OverDrive - OverDrive - October 8, 2025 - Hour 1 - Steve Phillips

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Yankees' Game 3 win against the Blue Jays in the ALDS, the errors leading to the defeat, Aaron Judge's massive home run, if Shane Bieber should've stayed in the game, Louis Varland starting in Game 4 and playing a bullpen game and how the Blue Jays can bounce back to advance to the ALCS, Jack Eichel's contract extension with the Golden Knights and TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips joins to discuss the Blue Jays' approach to Game 4 coming off their first defeat of the series.

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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. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on TSN4. Brian Hasey, O'Dug, Jeff O'Neill. There's Dave Fast Chuck of the Toronto Star. What's happening? Hasey, I was thinking about you last night.

We were texting during that ball game, and all I could think about was how many elements of that game could have been on Hasey's lists. Like, I know you tweeted about Vladdy jumping in the air. That would have been on a Hasey's list. And then we know what happened after that. There's like 10 different Hasey's lists that happened last night. I could run them off without preparation.

Like, I've been living through that game all day. Like, I think a lot of people have, like, so many different moments that are just, like, tattooed him on my brain, you know, of like, I can't believe that happened. I can't believe this happened, and just the roller coaster of that game. But you mentioned Vladdy. He hits a home run as first at bad. And then that dive into home plate, I've never seen anyone dive from where he dove from. Dude, it was like he left from halfway, like halfway there, he started jumping.

Yes. Like he was almost closer to third base than he was home plate. And of course he's safe. Like it's just an incredible play by Vlad. He gets up jacked, and I'm curious, and Dave, you can answer this first. Because they lost, do we remember it in the same light? Does it become one of the all-time great, you wouldn't believe it, games and moments for Vladie, even though it ended in a loss?

I think it becomes an indelible moment if they win the series. You've got to win this series. If they blow this series, after all the promise and hope, of the first two victories that are on, you know, home field and, you know, packed house and so many good vibes in Toronto. If they, and then to be up 6-1, you know, and bring back all those memories of being up 8-1, you know, to Kansas City.

And I don't even want to go into all the heartbreaks of Blue Jays pass. But if they don't win this series, I think it does get dusted in some ways. Like all this stuff is for not. But if they win the series, man, like the loss in the game is, going to be remembered. It's that they beat the Yankees, and he was on fire. All I could think about watching that, Hayes, was he's always been known as, like, the face of the franchise,

especially after the contract. But seeing the hustle, I don't ever remember him chugging like that around third, and he's safe. And then I was like, maybe that guy just became like the real leader, and everyone's like, this is our guy, because we've had to see him

at moments at second base, falling asleep, and it's like, you know, is that what you're, is that what the face of the franchise does, the leader? But that was like, now it's time and this guy's ready to go. And then they lose the game. And it's just, it's just not the same moment. It can't even be close, not winning the game. No, like right now it's deflating.

Right now it's deflating. And I think, I think you're both right. I think, Dave, you're right that if in four, like maybe in 12 hours, you know, it's, hey, the whole scene of Vladie, the home running game one, the Grand Slam and game two, the home run in game three, the slide in game three, winning the ALDS, wow, what a legacy, you know, four or five days for Vladie Jr. If they lose the series, it's just going to have such a different tone to it, clearly, where it will become more of a footnote.

It'll be a memory. It'll be a cool moment, but it becomes almost equivalent to doing something large in the regular season or in an All-Star game or something like that, because it's just not going to have the same feel to it if you don't have the victory that goes with it. but you're right about Vladi showing up. I mean, that was Pete Rose-like. There's that famous Pete Rose picture where he is flying like Superman, and he was a lunatic when Pete Rose played.

Yeah, he was in a lunatic. When I first saw some of the pictures of the still shots of him in the air, I'm like, that's got to be Photoshop because there's no way in hell that he was landing and touching home plate and going to be safe. Right. They were real. It was an unbelievable moment. He jumps from outside the circle, like the home plate.

