OverDrive - OverDrive - October 27, 2025 - Hour 2 - Luke Willson

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Frank Corrado for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joins to discuss the headlines from Week 8 in the NFL and Hayes and Bro's selection for the Monday Night Football matchup. The guys discuss Max Scherzer making the start in Game 3 of the World Series, the Maple Leafs' off beginning through October and the play of the stars and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

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Power 2 Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Game 3 of the World Series tonight, we'll get to something to chew on, brought to you by Boston Pizza later in the hour on the Max Scherzer start tonight. And Glass now going for the Dodgers, and it's going to be an electric evening. We'll see how many Blue Jay fans show up. I was, I guess, not surprised, but I didn't see a lot of Dodger fans down there. Like, there were not a lot of Dodger fans. Not large portions anyway. No.

And it's a long flight. I get it. The Dodgers go to the World Series every year. There's probably World Series fatigue. Yeah. How many have World Series have they been to in the last, like, 10 years? Is it five? Yeah, it's close to that, right?

They were there at 17. They've won a couple, and they were there in 17. I'd say at least four. We can look that up, but it's at least four in the last decade. I think the Red Sox got them once. I think the Astros might have got them once. They did. That was the controversy.

year controversial year in 17 and that's when Springer won the MVP and George is walking into one in L.A. Like they hate George Springer in L.A. Anyone associated with that Astros team, they do not like. Well, I saw a tweet today

I don't know who the hell was trying to cause a problem but it was like a zoom in on his arm and they're like, why is this guy wearing an Apple watch when he's batting? And it shows like an Apple watch and I was like, oh God, here we go.

Wait a second. He wears an Apple watch? You sure it's not one of those like whoop or the fitness tracker? Dude, the way that you can doctor a video, I don't believe anything these days, but it was like his undershirt, his tight blue shirt, they were like, that's an Apple Watch. And then they zoomed in. You could see some type of device, but it was, I don't know. Well, I'm glad you've been that up because every fan base has been such a loser because the

Js are torching teams. and the reaction is they're cheating they have to be cheating and it's funny no one was cheating against Yamamoto the other night all of a sudden the jays decided we're going to take a night off right we're going to actually not cheat tonight and then that doesn't come up right all of a sudden it's not you know hey Yamamoto is cheating the Dodgers are cheating you just tip your hat and appreciate it

and it speaks to how little fanfare the jays have and how you know how much you know lack of attention is on the blue jays which I understand. You know, they don't play national games down in the States. They're the only Canadian team. They haven't been in the World Series in 32 years. Yeah. So what are you saying?

People are saying, all these guys hit everything, so they're cheating. Well, because, you know, if you haven't been following this team this year, you'd look and be like, who is Nathan Lucas. Yeah. If you're in the States and you're not watching the Js, you don't know who that guy is. Who's Ernie Clement? Ernie Klement. In Addison Barger.

And Addison Barger, they get on base, like Clement is on base every time he comes up. He registers a hit. Dude, he's a $20 million player. I don't know what the hell his contract is. It's probably peanuts, but that guy plays like a $20 million player. He's a machine. Even in the field, he's dynamite. I love the guy.

Yes. Every time I watched him this year, I'm like, this guy's unbelievable. Yeah. Keep you smell. What the whole is cooking. That's a second. The anti-earnity comment. So, first and foremost,

Parts. We need a. Guys, that was one of the most homer takes of all. time. What? George Springer is a notorious MLB cheater. He was on the Astros team and is marred by cheating scandal. You guys are going, we don't know why people are saying he's...

I get why they hate him. I mean, he was on the team that cheated. Okay. Take it back, you bastard. In the 70s. The Mariners in the last series, too, we are in a fight and we have serious problems. We can take it back, but don't sit here and be like, I don't know why everyone thinks the Js are cheating.

They have a notorious guy. All right, they got one guy who's an affiliation. And I'm not, I don't think the Js are cheating, but I get why. the cremudgeons on the internet are trying to point that angle. It is documented that George Springer did not partake in any of the monkey business. Man of integrity. Man of integrity. Again, I don't think the Jays are cheating whatsoever.

I've been enjoying it's a historical run they're on. I think they've got a legitimate shot tonight. Hart's, what about the run we're on? It's not great. It's certainly not great. Is it like Pitts Unis last night? Pitts Unis were the worst thing I've ever seen. I think the most heinous part of it,

It was the fact that the numbers are different colors, so the numbers on the front were white and on the back were black. But it's not as heinous as Hayes' bow tie right now. I can't go over there. This thing's elite, man. I can't go over it. It's beautiful. This is elite, man.

This is custom, dude. Is it Buster Olney? Is Buster Olney the big, uh, who's the baseball guy? Ken Rosenthal. Ken Rosenthal, that's it. Hayesenthal. He's Hazenthal. He's Hazenthal.

He's Haysenthal. Bruce Garriock rocks it, too. Bruce just sent me a note, said he looked phenomenal. Yeah, Bruce he loves a bowtie. He's right by the set in Ottawa with his little table and he's got the bow tie on. He's a big deal over there, Bruce. Bruce loves a bow tie. He did not send you a note, take that back.

