just bizarre. It's crazy stuff. Contact lenses. This is Mission Impossible.

It really is. I've been fascinated with this and reading it all day long. I sent it to you guys what this morning. What are they saying to the Chauncey Billups of the world? Like, make sure you wear your contact lens glasses to the poker game. Like what? That's what I don't understand. It would be fascinating, man.

If there was some kind of, there's never going to be a 30 for 30 on it. But like how it all goes down, like contact lenses? Like where you get them, when you putting them on? I don't know, man. There could be. This will be flushed out, man. This will be investigated. And I doubt it was Billups himself doing that.

What I read was, you know, there was basically a quarterback. in the back who had access to the information and was radioing stuff in but again we're talking about the new york mafia being involved in this that's like as heavy as it gets man like that's scary soprano stuff yeah and like how do you get affiliated with people like that how do you get to a position where you're involved in something like that and if you are and you're down you are in serious and that you're you're doing whatever they say has always been a reality whether gambling is legal or not if an athlete or a coach or anyone with intel inside information is in a compromised position yeah they could be forced to do something you know and i believe the reporting on it

indicated that that may have been the case with jontay porter yeah that he was in a bad spot and it was like, this is how you're going to get out of it. So, again, it's just been a wild month in the NBA. Like, Wemby was playing kindergarten kids last night, the way he looked. Like, I was watching a lot of that game. He looks like he is playing with a Nerf ball on a Fisher-Price hoop. Like, watch him dunk and shoot the ball. It's incredible.

He had 40 and 15 last night with no. turnovers and not talked about no one is talking about it nobody well the raptors won big last night they played great man the raptors play great darko is going ultimate warrior in the locker room after the game which was a little bit strange but still he's jacked up and excited he's fired up it's game one no one's talking about it well you can't i mean you can't celebrate that one 30 guys are in the clink right now and you're wondering what's going on and and it's more and more now i probably

should address like I saw the look on your face haste I went to the dentist today and I've had like I think some of my face is still paralyzed yeah the right side of your face is I'm getting concerned I'm trying not to I can't everything okay well it's fine but it's the freezing supposed to go away after a couple hours I was in the chair from 11 to 1 30 they like Steph's like you had major surgery I didn't realize it was major surgery I and my fate I can't say certain words so I'm like trying to hide it dude been there man and I'm like 10 times but like I tried to smile and there's no smile from the top lip it's like I look like I've had lip injections yeah yeah you do I can't you look like Fabio right now I can't pull it together and I'm trying to be

as serious and we're talking about like the mafia and stuff and I'm like nodding and I got I I got to tell you guys like I'm I can speak I'm fine but it's just something that's Something's not right. You've got like an Elizabeth Taylor fire going on, and it's throwing, it is throwing me off because you're right, the left side of your face. You just can't do it. Just hang in the weeds. I think you thought it, though, like early on I made a comment, and I saw, I look on your

face going, is this guy all right or not? And I was like, I wanted to just get through my thought. Okay. So I figured I would share early on. Yes, the freezing is coming out, but the left side of my lip on this left, side is not right like something's weird like it's still it's still puffy and i got to tell you noodles if you didn't say anything hayes must be paying attention or looking closer at you i wouldn't even notice i can tell because of the laugh like it's a it's a complete laugh but it's a half face laugh

if that makes sense like it's not a fully committed committed face laugh i feel like i could take my top lip and put it over top of my head like it's all swollen and weird because it's fine it's a guidance right they say it should fade in two hours there's never a guarantee they must have shot you up crazy well i think that that's what i'm concerned maybe in the break you can ask erin when when this is all go away but like this has been hours now i think we're on three hours hour three now that it's not going away that seems extreme but yeah yeah that you might need to check on that and we'll see if we can get through the show but i'm fine it's good to know you're all good crazy going on it's crazy man you can't talk that wemby was

It was unbelievable last night. I was watching his highlights, like, on a loop this morning. I've, in an era of myself and everyone else being so guilty of saying, you know, we've never seen anything like this before. It's, it plays with him more so than anything else. Like, this guy is unbelievable. He had a play last night where he was dribbling like he was Alan Iverson. Yeah.