plate circle. Yeah. It's just a remarkable play by Guerrero Jr. last night. I mean, to me, this is, this is sports at its best, right? Like, I mean, I know it's deflating when your team loses when they have a big lead. But, like, to me, this has

been, this has been as good as baseball can be in October. Because you've got not only, look, it's the underdog Blue Jays against the big, bad Brock's Bombers, and this magical season, the Jay's been running off, but now you've got almost like a one-on-one competition here between

these two incredible talents and you're a $500 million guy against maybe the best player in baseball and Aaron Judge and they're going back and forth, tit for tat, both having, you know, incredible game after incredible game, Judge having the big moment last night, like, if it

goes to, you know, if the Jays can win it and Vladie's already been central to it, it's a signature moment. And even if the Jays, you know, if it goes to five and God forbid the Jays lose it, I mean, Vladdy's holding up his end of the Barty has been holding up his end of the bargain and it happened last night and you

mentioned the list of all the different moments from last night and I could run off 12 or 15 right now. Where does that one rank? Well the judge home run I from a blue jay lens I would use the play right before the barger error to me is the play of the game yeah that's the play of the game like that that that puts you in a situation where Flew Hardy can, I think it's a completely different at bat against Grisham if nobody's on and two out. Completely different at bat. And so he gets Wells on and obviously Wells is running the bases there because the ball is up in the air for what seemed like five minutes. But Barger, that error setting up eventually Grisham to get on as well. And then you're in a

situation where you bring Varland in and he, I guess, feels like he's got to pitch the judge because of the scenario. You get a three-run lead. You get two men on. You're in a scenario where Schneider gave him the chance. Like, if you bring in Varland, you're not bringing that guy in to pitch around, Judge. Like, Flew Hardy could have done that.

If you're going to give him a free bag, you just leave Flew Hardy in. You're bringing him in for the 101. Exactly. And listen, he blew one past him earlier in the count. And it was a scenario where Judge swung and missed and nodded at him. Like, okay, like that's what you're throwing.

and listen, it's an unbelievable play by Aaron Judge. Like, we all heard it last night. We all saw it stat cast and the history and all that. That speed, like almost 100, that far inside for him to turn on that ball, and it hit the foul pole. Oh, man. Like, that's two feet to the left, and it's a foul ball, and who knows what the rest of the game looks like.

It just had to hit the foul pole, too. It's like the Roy Hobbs moment where he hits those lights and everything. It's just incredible. And what drove me nuts after it was Barger looking at Schneider. And it was almost like he said to him, could you have got that? And he kind of nodded his head where it was like, yeah, like I could have got that. That drove me nuts watching that. Right.

Why wasn't he called off? And it should have been. It should have been. Rule number one. Exactly. Like a rule number one in defensive play is if you have someone, like if you have an outfield that's coming in that's tracking it, he should have the right away. Now, it's on him to call him off.

And maybe Snyder didn't do that. Maybe Snyder didn't feel confident enough that he has. actually could get to it. But the barger error is number one on my list of what eventually went wrong last night. Then it's Judge hitting that home run. Then you can you could go on to Bieber not having it. That was a big conversation throughout the night and continue today. Should they have left Shane Bieber in? I think they made the right decision. I have no problem with them being aggressive last night. Schneider being aggressive thinking to himself, we got a 6-1 lead. I think at that point when they pulled them was a six three lead,

but not worrying about game four. You can't consider the opener in game four. We get a chance to win the series. Yes. And Bieber was getting hammered. Like he was getting barreled all over the park. The numbers were outrageous how hard the Yankees were hitting him. He didn't have his stuff.

He wasn't fooling anybody. He was totally out of gas too. You could tell he had nothing. He had nothing. He had nothing. Unfortunately, he had nothing. Now, maybe in a different universe, does he get out of that inning, reset, and give you two or three more?

or innings. Maybe. But in the moment, I don't have an issue with Schneider saying, I got to get them out and I got to try to get through this and I got to try to win this game. And he went to the bullpen and unfortunately, the bullpen, which has been the story of the season for the most part, in terms of anxiety for a fan base, is getting smacked. Yeah. They're getting hit. And again, you can look at the Varland pitch to Judge and tip your cap, which I think is totally reasonable. Judge is judge. He's one of one. He's six, nine, and he turned on that thing, and he hit it off the foul

pole. It's an unbelievable swing. The pizza he threw to Chisholm, that's a bigger issue for me. That's the same here. Like, judge is judge. He got you. You can't then run into Chisholm and give him one the way he did. And then it's 7-6, see you later. Game over.

So I can go on and on about all the different things that happened. Look at that. Look at that thing. Yeah, that looks like batting practice. Center in and Chisholm, who's yawning all night, hit that thing to the upper deck. That bat flip was so outrageous, too. It was so offensive where he was just, like, chew on that. Well, you knew it. It was just a no-doubt or off the bat.

But it was, no, it was an underplayed moment. Like, I've been watching highlights all day of this game, and all you see is the judge. They, everybody's replaying the judge-home run, the judge-home run. The judge-home run tied the game. The fat pitch to Jism, Chism wins the game, right? I mean, this is, like, let's not forget that. And guess what? The guy who threw it is starting tonight.