He did. He sent a note in. He said, it looks great. That's an accurate statement because he was calling me out last week because he said, I said, if the Jays made it to the World Series, I'd wear a bow tie. I don't even know why I said it. It was such a stupid, dumb conversation we were having. that had nothing to do with anything, and I blurted it out,

and naturally our fan base will not stop it. They're all over me about wearing the bowtie. You've got to wear the bowtie. If you're not, you're a fraud. If not, blah, blah, blah. So I said, all right, I'm wearing the bow tie. He's a man of the people. And I got a flown-in custom.

It looks phenomenal. Straight from Paris. He's a word. Luke, what would you rather wear that Steelers uni or Hayes's bow-tie? Hayes' bow-tie. I'll be honest. Thank you. Those unies were so horrendous.

And what got weird about it was the helmet? First off, what was unfortunate is the Steelers have one of the most iconic uniforms to begin with. Like, the Steelers uniform, I think, is one of the coolest logos, the helmet, the whole ensemble. So you go away from that, and then, like, the helmet was kind of modern. It was like a matte yellow helmet into this, like, just gross-looking, childish design of a jersey with different color numbers. It was brutal. That was the second half. You're backing off the Steelers parts, the shine coming off of them?

The shine's coming off for sure. The defense has been, what's been unfortunate about them is that you kind of thought it might be Aaron eventually. And I didn't think Aaron played great yesterday. But he wasn't brutal. The defense for two weeks in a row has been atrocious. And it's just such a strange one because, you know, you talk to any Steelers fan last few years. It's been, man, our defense makes a lot of plays. They create turnovers.

Do a lot of good things. Keep us in games. But we've got Kenny Pickett at the helm, we've got Mason Rudolph at the helm, we have Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, and Aaron's, you know, playing at a decent level, obviously not an MVP level, but he's doing okay, and it's just the defense can't stop anybody, not creating turnovers, not doing anything. Tough to watch, really. Doesn't it feel like with Tomlin, there's half the fan base that Tomlin is a legend

and can do no wrong, and there's some people that basically say, like this guy stifles offense no matter who's there and we're always going to be a team that's like one or two games above 500 like I don't know what's what's the correct read on Mike Tomlin and is there a certain ceiling that the team can only hit with him being the head coach you know Frankie I think the tough part

Tomlin is that for the last X amount of years they seemingly haven't been very stagnant and that that's one of those things where you're like man you know we're grateful that we're in the conversation every year. We're grateful that we're in the playoffs or on the cusp of the playoffs. But at any point in the recent future, have you

ever sat there and been like, man, this Pittsburgh Steeler team is going to be real dangerous in the playoffs? You know, if the playoffs start tomorrow, they win the division. And I think most of us on our card would be like they're going to get absolutely waxed in the first round of the playoffs, the way they played the last few

weeks. So I do think that Tomlin is on a bit of a hotter seat than what most people would think. and again, I point the finger at the defense this year. If the defense was playing at a better level, they don't need to be an unbelievable unit. But if they're playing at a better level, they've probably got this division wrapped up with a bow on it.

But now they've let everybody back in, including the Ravens, because the Bengals puked all over themselves. Granted, it was a tough Packer's scene, but a game you would have liked the Steelers to win. And now you look in Lamar's allegedly coming back. We'll see how that whole thing plays out. but there are only two games back of the division lead, and everyone is in Chambles.

Well, conversely, the team on the other side of the field last night, frustrating first half, yet the second half was an absolute clinic offense on both sides of the ball. I thought that Parsons sack early in the third quarter basically set the tone for what was going to happen the rest of the game on a Pittsburgh offensive side of things. But having Watson back is big because he can burn, you know they've got guys who can take the top off the defense and as a result

Tucker Kraft man he just he runs routes catches everything and he puts up numbers and like I still don't think they have a true bona fide number one receiver I don't trust Watson he's heard all the time golden didn't get many touches last night Dobbs is okay but he's not as like a superstar but I'll say this man Jordan Love man was that efficient last night like he was slinging the pill last night and very accurate very accurate very accurate He never throws picks, man. Yeah, and honestly, his off-schedule stuff, I thought was pretty phenomenal as well. Where's he in your MVP ballot, ballot halfway through the year?

Where's Jordan Love? Fifth, six. Halfway through the year, if you want my honest ranking at this point, now you guys are going to shred me. Drake May. Drake Mays, 100% coming out to shoot. And I know who's first. Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor.

Taylor over Jones. Is he in there? He's probably three or four. Bakey's in there, but Baker's kind of had a couple, rough two weeks. Indiana, I mean, here's my thing, parts. Indiana Jones, if you look at that team, the best record in football right now, but who's the most valuable player in that team? You can't not say that it's John and Taylor.

I mean, he's on pace for a historic season right now. So it's Sequin 2.0. His numbers look like they're going to be better than Seekwans last year, including way more touchdowns. Now, part of that was because of the Tush push and all Jalen Hart stealing kind of some of the thunder. But you look at Taylor right now, I think he's got 12 rushing, two receiving. He's at 850 rush yards through eight games.