And then step back three with a foul. and one step back three at seven foot six his dunks he doesn't even jump he just dunks it's crazy i might be making this up or i might have been a little sleepy when i watched it i think caris said he grew off summer did he alleged he not allegedly i think i heard caris say this guy grew to it just grew over summer he's got bigger he's taller he's taller he's taller Right now than he was a year ago. Wow. I don't know how that's possible at 20 years old.

I mean, I don't know how that's possible. He's 7.7 now, not 7.5. Yeah. He put on like 2 inches over the summer. I don't know what the hell that's all about or at his age. It's even possible, but I think I heard that. I heard the same thing. I read the same thing.

And, yeah, Wembe, it's a pretty wild scene. Don't ever give up, kids. You can grow when you're 21. Yeah, you can keep going. When you're 20 years old, you can go from 7-5 to 7-6 or 7-7 in Webby's case. But, yeah, this, you know, FBI raid, the arrest today. Again, the Kauai stuff, completely different context, but a huge controversy for the NBA. And did you hear Barclay's line last night when talking about?

So inside the NBA made their debut on ESPN last night. And they were, you know, breaking down their power rankings for the West. and why don't we play it? This was the inside of the NBA crew talking about who they like in the Western Conference last night. The Rockets and the Nuggets are the next two best teams in the West.

You're off your clippoor boat? Well, I mean, you know, Kauai got two jobs, so you can't... Which is what? You can't work two jobs to play basketball? You ever see that? I know, he had an I-I-L-Dil. You ever see that...

He's got two jobs planting trees and playing in the NBA. So, you know, you can't win if you got two jobs. I think they're trying to basically say there was two or three good teams out west and the rest are nonsense. Effectively. Yeah. Which makes you wonder, can Wembe possibly do something special this year? I think that might be premature, but we'll see.

So, yeah, Wild Day in the NBA. We got Jose Bautista will join us later this hour. Can't wait to catch up with Jose. We'll get him to compare in contrast. You know, his three-run, home run and 15 compared to the Springer, three-run home run in 25. He was obviously in the building for both and get his take on what he thinks of the upcoming World Series, which, of course, begins tomorrow. Trey is Savage, game one starter, which...

Did you see that coming or not? I thought it was possible because Gosman pitched game seven. Because Gosman went in, I thought that possibly will stagger him. And, you know, they weren't going to move Bieber up. up or it's what's that you like it yeah i'm fine with that it was well it was either him or gosman like it was one of the other and gosman again just pitched in game seven i'm fine with it i mean this guy he's had three playoffs starts two of them have been very solid the the in-between one game two of them against the mariners was not awful he didn't get tors he just didn't have

his any stuff his velocity wasn't great but i think it's fitting you know the absurdity of this whole season and the unpredictability of it all that the jays are in the world's series, and Trey I Savage is pitching game one. It just... 22 years old. It fits. Yeah. It's another one of those, if I had have told you, you'd say that's just impossible.

How can they be in the World Series, and how can Trey Savage be getting the ballgame once? So walk me through this then. Who would get game seven, in your opinion? Well, it's likely going to be Bieber, I think. I think it'll go, your Savage one, Gosman, 2, Bieber 3, so I think we'll replicate what we saw. You know, it's just the Savage and Gosman flipping. Shurzeril pitch game four. So that is my assumption.

You know, we don't know for sure. We'll get some audio later this hour on John Snyder being asked about Boba Shed. That would indicate to me they're still not sure what they're doing, man. Dude, I don't think it can happen, man. I know the guy is a competitor and he's an unbelievable baseball player. And I'm only basing this on the clips that I've seen. And not that I played baseball, but just the way he was, running, it doesn't look like he can play professional baseball.

And I know the stakes are high and you want to do whatever you can do, but it doesn't look like it, man. And like I said, I'm only going off the clips I saw of him practicing or whatever the hell he's doing down there at the dome. It doesn't look like it. It's not going to be easy. It's not pressure on him. It's not going to be easy to tell him to say, hey, man, like I know you're dying to do this and you want to help the team, but we don't know if you can do it. Well, okay. Roll play.