Well, that's what's crazy is that Varland comes in. He had faced Judge five times. Judge had hit two home runs off him, which when you hear that stat when he's getting on, getting set to throw a pitch, you're like, you're like, why is that guy even chosen at all? Right. This is concerning.

And now, to your point, Varlane, because it happened in the regular season a couple weeks ago, they're going to have him open tonight, and guess who is going to step into the batters box second tonight for the Yankees? Exactly. Aaron Judge, who is alive now, who is alive and is walking in with Varland.

And maybe the plan will be, and I wouldn't put it past them, that they're going to walk him. I would not put it past them. Now, it may be considered what happens with Grisham at the top of the order. But if they get Grisham out, I'll bet you they walk them.

And just say, forget it, first inning, get out of the way, and we'll take our chances with someone else. but that's kind of what you savage was like he was like i'm throwing around this guy he just said i'm not giving this guy anything i'll take the walk that's right i don't know how after what he did last night you would want to throw anything close to what that guy could crush no me exactly and that was the thing he was ahead in the count it was it was a two one count you had him on the ropes do what gosman did in game one

and just throw low and away and maybe he'll chase because he's so anxious to get to have a big moment. Again, full credit to judge, but why even throw something close to him with heat? Off speed away, down and away, let him go chase. And if you walk him, you'll walk him, so be it. He's done it his entire playoff career. He gets frustrated. He's shown that again. Now, he's been, I think. His numbers have been very good. Last night, he finally arrived with that hit. He needed that hit. He needed a big one. He needed a big moment. He needed a definer, which is why the people are showing it. And it was obviously a, like, I think that was the thing that bothered me. if I'm a Jay's fan last night

is, look, it's tit for tat, we're going, you're playing heavy hitters here. You're playing the heaviest hitter in baseball, in Aaron Judge. And when he hit that home run, game was tied, but it felt like the game was lost. You know, like when you looked at that dugout,

when you looked at the body language, and when you looked at the way they played for the rest of the game, it felt like, you know, they lost the game even though if you really believe that you can go toe to toe with a heavyweight, you got to say, hey, tie game, let's go. Like, let's, you know, bring it. Let's, let's give them another one back.

And there was just no sign of that for the rest of the night. And that's what you worry about tonight. Like, does that carry over? The idea that they, you know, that haymaker from Judge, the fat pitch to Jazz Chisholm, does that stuff kind of carry into tonight? Because they were both delivered by tonight's starting pitcher. Yeah, that's the crazy thing that Varland is going to open tonight. He's appeared in all four games.

well he will as of first pitch tonight in the bottom of the first but Schneider was saying last night everyone's available and I'm they're not going to change now but I'm wondering why Kevin Gosman isn't at least in consideration to pitch on short rest tonight and it doesn't appear as if it was ever a consideration

which would suggest they're just going to save him for game five which is fine it also might suggest that this is a guy that pitches better with more rest as opposed to less like throughout his career has not been not been in this position a lot no one gets asked too often to pitch on short rest well doesn't he have to go to them or how does that transaction go if they want him on short rest he's got to go to them and say let me do this doesn't he and i'd love to see that happen again i think that ship is sale everybody would i think that ship is sale but i would be much more comfortable with gosman on short rest and here's a question

that i was asked earlier today if you could go back in time would you be more comfortable with Max Scherzer with the ball tonight because I think I would over Varland. I think I would. I know what Scherzer looked like. This bullpen has been a disaster and the aura of the moment is what you would be expecting

out of Scherzer. No guarantees it could work. There's no guarantees this will work. This is going to be an all-time sweat tonight. Like this is a terrifying moment. It's a bullpen game and their bullpen's been getting torched. That would be a massive ass after what Scher's been doing in the first innings, Hayes. I understand.

Ask for a throwback Max Scherzer moment because you don't trust the bullpen? I don't know. I know he's Hall of Famer. He's had an incredible career, but to ask that just seems like... I get it. And it's not available to them. He's not on the roster. It's a hypothetical.