Like, this guy's on pace to break all the records known to mankind here. But parts, I just got one quick question for you, and I know we've done this probably five times, but what is Daible and the boys, like when they're in the coach's room, eating wings and having beers and stuff? Like, do they not look at that guy and say, How did we butcher Indiana Jones? What do they say?

And Sequin. Well, Sequin's a whole different story, but we carved Danny Dimes for years, Hayes. Garved. You're right. Rightfully so. Rightfully so. And to me, you know, beyond what happens with Jackson DART,

and Jackson DART right now is making a lot of plays off schedule. The Danny Dimes thing in itself is the biggest indictment. on dable known to mankind. And what's, I would say what makes it that is not so much that even Danny Dimes is playing at an MVP clip, but it's the fact that he was horrid. You know, if Danny Dimes was okay in the Giants organization, they're like, oh, this guy's okay, but we're looking for somebody to get us over the hump. But it was like, he was brutal there.

We all thought, like, his career was over. He's going to maybe play a couple of years of backup and be done. he goes and beats out Anthony Richardson, which obviously is not maybe the toughest thing to do. Maybe it is, we don't know, and is now arguably the best quarterback in the league through eight weeks. Now it does help with Jonathan Taylor, but it is a huge indictment on table.

Yeah, and you know that there's certain teams that always screwed up. The New York teams do it. Cleveland does it. Cleveland. Cleveland's big one. I can tell you, there's teams that are circling Caleb Williams saying, please cut them. Cut them in two years. We'll take them and we'll see if we can make it work.

I don't know if he'll find it, but that's where I'm reluctant to jump on Williams, that he's a bust, he's the problem, when this is what Chicago does. Like, this is what they do. It doesn't matter who their coach is. It doesn't matter how many wide receivers they get or which tight end they pick. They draft the tight end every single year in the draft. Oh, we got new linemen this year, and we brought in a pass rush. It doesn't matter.

They can't do it. It is. They cannot do it. Chicago is very bizarre because on paper that team is loaded. Yes. You bring in Loveland. You got O'Donzee from last year. DJ Mortar Me is still a premier guy.

You know, Swift in the backfield is, let's call it top 10, top 12 runner. Put up decent numbers this year. Pretty good. What is the problem? Last year the defense was great. Like you said, they got the pass rush there. And it's like, how do you come out? And again, that was a game obviously we lost,

and I'm going to take my licks here in a sec. But I'm watching it. and everyone, literally everyone, has been destroying the Ravens defense. Yes. I'm watching this game and I'm going, this isn't even close. We were lucky to even have a sweat at the end

with a seven and a half spread. That game should have that game is like a throwaway game where you're like, you don't even have to worry about it. Don't even have to, I'm like, yo, this is a, they're giving them seven and a half points. I took seven and a half with Lamar potentially points. And Doogie almost did everything he could for you.

you guys and we'll get to that in a moment but before we bring in al's brother who is clairvoyant right now this guy is seeing the board he's got 40 you saved him you saved him one game it wasn't a save it was a gut instinct that that's why we're such a great team right now but this drake may story i think is a lot of people down in buffalo because ed oliver that's big man if he's done for the year that's huge doesn't look good doesn't look good doesn't look good that oliver could be done may i keep waiting for him to to come back to reality a little bit. The Pats have such a soft schedule.

Like they've got such a layup schedule. Yes. The Jets obviously stink. Miami stinks. It's a two-horse race. I would still handicap it as Buffalo the favorite to win that division. But it is close to a coin flip right now. Where do you stand on that race?

I would lean Patriots, to be honest, but it's very, very tight. I have a lot of respect for what Brable's doing over there. You said it, Drake. May is he's potentially MVP. What's the biggest factor? Is it the step Drake May took or the coach? We're both connected. I think it's connected, but you can have a great coach. I think it's the step. If I had to lean on one, I would say

Drake May. Again, that was even yesterday. Not an easy defense to go against. Took him a little bit to get going the whole unit. And all of a sudden they're ripping around. And Brable is a defensive guy. He's going to have that unit playing tough defense. They're going to be a hard team to beat week in and week out. And I do like the weapon. offensively. Are they my favorite unit in the league? No. But Diggs has certainly turned back the clock. He's looked very good.

There's been moments, especially against the bills a couple weeks back, where he's looked incredible. There are two tight ends. It doesn't get much better than that. They got Hooper as the backup, and Hunter Henry, they don't use him a ton, but still, I would say, a premier pass-catching guy. And then they've got kind of a crew of guys that are playing fundamentally sound. Someone of the Patriots of Old here. Well, and McDaniels are still running the offense there, right? And it looks very, very smooth. Again, I tip my cap yesterday to the bills, not trying to take anything away from them.