You guys play the role of, oh, you play the role of Ross Atkins. What is your level of concern that if you tell Bo Bichette, he's not playing in the World Series, he's not going to sign with you in the offseason? He won't sign an extension. How does it link up with his future contract with the team? It would almost be Nick Cage. I know the stakes would be that high. But at this particular moment, I'm cutthroat, I'm an executive,

and I'm worried about the World Series, not his contract. It's got to go on the back burner. and I got to do what I got to do. You can never, never ask me to stop drinking. I like that answer. I like it. Yeah. Because I knew that him not signing back was a real possibility to begin with.

And if me telling him that he's not playing is going to further push him in that direction, that's a risk I got to take if I don't feel he can contribute adequately. Yeah. That's what I got to do. You're trying to win, man. You're trying to win right now. That's what it comes down to. If you're Schneider or Ross or Shapiro, if he can go in and actually be on the positive to help you win, then you do it.

But if you think it's going to be a mess, then I don't know if you can do it or not. And there's only one guy that knows, and it's Bo. Like, truly knows it's Bo. He knows if he can go out there and be a positive impact. But athletes will lie, man. They'll say, yeah, I got this. I can do it. In actuality, you probably can't.

It's going to be fascinating where they go with that. Yeah, and you don't want to go out. Say he goes out there and he's not 100% and he blows a player. That, you know, is no good at the plate. That could be the difference in him. He was swinging a bat with a fake pitch, like not a ball coming at him. Right. He was fake swinging.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, I don't know. Now, the overthinking element of this is what if you don't have him on and you lose and you think back, man, if Bichette was there, we maybe could have won. You know, like, what if you lose? If we had that one bat. That's what I'm saying.

What if you had to pinch hit for someone in game seven and you go to Davis-Schneider instead of Baudichette? You know, whatever it is. Those execs I just talked about make big money, man. That's what they get paid to do. They get paid to figure out what's the best for the team. Him in or him out? So let's see what you got. You're right.

But is there a way where he could show up in game four type of thing? well not in terms of putting the roster together noodles you got to make that call before game one is it possible he's on the bench and let him ease into it and it's a change of pace thing that's possible for sure you know you know the man type of thing yeah possibly you know you lose the first two games again you say we need a change of pace let's put them in i don't know all of this has been contemplated you know they've thought through every possible angle um so we'll we'll find out and again we'll get to that clip a little bit later this afternoon jose baptiste in about 10 minutes Austin Matthews got a couple new linemates down at practice today.

You see William Nealander and Bobby McMahon are his two linemates, which means Matthew Nyes is going the other way. You know, Nyes is down with Tavaros and Micelli, and now Cowan's back in there on the third line. Like for seven games in, the blender is on the fritz, man. Like Barube is, there's a lot of ingredients in there, man. A lot of smoothies being made. I don't mind that, though.

Maybe you tell me, I think Austin needs somebody who can go get the puck. That's Bobby McMahon, and yes, Nise is that. But Nielander is the most creative guy on the team, and Austin's used to that, right? So maybe it's a scenario where Willie gives Austin some looks. And Nize can go get the puck for Tavares, and he's got tremendous speed. Micelli has good speed. So Tavares is the stabilizing guy on that line. Why not try it?

Why not try it? The two best players on the team are Austin and William Neelander. John Tavares is a good player, but he's 35 years old. It's the two best players. I think they're putting them together. You're loading up a line to see what they can do. That's a thought process. On the road, too.

I don't think you had a choice after the last game, Brian. I don't think you had a choice. Like it was that bad where you're like, I got to switch. something up here drastically and shake things up and we got like one of the golden nuggets in the league and he ain't doing anything out there and we got to change it up right now yeah and it's a weird dynamic because I would always have a relationship with my centerman where I didn't want to carry the puck up through the neutral zone that was my centerman's job or whoever's job because that wasn't what I did I wanted to be the benefactor of them carrying it over the blue

line and then laying some kind of pass over and that's when I kind of did my thing when I was playing at my best. But Austin Matthews is a different player as a center iceman. He might want to, we saw it with Mitch Marner, carry the puck a lot, carry the puck through the neutral zone a lot of the times, and then make a play to him, and then he does his thing. But he's a centerman, and it's kind of different for that relationship to be that way, but that's what he does. Yeah, you're right. He's a guy that he can chug through the neutral zone, but generally he's looking for other people to do that. You know, and him find space, whether it's driving the net, staying high, whatever it is.