But considering what we know now and considering the scenario, how he's built, how he's wired, I'm not sure it may be 50-50 in terms of comfort level. Scherzer with the ball or an opener tonight. It's not that lopsided. Think how many times we had this conversation in roundtables like this throughout the summertime, lining up the starting pitching for the playoffs,

and how often was Max Scherzer not on that list? Speaking of a list. He was always on it. He was always on it. It's the very end. Yeah. He was always on it. And it's like amazing how, like, okay, even if they win this series, like you are a little concerned about their ability

to get through a four out of seven series because, you know, throughout the summertime, we would have had Schurzer on that list, might have had Lauer on that list at times during the... Burrios, Bassett was on that list, Bassett was on that list at times, especially if he was pitching at home. We know the road splits were not particularly good at times.

But, like, for that list of guys to no longer be viable candidates to start a big game, that's a big swing of events. It is. Now, again, they needed more out of Beaver last night. They got great starts out of Gosman, great start out of your savage. They needed more out of Bieber. And Bieber will get another opportunity. If they get to the championship series, he will be back on the mound. And they will give him that opportunity.

And they should give him that opportunity. The opener, it's foreign to a lot of old school people. The Dodgers just did it on their way to a World Series. The Dodgers do it. Other teams have done it. It's not ideal. Again, this bullpen is not as stacked as other bullpins have been. but the Js, we use this term a lot down the stretch.

They're still in the driver's seat. It's 2-1. I know. It's 2-1. The feeling is so different. When they're up 6-1, you thought this team's invincible. This team's invincible. They're going to destroy this team.

You can hear a pin drop in Yankee Stadium. Now you go into the stadium tonight. I'm sure Yankee fans are uber positive, Uber confident, but Cam Schlittler is being treated as if he's already established as Nolan Ryan. He's not. He doesn't scare you a little bit? That's why it's tough to say driver's seat for me, Hayes,

because you're going from a bullpen start for the Jays to Schlittler, who's a god right now, and you're like, this is going to a fifth game. But here's my answer on that. Let me answer why, and then you feel free to poke it apart, take it apart. Schlittler was great in the wildcard game, no question. That was against his hometown team, the Boston Red Sox. That was as amped and as ready as he possibly could be. The Red Sox bats do not equal the Blue Jay Bats, not even close this year.

Like the Jay's bats, and especially through, three games have been outstanding. They have faced Schlittler twice this year. They torst them, including like two weeks ago, where I don't think he got through the second inning. Yeah, like they hammered him. Just like they hammered Max Fried. And every Yankee fan on Earth said, game two, Freed's on a mound, this one's over. No, it wasn't. The Jays were very comfortable against Freed.

I think they're going to be comfortable against Schlittler. I'm not as concerned about Schlittler. One great start, you can't take that away from him. and to be clear, the same thing will apply when the Savage gets back in the mound. He's got to prove it more than one time. You're not Justin Verlander because you did it once in the wildcard round. It was an unbelievable start.

Schlittler, I think the Jays can get to him. I think they can't. It'll be a challenge. We'll see. There's no guarantees. The opener in the bullpen process scares me more than anything. Like, that does scare me. Because you've got to believe the Jays are going to have to score runs tonight. You're probably going to have to get six, seven

runs to win the game tonight. It feels that way. Like the Yankees are going to hit home runs. They're going to get runs on the board. But again, the J's, their offense has been very good. They hammered Rodon last night. Now, they had nothing going once the bullpen came in. But they have hit very well through this series. They're up to one.

Schlittler's a kid, and they've hit Schlittler pretty well. So still in the driver's seat and last thing. That is so optimistic, man. I love it. It's not like you, but it's really optimistic. Last thing, game five, where is it being played? Yeah. They have been,

the Jay's been great at the Rogers Center. The splitters coming back when Gosman and or your savage pitch, which the Yankees have not been able to hit in game five. And they have only Yankees at home in particular. So I'm not going to sit here and guarantee a Blue Jay win tonight. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion the Yankees win. I think the Jays can win tonight.

But even if it goes five, will it be nervous? Of course. Will there be anxiety in that park? It will be insane. But can they still? win the series? Come on. I mean, obviously the Blue Jays can still win the series. I'd still rather be in the Jays

situation than the Yankees. The Yankees have to win tonight. The Jays don't. Picking yourself off the mat after blowing that lead, like you're mentally, like you're thinking of the celebration in the clubhouse and then all of a sudden that gong show happens. That's going to be interesting. Amongst all the other

factors you just mentioned Hayes, because I don't know, I've never seen anything like that where it's like these guys are going to win the series and then all of a sudden off the foul pool jazz chisholm and then it's like

it was a gong show man it was crazy to watch I told you Hayes this is going to end up 156 now and it just it was just incredible to watch I know

it wasn't far off I know it wasn't far off I'm with you Hayes like Schlutler is still a rookie just as these savages like he's got a lot to prove your point to be considered one of the greats