And, you know, the Hoyt, obviously a Canadian guy coming off, the suspension looked great. But you said it, you take Ed Oliver out of this defense, and it's a problem. The defense is not a strong suit to begin with. We'll see what the official injury designation of her Oliver is, but I get very worried when it's a bicept and you can't come back. generally not good so now you look at it and even yesterday the O-line both tight ends

or really all three tight ends but Kincaid's not as heavily involved in the run stuff but they shredded Carolina on the ground wildly impressive but do I think that they're going to walk in and shred Kansas City on the ground

you know if they got in a couple weeks here I don't you know I think they'll be able to run a bit but not like yesterday That was a career day for everybody. And now, of a sudden, you go into this situation where it's like, hey, we need guys to get open or everybody eats or whatever you want to call it. And like Keon Coleman was, you know, another day where he's kind of non, you didn't really exist out there for very much of the game. A couple catches in the second quarter, or second half, excuse me. Kincaid didn't have a great one.

Shakir's been kind of their safety blanket, but who's the guy they rely on? And the reality is that the bills want to make a run. It's the same thing we've been saying for the last five years. Josh has got to be Superman, which he can be. You know, he's an electric. The guy's one of the best players of all time right now. But talent-wise, but it's just not my favorite way to go into games basically saying, hey, our defense is thin.

It's not an elite unit. Our wide receivers are not an elite unit. But we've got Josh, and if Josh plays out of his mind, we'll beat the heck at anyone. It's like, again, he would figure they would address someone. this stuff in the off season, but clearly they did. They won a different way.

Go ahead. Call me out. It's great to see you. It's great to see you. Oh, look at that tune. We're getting. Forget, call me out. What the hell are you wearing, man?

He's got a white bowtie. What do you mean? Dude, brothers. We got a bow tie on me in Ponce. Is that a piece of it? Is that the Farfali pasta? There he used to get to your shirt. This was sent to me by one of our whale pals from Shanghai.

Singapore is not just calling now. Shanghai has entered the chat. Sent me a nice bowtide to wear on air today. I'm glad you're fielding those calls. I can only take it from so many places. I got a call from Brazil earlier today. I said, guys, stop it. We're not doing it.

We're not going anywhere. We're wearing bow ties. We stick together. You look phenomenal. I was brother. Phenomenal. me look at you you got the whole setup party i mean hey look good play good play good feel good you know what i mean what's the saying little dion sanders i mean we are looking real good right now

hazy b oh we're up by a touchdown by a touchdown oh by a touchdown and we have the chance at the first immaculate week in a long time in a long time just make the pick and end the no one cares anymore like people are getting tired of you guys it's kind of disturbing alice brother the way these two losers are kind of operating like they're really really bad attitudes on the two of them. They call the players only meeting yesterday after the loss. I mean, how'd that go, fellas? Well, the reality is here, this is a situation.

It's seven, could be eight, could be six by the night. You know what week it is, Alsbrough? Do you know what week it is in the NFL? Week eight. You know how many weeks or are? Lots of weeks. Lots of weeks, my friend. We're not even halfway through the year.

Let's say we're down eight. we got nine weeks to go after this. We've got to pull back parts. We've got to pull back one per week, and you don't think they're going to puke all over themselves. This is a complete fluke. I want to put this on the table right now. It's 520.

What is it? What day is it today, guys? 27th. This will be the biggest collapse. The chakoutary dump all day. The chakoutary dump is about to start. Whether it's tonight or whether it's next week, you guys are going to collapse. All right.

And we're coming. I got a lot. it in. I got to own it. Go ahead and you can respond on behalf of now, Joe from the bridge is the enemy. I will be honest. That whole shenanigan on Friday, I'm locked and loaded. Can't hear anything. I'm like, I can hear you fine.

Joe's like, I can't hear anything. I'm like, what's going on here, Joe? Then Hayes kicks us off the show. I'm ready to go four minutes later. Just text the picks in? Well, I do think that you would we would have talked to you out of some of those brutal picks. Brutal picks. Well, they were

terrible picks. I mean, obviously, the Steelers against Green Bay, and under the lights, there was no way the Packers weren't winning big last night. You were getting, come on, you're getting, at half you're thinking that way, at half you were thinking that way? And furthermore, and this is where I take issue with Doogie, putting the Ravens Bears game on the line without any understanding of who was playing quarterback was Duggy Patel trying to do his best to raid the two of us.

I disagree. I think what happened was once it came out, the NFL rigged the game so that that's why it covered the original spread. It went the opposite way. There is some conspiracy theories out there right now. That's not what we're hearing, right? I was brother out of Vegas when we talked to whales in Vegas. That's not what they're hearing.

Don't lose this one, boys, because we'll get the Thursday night or I feel great. The only possibility for us to take our foot off the gas is if we get distracted, house brother, because we're getting invited to all these events. We have, again, whales from coast to coast to coast trying to fly us in, and we get too big for our bridges. We don't want that, and we won't do that, right? We're too humbled. Gentlemen, we look good, we feel good. Let's make a pick.

What is the line out right now? Is it Chiefs minus 10 and a half on Fandau? 10 and a half. The Chiefs lane, 10 and a half against the Washington commanders. Al's brother, take the floor. Where's your head out of here? It's a large spread, Hazie B, and favorites are only one and six against the spread this season when favored by more than a touchdown.

However, that one cover was by the Kansas City Chiefs last week. against the Vegas Raiders. And when you look at what this offense has done recently, that Mahomes' magic seems to be back. He's the MVP frontrunner over on Fandul Rishie Rice, back in the fold, second week, back into the offense. He's reading this off a script. He's reading this.