But listen, McMahon moving up with him, I don't know how much experience Matthews has playing with Bobby McMahon. I don't recall them linking up far, you know, too often in the past. But I agree with you that you got to try something. You know, Barubic kind of tipped his hand the other night when he said that. Yeah, saying he was sick of it. Yeah, he's kind of getting sick of it. But this is an extreme.

You know, you look at Oilers practice today. It's McDavid with Dry Settle. You know, that's kind of been the option out there when they don't. don't like the way some things are going, put them together. It's like that with a lot of duos around the league. It just historically was always, you know, Marner would be there or be the guy that would kind of come and go and try to poke and prod at people. Now it's Willie.

But what will be intriguing is, you know, how do they both score? You know, and ultimately it doesn't matter if you win. You know, that's the important thing to point out. We just talked about it with the Blue Jays. Same thing has to apply here. If you win a lot of games and both of you have to give up some of your offense to the other guy, okay. so be it you know you got to do whatever you got to do to win but both of them you know willie was

second in goals last year will he scores 40 in his sleep now in the nchal like that's what he does so is his thought process i got to get austin going or is his thought process dude it seemed like he was playing on three different lines the other night because he was the only one going it was like we need you here we need you there they need a couple more players man that's the bottom line but they can't really do it they're kind of handcuffed right now. Well, they need the guys they have to do it. They need Matthew Nyes to be better.

Yeah. You know, they need him to be better. They need Matthew Nyes to be better. But for the people that are writing us saying, guys, you said Austin Matthews has got to drive the line. That hasn't happened thus far. So they had to change it up. Like, we can't ignore what the facts are.

We said he's a good enough player. He makes enough money. And he should be driving the line. Just like Sidney Crosby did when he played with Kunitz and Pascal Dupuy. He's the one that drove everything. But it didn't happen. So sometimes you can only, you can't sit and watch something for,

for so long or else you're going to get behind the eight ball man you want to watch that for 10 or 12 more games are you crazy yeah can't do it you switch it up and see and you have the luxury to go back you know how things are going but you do want to get guys going and get a feel for it and you know austin matthews needs to drive a line he does and william meelander is a guy who can drive a line too but if they're playing together they've got chemistry they've played together before it's not like this is the first time it's just because it was Remember, it was Marner went down with Tavares to get Tavares going one time. It's going to be fascinating, Jamie, to say maybe on Sunday or Monday we're going to be texting each other

or speaking on this platform saying, man, that top line's really hot right now, but when they get off the ice, there ain't a whole lot going on. It would not shock me if we're having that conversation. Well, that's where you need John to, like Tavares has scored a couple of goals recently. You know, he's put some goals in. He's got to keep doing that. another guy's got to create. You know, like Max Domey's capable of creating some offense, you know, how much, we'll see.

But you're right. And, you know, offense from the point, Chris Tannow's going to be out for a few games. You know, not that he's an offensive wizard or a guy that's going to supply that for you. But Morgan Riley, he's got to be pressure on Morgan Riley. Riley's got to produce some points. He's got to produce some offense. He's got to be a guy that changes the pace of the game because he has the ability to do it. He's shown he can do it throughout his career.

Yeah, listen, they got Buffalo. Buffalo won last night. They beat Detroit. Buffalo's winning some games. So, you know, we've talked about it all week. There's this division outside of Montreal who won again last night. Everyone else is just kind of unhappy and just kind of going through the flow. Some miserable division.