I mean this is like in a lot of ways in baseball, you talk to the deep scouts and the guys who really know the game, like that's a massive advantage to being a rookie, right? Because teams haven't seen you very much. They got a little bit of video on you,

not a lot of video. They got a little bit of tendencies, but not all your tendencies. You know, Savage has got this kind of over-the-top delivery, which is very unconventional. So that's, it's an advantage to hit people with that surprise element,

but they learn you slowly, right? But they'll learn you eventually. And so every game you start, you provide information. Now, the time the Jays roughed him up a couple weeks ago, I know in Yankee land, there was talk that Schlittler was tipping pitches, which is why the Jays got on top them so quickly and chased them after an inning in two-thirds. And they're saying that the pitch tipping is an issue that's been taking care of now. He's not doing that anymore.

So we'll see. They figured that out in two weeks? I know. I know. I'll believe that one. But that's the storyline coming out of the Bronx. So we'll see what happens, but I'm with you. Like, there's every reason to be hopeful that they could rough that kid up again.

That's the hope. Again, defensively, they have to be way better than last night. It was Savannah Banana stuff last night. Like Barger, Connerfalefa, the Santander Adventure and Right, and he's playing right field tonight. I have no idea what Snyder's thinking on that front. Have you ever seen anything like that? That looked like a guy that had nine beers.

Seriously. playing co-ed ball, the way he went down on the ground and his hand, like, bent backwards. I just was like, that's not major league stuff, man, to make a play. Just watch the way his hand bends when it... Yeah, that's the guy that had nine beers playing men's league and was like, I just didn't have enough at the end. And his wrist bent back.

And then he's like, oh, man, it was tough to watch. And I think the after reaction of him just laying there, too, that screams the guy with nine beers in right field. Dude, any other guy is like, I got to get up and make up for that. He was just like, screw it, man. That's by me. And I'm not doing anything about it. Well, didn't that scream? To me, it's scream like, what am I doing out here?

Yes. Like, why does the coach, why does the manager have me out here? Why is Springer D-Hing again? Why can't he play right field? Exactly. Like, he's a much better athlete. Way better. And he's been D-Hing all year.

Unless there's something we're unaware of. Yes. But why is Springer not playing right field? You have Lucas playing left. And, you know, I play Miles Straw in right. Like Santander's, he's had a couple of hits and he had, you know, barrel the bat last night. Actually, Judge made a great play on him. Judge didn't look like he had nine beers in right field last night.

And, you know, closed on it and made a great grab off him, which could have possibly got them back into the game. But I don't understand Santander and Roy. You've got Barger playing third again tonight, which there's a part of me that appreciates they're going to put Barger back in and see, you've been great all year, go get it. He's clearly struggling, but they're going to give him that opportunity.

But this is not the greatest defensive lineup for a bullpen game tonight. You don't think that error is going to be in a kid's head go on a third base, man? That scares me. That scares me. But it also speaks to, you know, And I think what this lineup says

is they know they got to score runs tonight. And they got to try to hit home runs. Yeah. And off a righty with Schlittler on the mound, Barger can do it, Santander can do it. And kinder phleficant and straw can't. And I think that's basically what it is. They're saying, give us eight or ten more at bats

where maybe these guys can hit a home run. And guess what? You know, the probabilities, you know, what goes around, comes around. Like, just like the Jay's kind of made a mess of the, the defensive side of the ball last night, the Yankees have a game like that in them. That's how they've done all year.

They'll give away games. They'll give away games of the best of them. So if you put the ball in play, like the Jays I've been doing all year, like that's why the Jays are a tough matcher for the Yankees, let's not forget that. And nothing changes tonight. Like you put the ball in play, you do not strike out, you put pressure on the defense. And guess what?

You put pressure on the Yankee defense. It'll shoot itself on the foot. Yep. That's what they've done all year. That's what was surprising about last night. It was almost rolls reversed. Yeah. The Jay's made a lot of self-inflicted moves last night and self-inflicted pain.

All right, Steve Phillips coming up. We've got Dregs and CJ coming up. It's going to be a memorable night in Toronto, that's for sure. Leaves Habs down at Scotia Bank, Jay's Yankees at Yankee Stadium. You can't beat this tonight in terms of both ends of the spectrum. Could be two big wins. Could be the other end of the spectrum. Either way, it will be memorable tonight.