He's reading it. He's reading it. He's reading it. He's reading it. I got tons of stats for you here, boys. The commanders are defense been utter trash. They give it up over six yards per play and dead lasting yards per completion.

You look at Mahomes. What does he do? pass the ball past the rock he's going to attack it downfield this offense going to put up points and i don't see the commanders possibly staying close without jane daniels who's out marcus marriota he can't put up 20 points with this offense against that defense no shot i see this i see the chiefs blowing him out the three no against a spread at home washington one on three in the road it's a big number but i think we rock with my homes and company and lay the points here a zb it's a big number it's a very big number man it's a number that makes me uncomfortable and it feels as if money's going towards Washington here with the spread dropping.

But I have an inkling that you're on to something else, brother. I have an inkling that you're on to something because, you know, I'm worried this. Dan Quinn, man, the book's out on your boy Quinn. He's got to turn his hat around. He's got to turn the hat around. But Andy Reed, if so, he'll bring out his face mask and he'll take a, take you, you know, flashback out. I actually kind of like this, man. Dan Quinn's a guy.

He's a big rally guy, big motivational guy. But he's standing at Marcus Marriota, man. That's fair, but when it's... What's Marriota to you? When it's a 17-point game and they've got the ball back with Mariotta with a buck 30 to play, don't think Dan Quinn's taking his foot off the gas, boys. Okay, backdoor cover from Mariotta and Quinn. That's possible tonight.

But I'll tell you what, down in Washington, before we locked this in, they're starting to freak out because of the RG3 Daniels comparisons. You see Jaden's mom jumping on Twitter and kind of snapping about that. because R.J. and Jaden, that first year was unreal. The second year it fell off a cliff, and injuries started piling up, and the team stunk. And I think it's unfair to Daniels to believe that comparison. But, man, they're jaded down in Washington. That's only because of the market, man.

Because if he was playing anywhere else, no one would pull that comparison. It's just they've seen the history lesson on that before. Absolutely. Too much scar tissue. They're on edge down there in Washington all the time. And it's too bad. Daniels was so great, but he just hasn't been able to play enough this year. All right, Alice, brother.

You and I, we ride. We ride from Toronto to Singapore and everywhere in between. Rails and Cheetahs. Parts. Let's start tonight. We'll claw away back. There's no quitters or cheaters. Chauncey Hayes and Terry Roselle's brother.

These bozos with the bowtie. One's made out of white paper, and the other one, I don't know where he found it. It's embarrassing. Like parts. We're on the comeback trail. We're on a, it starts tonight. It's the finest China fabric on the market. By the way, real quick, real quick, Al's bro, I just got a message.

Al's bro's stat is wrong. The Colts were minus 14 yesterday and covered. Let's go, baby. He's got bad info. Let's end the seven. This guy's info is trash. This is my concern, man. Let's go.

We take her eye off the ball because Shanghai's calling now. So now you're going to read a script that doesn't have real info? This guy's fake news. Now we're getting calls from. That means that teams later in the season are favoring far more often. You said one team has done it, and it's been the Chiefs. Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about. Prior to last week, there were 0 and 6.

Now it's 2 and 0. It's not last week. It's this week. It's this week, baby, let's go. Trending in our direction. That's right, like yesterday. Let's go. Trending in our direction.

I'm getting a call from London right now. England, I've got to take this. This is a serious whale over there. I was brother, I'll let you know what he offers. I'm sure it's going to be something significant. All right, boys, best of luck tonight. Not that we need it, Ellis Brother, you look great, feel great, play great, make picks great. I could go on and on and on.

Alice Brother, Hayes and bro, we're on the Chiefs tonight laying the points. There we go. Al's brother and Luke Wilson. Dude, that piece of farfalley pasta is going right in the pot right now. He's got the water going. He's going to drop it in. He's making both-top pasta. He'll just dip it and chowl.

Last one. There you go. Yeah, dinner served. All right, game three of the World Series. We'll come back with our best bet still to come. We've got something to chew on, brought you by Boston Pizza, and we've got a sports equinox tonight. It's a lot going on, including the Rapplers, Dan, in San Antonio, playing Wemby.

Not the time for it, considering they got beat up against Dallas. They lost to Milwaukee a few nights ago. Great start. Darko was going crazy. It's been ugly the last two games. So they've got to get off of this and get cooking. But Wemby, his first three games are absurd. Go take a look at his stat lines, three straight games.

They're insane, insane the numbers this guy's putting up. So we got a lot to chew on for this evening. We'll get to that more next. So I'm going to chew on. Brought you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree of side and a drink and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. So fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food.

See you for a $15 fast lunch of your local Boston pizza asking people online. Do you think Max Scherzer will pitch into the fifth inning tonight? And it is a very close vote, almost split. And the last time he was on the mound, we asked a similar question. I think all of us collectively said no. He did. He went deeper than that. I'm going to go positive with the bow tie.

I think he's got rest again. I think it's the World Series. I think the energy is going to be crazy. And I think he's ready to go. I think he gives him five innings tonight. I'm sorry, I can't agree. I would take it, too, and I want to see that. But I'm scared to death that he turns into a pumpkin tonight.