Miserable and trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong. Yeah. You know, it's kind of the nature of the league right now. October hockey, that's what it is. It's chaos. But I feel like it's been worse. this year as far as the chaos because the games haven't been clean like you you know and again I'm looking at playoff hockey compared to what we we've seen right now but it's sloppy

goaltending hasn't been great special teams have been all over the map like there's just so many things and that's not just the leaves I'm talking through the country through the league there has just been you know and there are some teams that are on fire new jersey one last night back to back situation great winnipeg's good yeah there's There's five or six teams that are kind of the outliers. Everybody else is lumped up going, we're trying to find our game here, trying to get our stars going, trying to get our goaltending going. Exactly right.

And as a result, it could be a glassout full if you're a team like the Leafs. Because you're not behind the eight ball, right? You're not leading the charge, but you're also not dead in the water. All right, Luke coming up on a Thursday night or tonight, Vikings at the Chargers, Hazenborough, Nat Pick. We'll get to that a little bit later on. I've compiled my list one through seven, the coaching, meter for the Canadian teams.

I know who's dead last man, I'm telling you. All right. Well, yeah, you probably do, but it might surprise you. We'll tell you about that in about an hour. I'll get to that in about an hour. But Jose Bautista coming up, his take on throwing out the ceremonial first pitch the other night, be in there in the building for the Springer home run compared to his own home run.

And what does he make of the Jays going up against the Dodgers? How do they find a way to win the World Series? We'll catch up with Jose Batista next. Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Luke on the Thursday nighter in about a half an hour. Got you up with Luke. Get into a number of things with him. And again, leaves back in action tomorrow.

They got a double shot with Buffalo coming up. Sabres have been winning more games recently. And we got Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow night. Game 1 of the World Series. The Dodgers are in town, Media Day today. Trey Estavage versus Blake Snell. There's your pitching matchup for game one. It's going to be absolutely amazing downtown this weekend.

Absolutely incredible. It's like pretty cool to say the World Series is happening. And for so long, it's just kind of standard to watch two other teams. That's right. And it's not. It's the Blue Jays. Yeah. The World Series.

Reporting. I'll be reporting. I'll be there reporting. I'd want you to remember something. You agreed that Jays go to World Series and you're firing up a bow tie to see Kenny. I did say we're the bow tie. Now, I did come back and say, I don't think I can do a sports center hit wearing a bowtie.

Why not? I revised that because it's, I'm a journalist down there. I'm representing, on this show, I'll do it. You said you would bow tie it up and knuckle up with Kenny. I don't think I ever said I would do that. Yes, you did. You had to wear a bow tie him and knuckle up and say, good day, fine, sir. Well, that sports center is going to say, no, you can't wear a bow tie.

Because it's, you think Hedge is going to sit there. Like, it's the World Series. Hedge wants me to be talking about the game in a bowtie? Yes. She would love it. I think you should go push him over and laugh at him and give him an angry look with a bowtie. I should do that. Say, how does it feel?

Well, people have been calling me Hazenthal online. I've been writing me saying Hazenthal, when are you wearing the bow tie? I'll wear it on this show, all right? I will wear it on this show. All right, Bautista's waiting for us. We're talking about Ken Rosenthal and bow ties. here he is one of the all-time great Toronto Blue Jays. I'm sure he's jacked up for Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow night.

Here's Jose Batista. How you doing, Jose? Nothing much, just getting ready to watch the great series of baseball. I'm down here in Florida at home, but I'll be watching and tuning in for all the games, of course. Maybe I can get out to L.A. for some of the games there, and definitely going to hit up Toronto for game six and seven if needed hopefully we we beat him before that but if not i'll be in toronto rooting the boys on i love it well you've been up here you know for the previous round we saw you there for game six throwing out that first pitch game seven you were there um how much

nostalgia do you get you know being in toronto during the playoffs a ton i mean it brings all the memories back right and all the runs we made into the playoffs in 15 and 16 all those games and those summers that maybe weren't as exciting, right? But seeing them in this position brings me nothing but joy, not only for the guys on the team, but the fans and the organization, and everybody in Canada involved. As you guys well know, we're Canada's team, and we're followed from coast to coast to coast.