So we'll tee up both games throughout the afternoon. and a bunch of signings in the NHL as well. We'll tell you about that, and it appears as if there's one more that's just crossed the wire. We'll get to that, and Steve Phillips next. Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Brian Hayes, Joe, Jeff O'Neill, Dave Festchug.

Jack Eichol signing an eight-year $13.5 million deal down in Vegas. That's an extension. It's getting paid more than McDavid. That's what I was just going to say, like, How much nervousness or angst is there to say, I don't care what the other guy just signed for, the best player in the world. I want more than that guy.

In a tax-free state on top of it all. Right. We always hear about that. And today, Kyle Connor signed an eight-year extension to Winnipeg for $12 million per. So, Marner, Ranton, and Connor, $12 million. Caprisov, $17 million. I don't know really how that,

adds up but it does and they're all locked in and ikel to his credit that's a lot of money i wonder how mitch marner feels about that that ickel's making one point five million more per year than him i think mich is okay with that pretty well out there do you think any of them pulled to phil castle where he said this has got to get done before the start of the season or i don't it wasn't wasn't phil's demand get this done before opening night or i don't talk to anybody i think that's correct because we were in montreal when they signed it yeah And that was a big deal. Eight times eight or something, did he?

Yeah, it was. Eight times eight for Phil, and that was ten years ago. Building around a winger. How'd that work out? But it just seems like these deals are getting done at the last minute. You wonder if any of those guys said, once the puck drops, I don't really want to talk contract. So they're all like trickling in getting done now.

Yeah, it seems reasonable to suggest that. Also, if this was going to happen, again, why not do it in July? or August. I mean, I don't know if everyone just leaves and they say, let's reset in September and we'll figure it out, or the framework's been established and they just got to work on some small details, but why does it have to come down to the wire?

You know, like Eichael was 13.5, was Vegas dead set on 13.25 up until an hour ago, then they finally said, fine, we'll give you that extra $250,000 here. Like, why does it have to be right before puck drop tonight for all these players?

Like every editor in the world, why do you have to file right at deadline you know like because you got the time right and the deadline kind of drives motivation it drives inspiration and it probably does to your point it probably does iron out the details you can't you can't make a decision about are we going to give them 13.25 or 13.5 you have to make that decision and the deadline does it I guess so and all these guys again they're extensions so eight year deals really they're committed for nine years to their respective teams and I'm sure they all have no movement clauses, and what has happened here is it's a consistent theme in the NHL that players are just not leaving, right?

I can't believe it, man. Like, back in the day, everybody was like, I'm going to sniff around and test it. Three guys played for the same team suited up for 20 years in a row in Pittsburgh last night. Unheard of. But it seems like they all want to do it. I just want to stay. I want to stay long term. That's very new in the National Hockey League.

before it was like, no loyalty for the player. They couldn't wait to just test it out and see what else was out there. These guys love staying. They love staying and their GMs love keeping them. Yes. And again, I understand it with these players. Like I get why you'd want to keep Ikel and Kyle Connor and Matthias Ekholm signed an extension in Edmonton today and Capricsoff's a great player.

I get it. But it is strange that both sides are just totally committed. Let's just keep the band together and everyone's half. and let's not, let's not even contemplate change. Yeah, like not one GM said, you know what, maybe this guy's going to stink in a couple years, and I don't want to be a part of it. Not one GM is thought of that.

They all got to get these deals done, because some of them are going to stink, and it's going to be ugly the last three or four years of the deal, potentially. But they all get done. They all got done. Brock Bessor went back to Vancouver. Yes. After all that.

Yeah. Look, I think the Caprisoft one is like an outlier, right? Like that's $17 million. That's a strange set of circumstances where the owner is involved. The owner is making a ground pronouncement a year ago that we're going to sign this guy and we're going to get it done. And that puts, you know, that puts basically just money in the pocket of the agent, right? The agent is just like, we got them right where we want them.

Don't worry. You don't have to do a thing, Correll. Like, they're going to pay you, whatever you want. And that one is just, you know, a market where, you know, he was a homegrown guy, drafted fifth round, done everything. and they've asked, they gave way too much money. And guess what? He wanted.

He wanted the money. But McDavid's a different beast, right? Like McDavid is... Well, that's an outlier on the other end fest. Like, no one else does that. Nobody else does it. Nobody else plays like him and nobody else thinks like him. Because him and...

I was talking to cause on his show earlier today, like, people should realize, like, all these guys like to point to their agent and say, my agent made me do it. You know, like, talk to him. You know, he's the guy that negotiates my contract. You know, McDavid and Matthews have the same agent. And Matthews didn't take any hometown discounts the last time he signed.