Maybe he's got one more. Maybe he's got one more in the tank. He's such a legend, and here it is. Maybe he goes into the six-a-hink. There's one lock, though. Varland's coming in. Always. He's the first guy out.

Louis-Varland is a lock. He will always pitch. Yes. The only time he hasn't pitched, I believe, in the playoffs was game one of the World Series. I hate his shoe game. It's something about his wheels. The worst shoe game. What do you mean?

What about his shoes? It's like he's wearing soccer little geppetto boots or something. They're black and there's like black socks. I don't know what it is about his wheels. He needs an upgrade in the wheel department. He's a superstitious guy. He wore black sneakers with some team way back and he was pitching heat and he's like, it's just a weird vibe.

He's kind of bull-legged and he's got these tight pants on with the little geppetto slip. slippers. I can't do it. He needs a revamp of style down low. Could not agree with you more. It just, because the J's, like the home whites are such a sharp look, man. Yes. They're phenomenal. You can't come out of the bullpen trying to hold on a leaf. Or a dark gray geppetto slipper.

You can't do it, man. No. You can't. It's like a goalie with, you know, different color pads when he first gets traded. I'll give you a practice or two, maybe a start, but then that's enough. What about goalies who use black tape on their stick? That's bad style. I've never even seen one.

It's like a good player with the wrong vibe, the tongues out or the tongues in, and you're just like, you would be ten times a better player with a better look. I just don't like his look down low with the shoes. I don't know what shoe. I've noticed it too. It's weird, man. It's a weird shoe game. I don't know what the purpose of it is.

I don't know if he's got a shoe deal that he's got to stick to. You know, like, is there, is it a pot-y-shy thing? It's got to be different, man. It's got to be different. Bring some heat tonight in L.A. You know, like, I don't know what unies they're going to be wearing, what colors they're going to go with tonight. But we'll see him. For sure.

You don't have to wonder, man. Like, you don't got to wonder what kind of shoes he's wearing because he'll be out there. Look, for a fifth or sixth inning, he'll be there. Yeah, and listen, Hoffman's been much better in September and October. Hoffman's a guy that you can have faith in if you need them. Dominguez, Farland, they're going to pitch, Flew Hardy. I think Bassett they trust now.

You know, a couple of times we've seen him out of the bullpennings look good. They trust Flew Hardy against the Dodgers, especially going back to the regular season, right? Yeah, they love him against the Dodgers, especially against Otani. Love him against Otani. So those are the guys who are going to see, and if it's deeper than that, that's when you start to hold your breath. right if it has to go even further and deeper into the bullpen and then you get into the littles or the fissures or whatever that's when it maybe changes the tune a little bit but um you know the way to compensate if the arms aren't alive is the offense has got to be there what do you guys

have more faith in max scherzer going into the fifth to the tonight or the leafs just like turning this thing around and all the sudden looking like a team that can win the division I'm going to say Scherzer right now because I just saw it. Well, I just saw it like 10 days ago out of Scherzer. Like he literally just did it. He had an unbelievable outing. I have to stay consistent because when the Rangers were in town, Duffy asked me something about the Rangers,

and I flat out said to him, and like sometimes you just got to look around if it's like performance after performance and say maybe we're just not that good a team, like for the Leafs, we're 10 games in, And how many times have you seen the same things, caved into their own end, not enough offense, Matthew's line stuck in his own zone, D can't get the puck, they get their asses cycled off in their own zone? Like, how many more times you've got to see that before you have to think that that's a reality?

We've seen out of the nine games, six of the games have probably been like that exact script that you just talked about, where it was like, you know, you didn't deserve to win the game, and chances are you didn't win the game. Like, there's four of them, four losses for sure that I could think of, basically. Yeah, four to six where you're hanging on for dear life and you're getting outplayed. So it's like, what are you? They had a Detroit game they played okay. And, I mean, you know, I guess one of the Sabres games, you could say they played better than the Saturday game, better than they have in a while. So is Joseph Wall going to come back and, like, turn things around for you?

I don't know. I don't know. And I know it sounds kind of negative, but it's just being almost realistic where it's like, what is going to happen here are 10 to 12 guys on that roster are they going to flip a switch and play much better for the results to change that much because that's what it seems like needs to happen not just matthews like is mitchellie going to be a dynamic nchel player who continues to make nchel plays out there i know he's potted a couple goals but there's a there's long stretches where you're like you're not making like game-changing plays there's just a lot of guys

that need to change the way they're playing for it to change. That guy's had a few too many chances, too, where you're like, he buried it right into the goalie's pads. Like, those start to add up, and you're like, okay, man, at some point, like you get paid money to play in the top six. You've got to score on those opportunities. I'll say this, though. Like, Matthews goes on the ice with Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson.