And just to think about the joy, the moments, the unplugging, and the memories that we're going to be, these guys are going to be created for the fans in these next few days as exciting. your bat flip homer is so famous in the city of toronto just toronto sports in general what's it like seeing springer and vladdie do their thing and have those kind of historical moments in the city uh just doing such great things for their team at big moments in time it's amazing uh hopefully we see more of that in this next series so you know springer's homer uh was unbelievable i was there to witnesses full full circle actually obviously um i'm i was my experience was from being on the field and doing it. And this one was just like another fan in the stand. So it was a great moment. And now I get, I have both end of the spectrum on the experience.

So it was awesome. Well, all four of us were there in 2015. You played a more prominent role than the three of us. Yeah, we were ducking beers. We were drinking beers and hanging out and hoping you were going to hit that home run. You were at the plate, obviously, doing it. but you and I were in a building for game seven the other night. And I, you know, 10 years is a long time.

And you get caught up in the moment. And a lot of people have asked me, was it louder for Springer's home run than it was for Bautistas? And I have gone back and forth on this because that home run you hit, because of the buildup of the seventh inning, that's the loudest I've ever experienced anything in my life. I don't ever recall any experience like it. Yeah, when Springer hit that home run the other night,

man, that roof almost popped off. how do you how would you judge that at the plate in the stands the reaction from the fans springer's home run your home run i think for me it's a little harder to measure because i was running the basis i wasn't really paying attention i know how it felt for me and how loud it was from that point of view and i think from different places than the building you it may sound differently right so uh i would love to see you know the decibel reading on both but yeah it's probably hard for me to know hopefully it was the same or even better for our light care all i want is these guys to win and that's what it took at that moment for us to get a step closer with springers home run

so very happy that he he was able to get it done well and george it wasn't for sure it was getting out like everyone was kind on their feet and it looked like it was going out when you hit that ball that thing almost landed in mississauga like you knew it was gone when it hit your bat um how much might that change the experience like you could sit watch it bat flip george was kind of cruising up the first baseline hoping it got out and it looked like he blocked out and just started sprinting because he couldn't believe it happened do you is there in a way do you appreciate the fact that you knew yours was out back in 15 yeah i think they're both special in their own way right um and they all have their bits of drama and excited

excitement, doing it immediately when you know that it's gone, has a certain type of excitement. His, I thought, had a chance right up the bed, but like himself, is it going to hit off the wall? Is it going to get caught? And what's going to happen? So the drama, I think, adds to the excitement when you finally see it over the fence. So I think they're both special in the wrong way. With Jose Batista, we were talking to Sean Green the other day, and Sean was part of that 93 team. He came up late and didn't play during the playoffs, but has a connection for life.

And being at the park, you know, throughout the Yankee series and the Mariners series, I saw you out there, and Edwin was out there. Donaldson came up, Kevin Pilar, Marco was out there for game seven. Like, does something like this, when you see the Jays going on a run like this, how much connection do you have with your, you know, teammates, your coaching staff, management, you know, clubhouse staff, whoever it was back in 15, 16. different is the group chat during a jays run compared to maybe other years there's a few group chats going on with former players in different eras and i overlap the few so i'm in a couple of them

the one thing that everybody has in common is the love for the jays and it really has that family feel as an organization right uh whether it's because it's in canada or the way they run things i can't explain it it's unlike any other team i was ever a part of uh everybody feels like their family and they have this deep connection that stands at the test of time. So I know that everybody cares. Even if you play for one month, one year, or 10, sometimes it doesn't really matter because I've seen firsthand the love that guys have for this organization. And I think that's special and different, like I said, than any other team I'll play

for. So it's exciting to see and we all rally around the organization when times like this come around. So we're going to still be there pushing, praying. lighting up our candles and you know saying our prayers so it's exciting times how tough is it going to be for beau to jump right back in if he's healthy i don't know about production wise but with his presence and what he can bring to the table um he's going to have impact one way or another um it's interesting to see though how the dynamic of him and spring or

having issues with their knees if they can either of them can play defense because I'd love to see how that affects the DH role within the club and because you definitely don't want to miss out on defense right both a great defender but when you are dealing with something and the guy that's been playing for you is a low glove caliber of short stuff you'd hate to make a sub knowing that you're not at 100% for such an important defensive position so I'm sure they'll figure it out. But I'm hoping that either his knee feels perfect or that springer is back online for defense because that'll help having both of them in the lineup, but one is the age. With Jose Batista, I think you bring up a point that is not being, you know, mentioned enough.