No, he didn't. And he did sign a short-term deal, just like Connor. And they're both going to be up at the same time, which is pretty fascinating that McDavid and Matthews will both be pre-agents at the same time. Man, people love talking about that. Those guys just being up at the same time. I don't know. That's getting a lot of play.

whether they're going to like team up some I don't know it's just yeah yeah they are I mean and again same agent I guess but if they stay consistent like everyone else in the league they'll just re-up where they where they're playing like the only guy that's really left is Marner like at that level right of a player of like the status of the guys we're talking about here only Marner is left you really think McDavid after signing a two-year extension and giving the team a three-year window very awesome he loves winning all that you think think if it doesn't work, he's just going to continue to re-up, Hayes? I doubt it. I don't think so. I don't think so, but what if it does work? What if they're doing what Florida's doing right now? And they win back-to-back cups, he's going to leave? Or is he going to hang

on for the party? Is he going to stick around for the dynasty and build the dynasty up? Three years is a long time. It's a long time for everybody. And again, Matthew's no different. Those guys won't be young anymore. No. That's another thing. When they come up, like there's this belief, well, they'll just

signed for eight years at that time and get 25 million. I don't, is that smart business? We'll see. That's even in the league for 12, 13 years at that time. Right. Right. Like we will see what happens at that point, but that might be the turning point of what we're talking about here where the teams say we just can't do that.

Like you had your time where you wanted your short-term deals. Now we need our short-term deals. We'll pay at that level for another three or four years. We can't pay it to you for eight. And look, like a lot of this, like you throw at the Caprisoff one, but all these other ones where you talk about guys staying, the teams have won.

Like, you know, the Golden Knights have won with Jack Eichel as their guy, right? I mean, obviously Edmonton hasn't quite won, but to go to two cup finals, it shows that you're on the doorstep, and so why would you leave at that point? You want to see it through. You know, you go on

down the list, like, you know, all the guys come back to Florida, because Florida's winning. You know, why did the big three in Pittsburgh stay the big three in Pittsburgh? Because they won three cups, right, together. I mean, the only reason Martin is not here is because the Leafs didn't win anything. Like, he'd be here for sure

if the Leafs had been a conference finalist maybe once, I would guess. I think you're probably right. It'd be a very different tone in the mood around everyone would be very different. You guys think it only would have took a conference final for Mitch Marta to still be a Maple Leaf? Yeah. I mean, look, Dougie Gilmore and Wendell Clark

walking around town like Heroes, they never made it past the conference finals. I guess you're right. That's what's crazy about this Jay's team right now. Everyone reveres the 15-16 teams. For obvious reasons. The Jayser one win away from matching that. They win tonight.

They have done the exact same thing Batista did and Donaldson did and Edwin did. Now those guys did back to back and same thing with the leave teams. They did at 93 and 94. They were magical runs and it was a bit of a different world in time at that point.

But I do think a conference final at least gets the flies off you. For sure. For sure it puts a different, you know, it changes your reputation a little bit and certainly your resume. And it'll be interesting what the vibe is like at the rink tonight.

Leaves have the last time people left that rink, it was as dark and ugly as I can recall. They don't care. They don't even remember that, man. You know how that works. They don't even remember that. It's fresh, it's new. It's the start of a new season.

Okay. It's going to be a lot of nurses in phones watching the Jays game tonight, I think. Yeah, that's going to be tough for a lot of people, I think. If you're in a suite tonight, you're loving life. You get a Jay's game on the suite? That would be a perfect setup.

All right, Steve Phillips on Game 4. We'll catch up with Steve next. All right, big one tonight. We got Leif's Habs opening night down at Scotia Bank in game four. Jay's Yankees down a Yankee's stadium. Keegan Matheson just tweeting out that Tray is Savage will be in the Blue Jay bullpen tonight. And Kevin Gosman will throw a modified bullpen today. And it would have to be a very unique spot for him to pitch and relief.