And maybe those are two guys that aren't on the radar to be playing with him for the foreseeable future, but two guys that could skate pretty well. And, like, they kind of got in there. They went in on the forecheck. next thing you know they make two plays it's in the back of your net like maybe you got to think outside the box a little bit like i know he had robertson again with matthews today at practice that's because neelander wasn't with them he wasn't with them but like when you see something like that don't you sit there and say maybe we need some guys that can skate with with matthews

and it doesn't have to be the the normal guys i don't know they're at the point where they got to try some stuff i think not even though they've already tried a million different line combinations yeah and that that's kind of the way to describe it is if i were to ask the both of you you know give me three things that have been positive for the leaves like three legit positive stories or players i you know i i think you can mention willie willy's been point producing you know well he hasn't had his ace stuff he hasn't been dominant he hasn't been great two ways all that kind of stuff i'll give you the other two morgan riley's start where everyone was like, wow, this guy's dialed in now, and he had the couple games where everyone

was talking, Morgan Riley's grooving out there. And the other one is John Tavares on the verge of 500 goals. Yeah, and that's more of a big picture of feel-good stories, as opposed to like something concrete. And yet, they're 4-4-1, and that might be the grass-half full, that they actually haven't even shown up yet and arrived in the season. And, Hayes, I get to that point all the time every year, but it seems a little bit different on the negative side this year, because all the time I say, what was I kind of pissy about early in the season? Remember, like a couple years ago

they were in Anaheim and they were asking the coach if he was worried about his job and then last year Toronto played St. Louis at home and then they went to Columbus and they got dummied and it was like, what the hell are these guys all about? And it always kind of flips in their favor but I don't know if it's

I don't know if it's going to be such an easy flip this year. No, November will determine that because that has been their history. Soft or slow October, great November. and then you're off and running. So, you know, we're going to find this out in a month what they really are. But I do think, you know, we keep talking about the linemates with Matthews, and I keep harping on him.

He hasn't been nearly good enough. Like, not even close. I don't think Matthew Nyes has had a good start. No. And those are guys that are really important. Like, you know, yes, you need Nicholas Waugh to be good and you need Domi to be way better than he's been. And maybe Easton Cowan is going to come in and out and you hope that he grows up quickly. but it doesn't matter what your debt players are doing if your best players aren't playing at an elite level.

And now you've got Tana of Hurt, who hadn't been playing great prior to him getting injured. He was okay, but now he's hurt. We don't know when he's going to return. You know, Stolars has not been as good as he was last year. So, you know, you look at the best, this league, especially with how much parity there is and how many teams there are, it's who are your four or five best forwards, your three or four best defensemen, and who's your goalie? That kind of determines what it is.

You know, everything else is filler, and yes, the best teams have the best filler. Clearly, that's Florida case in point. Their third line, their third pairing, it's as good as it gets, if not the best. But generally speaking, in terms of the regular season, who's going to make the playoffs, three or four forwards, three defensemen, a goalie.

Like, that's kind of what's going to determine what you're going to do. and what you're going to be, and the leaves three or four best forwards and two or three best defensemen and goalie haven't been that good. But they can be. They can be. And here's the other thing, like, the team has a certain philosophy on how they want to play, and it's different than how it was prior to Barubei and prior to tree living.

So you bring in some different guys. So Matthews needs to play well for sure. But Nise, McMahon, Waugh, Joshua, Lawrence, you should never say that it was quiet from any of those guys you know what i mean like you should never be like oh i didn't see anyone kind of stir anything up or i didn't see any hits or i didn't see like the way those guys are and the way the team is designed or the the way they want them to play there should not be quiet quietness from from all those guys they it has to be noisy or else it looks the way it looks like kind of slow heavy but not overly mean and it's a it's a bad combo yeah exactly and i think you could

add to that list like Max Domey's got to be a noticeable player yeah you know he's got to be in the mix he's got to be stirring someone's got to bring something different to the table like if you look at Max and Machelli and maybe Easton Cowan like they all can't go out there and do kind of the same thing the smallish kind of left-handed shot skates well but what are you actually doing out there same as all the guys that you just mentioned frankie those big kind of Lorenz and Joshua and Waugh, like those big laboring. It's almost like Jim Taddy, the one thing, not the one thing, but it was the one thing that really stood out. He didn't like duplicates.

Guys are kind of that do the same thing. Everyone's got to bring something different to the table. And it seems like there's some groupings of guys that are just going out there and doing the same thing. And it's equating to zero. Yeah. And we talk about Florida all the time. Like, Hayes, you brought up Florida, right? There's a team that has a bunch of different elements, different types of players.

But also it's like they will sit there and they will play a zero-zero game because they care about defending so much and they're just going to wait for you to make your mistake. Like they did it to the Leafs last year in the playoffs. And so if you want to play a heavy style, like it's kind of defensively before it gets to be offensive. You know, and I don't know. I'm not convinced the players on this roster are wired to play the way. That's where Peruvay would like it to be. They want them to play. Yeah, be heavy, you know.

Like, he keeps emphasizing the one and done offensively, which is very true. Now, also, the defense score has got to take some heat here, too. They haven't been good at, like, transitioning the puck. You know, you get hemmed in in large part because the defense isn't quick enough on pucks. Yeah, sure as hell isn't one or done defensively. Right, exactly. And they're getting hemmed in because they're slow getting back or they're not transitioning quick enough. And that's what comes with an older veteran team, you know,

and October is tough for every old veteran team to get up for a long season. I think they have faith that it'll click, that they'll get healthy, they'll get going, that veteran presence will turn into savvy presence, and they'll start moving in the right direction. Because I would be, it's weird because, you know, if they were a young team, you'd say, all right, they're not ready for prime time. If they're an old team, the worry is, okay, they've just, they've expired. You know, it's too old.