A lot of people looking at Bow and say, well, you need his bat in the lineup. But if he's going to play, sure, to your point, Jimenez has been playing it and it's been flawless. You know, they've been turning double plays in their sleep, man. They've looked really, really quality defensively. That was a big part of why the Dodgers got after the Yankees last year. Their fundamentals weren't very strong, and L.A. made them pay, and the L.A. Dodgers will make anyone pay if they're sloppy. What do you think the rest of the team is thinking, I guess, from that standpoint?

They know Bo can hit. If Bo's in the cage and he's hit and he looks good, he's a veteran, but, you know, would there be any unease among his teammates if he's playing short and you're not sure exactly what kind of, you know, caliber defense you're going to get from him? I don't think on East would be the right word. I think these guys are smart major league baseball players. They would probably look at it just like I kind of broke it down. But ultimately, they trust whatever lineup, you know, the manager chooses and the players he picks,

and they go out there and battle together regardless of whose name is out there, especially at this time of the year. There's not a lot of ego or, you know, jealousy or anybody trying to be selfish. this time of the year. Everybody's trying to put a ring on their finger and they'll roll out there with whatever selection that the manager and the coaches make, and they're going to be fully trusting what happens with that. That being said, I think everybody wants to contribute. Everyone wants to feel a part of it. They know their role at this point of the year, right? Everybody wants to play, but if you don't get the nod on any given day, I'm sure you're going to be

staying ready and rooting on your teammates as best as you can and looking to make an end. impact if your name gets called at any point in the game. Jose, the Dodgers have a stack lineup. You got me a little concerned when you talked about candles and prayers. How many candles and prayers are we talking about here? Like, well, what are some of the biggest keys going up against the Stack Dodgers team? The candles of prayers, all the, as many as it takes, right? It depends on your faith.

You know, we are very superstitious in baseball. and, you know, being from a Dominican culture, we're very Catholic. So I don't want to get into that, but, you know, that's where those reference came from. And I don't mean it in a way that we're hoping or wishing that we can somehow pull it off. I think we have a very capable team. I think we are playing excellent defense. Our pitching is on a tremendous job, with the exception of some of the games we lost, where the middle of the bullpen kind of lost the handle on things from,

in a couple of games. But if we contain him inside the ballpark and make him work for it, whether it's, you know, getting a few walks and stringing a few hits along consecutively, I think it's going to be hard for them to do that. They strike out way more than we do. I will argue that we play just as good if not better defense. We got just as capable arms in our bullpen. It's just, can they execute on any given day?

And I think they can. You know, our defense has been tremendous, and our base running has been tremendous. So we have a deep roster also that helps us off the bench late in games or with any subs that you have to make for matchups from game to game. So as long as we don't give up the home run, I would say we have the upper hand. So I like the formation of our team and I like the energy and the camaraderie that they have and how they've been playing together. So we're also a little bit more right in the wave of momentum and excitement and energy and adrenaline,

and we've been playing games more recently. So hopefully that gives us an edge. With Jose Batista, the Jays also have Vladi Guerrero Jr., who is as dialed in as anyone could possibly be. I mean, you mentioned being Dominican. There's a long lineage of great Dominican players in Blue J history, George Bell, Tony Fernandez, yourself, Vladia, go on and on and on.

How much of, you know, at what point in his life, life or in his career, did you maybe think this was possible, that this was the Vladi Guerrero Jr. we were going to see at some point? I can't say that I knew that, but, you know, when he signed his first pro contract out of the Dominican, to even go before his first season, he came up and took back in practice with us in Toronto at the Rogers Center, and you could tell that he was going to be special. And knowing his circle, his support around his family and all that because of obviously who they are, you know that his chances were going to be great.