Like at some point that's going to happen, right? But I think them being a veteran team, that's probably where the optimism comes from within, is that they're going to click and figure it out. And, yeah, well, don't even ask for going. There's nothing out there. No, you're not acquiring anything. No one's – Look what Vancouver had to get for.

They got Reichel from Chicago. Like, that's what's out there. There's not enough good players. There's no one available. No one wants to get rid of their players. Talk about duplicates. It's all duplicates out there. You're just bringing in whatever you got.

No one that really moves the needle. you got to it it comes from within yeah there is no needle moot movers available no and you're not the only team looking for him too if there were available you wouldn't have the pieces to pay for because another thing would pay for i saw some some some mutant on tampa they called up from the minor some mutant took a run at mitch marner and put him on his ass and it's like look at that there's another plug-in-play Tampa called them up from syracuse it's probably going to play on an entry level for a couple years bring some juice to the lineup Like, James?

Is that what it was? That was his last name, James. Yeah, yeah. You see that? Twice. I think he laid a partner a couple times. And it's like that's something that you would love to have in the system, but it's just not there.

You can't go to the Marley's and say, we're going to bring up this kid. He's going to give us some juice. It's just never really been there. No, it's not the way it's going to work for the rest of this year anyway. All right, Best Bet's coming up, powered by Fanduel, and the sports equinox tonight, 30-second time in history. NHL, M-LB, NBA, NFL, all playing. We'll get to that more next.

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J's in the run line. So you're getting one and a half tonight. Dodgers is a pretty big favorite. I think this is a close game. I do believe the Jays can win it. I like that they're up against Glassdown. They have good history against him. I could see a lot of runs being scored tonight.

Jay's in the run line. Lay in the points with the Chiefs, massive number minus 10. And a half. Al's brother has convinced me. Al's brother, tremendous information, gut instinct, seeing the board very well. Chiefs minus 10 and a half. Rappers, I'm taking the points in San Antonio.

They were so bad. defensively in particular. I think Darko snaps. I think they get after it. I think they play well tonight. I think they cover the number. And I'm on the Sends Money Line at home against Boston. Man, Boston had a good start, and they are brutal now.

Like, terrible. Ottawa's playing better, too. Like Ottawa's kind of back to their identity now. Yes, last two games, they've played much, much better. People goofed on me when I talked about Pinto. Pinto's a good player. Why would anyone goof on you about Pinto? No, I just said I love the guy.

I've loved him since the start. I think he's... Oh, yeah. I don't know. I always said, put Pinto in the middle. Put Brady on the left and Stoetsla on the right. Pinto's line, man. Scoring a lot of goals.

Yeah. And Allmark's getting in fights or trying to instigate stuff. Dude, it might be the turning point in their season where Allmark showed the boys I actually give a... Yeah, you're right. You know what. Yeah. After blowing out Washington, right?

Same as McCabe the other night. It's like if you just go. go through the motions and keep losing and keep getting smoked and nobody does anything to show that it's not accepted. It's just you keep getting smoked. Just show that you care a little bit, man. And McCabe did that. I'm not saying the...

Like, he hit a guy, and then he fought a guy, and it was just different than the norm. It looks so different. It looks like such an outlier of every other event that happens on the ice in a leaf game, doesn't it? Like, it's so stark the difference. Tuck was, man, he took one right off. the button too man yeah that scared me i was like that was a weird like i don't recall the last time i saw a guy do a 360 in a fight and just walk right into it's clearly like tucks clearly not comfortable fighting

yes no and then he told the linesman in the penalty box he's like no i'm good and i was like dude you should maybe go take a time out yeah it was i i don't know what he was doing turning around like that like that i don't know i give him credit though he goes right after him right like Some guys might skate by and say, oh, what happened? I missed it. Like, it's not his cup of tea, but he was in there. That's a tough punch to take the hole. That was a massive punch.

That was a serious punch from Jake McCabe. And you're right. They actually finally showed something, you know, like someone. You've had Stolars comments off the ice and now Jake McCabe. I think that's been the life of the season so far. And for a veteran team that claims hate losing, embarrassed by the Florida thing, you'd think, they'd come out, you know, with their hair on fire and say,

we're not going to take it. But hasn't happened so far. We'll see if it changes tomorrow and I would Calgary in town. All right. Game 3 of the World Series tonight. Raptors in action Monday nighter. We've got NHL games, Leaves in action tomorrow. Game 4 of the World Series tomorrow.

It's going to be unreal. Cannot wait for it. All right, Frankie. Good seeing you, man. Okay, boys. Thanks for doing us. There's Frankie Carrotto. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out.

We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today. TV radio, podcast, web, and of course, up on YouTube live. Every hour of every show up on TSN's YouTube channel, we're out of here. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at... Hazenthal every Monday, 4 p.m.

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