And from there, you just follow the guy and you see the approach, you see the hard work, the dedication, and the quality of the swing and the skill and the ability. Guys like that, if they have a good support team and they're dedicated to their craft, they can accomplish great things. And that's why I see what I see Vladi doing right now. It's been decades of hard work behind the scenes to lead to moments like this and feeling prepared. And then the moment not getting too big for you in your head

where anxiety may take over or nervousness may take, like he's as calm as I've seen him play when the stage has gotten the brightest and the biggest. So I think he's going to be, He's going to have the opportunity to come up even bigger. And I hope that moment comes along because I think he can do even more special things that he's already done. So, Jose, we'll get you out of here with a topic we love discussing, and that is the ceremony of first pitch.

And we were playing a clip from Michael Jordan yesterday. And Jordan was talking about having to shoot a free throw for the first time in years and how nervous he was because he's Michael Jordan. Exactly. You're Jose Batista. And there's, you know, 40,000 people at the dome for game six. I'm like, there's Jose's coming out to throw the first pitch. Were you nervous throwing out that first pitch?

I wasn't nervous. I was excited. Now, I didn't go for years without throwing a baseball. I coach a middle school team down here voluntarily in Tampa. So I've been throwing baseball. So that's – and I'm sure you guys can see that with the evidence of how I ended up throwing the So I wasn't nervous at all. I was excited.

And I was just trying to pump everybody up. So I let it rip. And I hope that that got everybody excited. It did. Are you teaching kids how to bat flip properly? No. I think they've kind of picked that up on their own. So I'm more about, I mean, they're middle school boys.

So I'm trying to keep their focus on the game half of the time. That's half of the battle. But it's exciting being able to get back and help out, you know, at the school. and it's really fun. Awesome. Well, it's game one tomorrow night, game one and two in Toronto, then three out in L.A.

And if it gets back for six and seven, we look forward to seeing in Toronto, and I know you'll be tracking every game as closely as everyone else up here. We can't wait for it. And I can't thank you. I know. Thank you so much, Jose, enjoy the World Series.

Indeed, gentlemen. Thank you very much. Let's go, Jays. Let's go Jays. I love it. Throwing out a little rally cry on the way out, Jose, Bautista. really cool catching up with him and you know it's it's been a cool buildup but it's almost go time

like tomorrow night it's no longer about 92 and 93 or 15 and 16 it's about playing ball and we'll see what comes of it and i always like when the other team shows up hayes like the dodgers we've just they've been the team over there that have been dummying people now you're going to be in the building watching them live it's like that's pretty cool because they've just been over there Big time. And it's like, now they're here and not see what they got because they've been pretty impressive, man. They've been ass kicking. You're right.

Couldn't be more distant. Like National League, L.A., Southern California. Yeah. But they're in our backyard now. And first guy we're going to see, grab a bat and step into the box. That'll be a scene. Shohei Otani. Shohei Otani.

What game do you think he'll pitch? Probably game four. That's what it sounds like. He'll pitch one game. likely Otani Scherzer, which would be pretty incredible. And Schneider had a great line on that today that, you know, he hopes he brought the hat back and the shirts back that they gave him when he went down to check out the facility down and Dunedin.

So I hope he gives us our stuff back, you know. That's, that's, you got to play it up, man. You might as well have fun with it. Exactly. All right. Luke Wilson coming up. We've got my coaching happy meter for the seven Canadian coaches. We'll get to that as well an hour two.

Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSC. on four. All right, Luke Wilson coming up. Haysenbro on the clock tonight. Vikings Chargers Thursday night. Football. We'll get to our pick. Full analysis. Break it all down. See what else we got in the NFL this week. And, of course, game on in the World Series tomorrow. We'll continue to look ahead to that. I've got my coaching happy meter coming up. The Leafs are mixing up their lines. We got goalies out in Calgary talking about scoring goals. We've got a lot going on in the league right now. A lot going on in sports.

So, yeah, more of that all coming up into hour two. Overdrive continues. TSN, 1050, and on the TSN ab. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. FanDul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be.

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