How unique. well I guess if it goes 16 innings tonight or something I don't know if it goes deep into the evening maybe there's a scenario where Gosman has to pitch but basically that would indicate Gosman gets the ball game five if it gets to it and you Savage maybe

goes tonight if they feel they need them and if they maybe feel like we got a lead and we need to close this out and we don't really want to go to any of these guys let's bring in the kid here's Steve Phillips or TSM Baseball Insider how comfortable are you in

the idea of it being an opener for the Jays tonight? Well, I'm not comfortable with it at all in the ideal scheme of things. But the Dodgers won a World Series last year with doing it. Now, you know, their relievers were a little different than what the Jays are running out there and the confidence level that we have in them running them out there right now. I'm a little surprised, honestly, that it's just seventh available in the bullpen today instead of Gosman. I personally would hold

DeSsevich to start game five and use Gosman today. You know, Gosman for me pits ahead of Yosevich, so he's got an extra day of rest behind him. And so, and I know, yeah, it's not been pits out of the bullpen, so I make sure that if I use my,

I bring him in the start an inning, but I would use Gosman today in the Savage on Friday. I personally think that Gosman, you know, DeSivich are going to be on full rest in game five and

Gosman's got the extra day arrest right now so I think he's got a better chance to be effective out of the bullpen than the 7th so I would have flip-flopped it and done it the other way around I would have started the 7th and game 5 and use Gosman today as some part of the options if they have a lead

to go out there and pitch yeah I agree but why not just start Gosman altogether tonight yeah I mean you could I just think you know starters on short rest are just, you know, it's not a great formula for success. I mean, it just has not been, the numbers indicate that it's not a great plan of attack. And so, you know, I would sort of go with the plan of the opener and see how it goes. And then if you get a lead after three or

four innings, then I think, all right, now that I have a lead, I'm going to get myself my best chance to win this game. And then if not, then I won't burn Gosman in this game, I'll save them for the next one. So I would hedge my bet a little bit, but in doing so, I would make him the bulk guy or the second bulk guy. If Lauer is good and you've got to, you know, it gives your couple inning and you've got to lead, then I would go all in with Gosman to win this one. And so, yeah, I think there's a, I mean, if you want, you could start him in this one. It's just, it doesn't always boat all that well for success, but he still might be the better option than Varland or Fisher or Brule facing Yankee hitters early in the game.

So it's an interesting way of doing it, but I know this. Of the ways that you could do it, I wouldn't do it the way they are doing it. Steve, how do you break down the madness of last night? Like what sticks out for you, how that game ended up for the Jays? It was crazy. They started booting it around. Judge had his moment. What do you take away from the craziness?

Yeah, so, you know, the, you can't give extra base runners, you can't give extra outs, especially to a lineup that has thunder in it. And, you know, the defense that has been, you know, part of the strength of the Jays, let them down. Kind of Falaf's injury in the first inning and then Stanton being able to drive in the unearned run. And then Barger now, the other question I would have, and again, I think it's, it's one that, you know, I've talked to a lot of people about it because I've asked this question, is should you, when you have a 6-1 lead, make decisions offensively based or defensively based, that if I have a 6-1 lead, do I at that point want to keep adding runs, which I do, but do I make that

a priority or do I make run prevention a priority? Because, you know, when they pinch it, Barger for kind of Falafi, I know kind of Philef made an error. He's still a better defender than Barger. And when you then pinch it, Barger, I think it's second or the third inning. They pinch it for kind of Folepa. You then move Clement's second. You put barger in at third. A barger is not a stiff at third base, but their best defensive alignment was kind of fall off at second, Clement at third, and Jimenez is it short. Maybe you don't pinch it right there until you might have to pinch it if offense becomes more important and let defense leave.

the way, because Clement catches the pop-up. He does. He catches the pop-up. Now, Davis Snyder should have been, you know, called off Barger on the pop-up down the line. Priority should have been the left fielder, but he didn't take charge on it. He let Barger who called it, but it doesn't matter. You call him off. The other one is I still don't understand why Springer's the DH and Santander is the outfielder. Me neither.

It just doesn't make any sense to be, and even the ball that got hit by. Bellinger out there, I think Springer catches that ball. And so, you know, I don't know. I mean, part of it is, I guess maybe they think that Santander needs to get into the game by playing defense and it'll help his offense. He is taking better swings.

But it did cost him some with him being in the outfield instead of Springer. Yeah, I don't know that about it, Steve. I mean, O'Dag liking Santander out there to a co-ed softball player who just had nine beers. He looked helpless. Did he not? He looked helpless. He looked. He looked.

It's like Stanton playing the outfield. You know, I mean, that's, you know, they avoid that for the Yankees as much as they can. You know, they only did it when Judge couldn't throw from the outfield, but I don't know any circumstances with Springer's limitations why that would be the case to do it. And, you know, he hasn't played a lot this year to begin with, and he sluggish. He just doesn't move all that great. Sluggish. Yeah, so it's hard to know.

You know, I don't, unless there's, look, whenever something doesn't make sense, and it seems kind of obvious. I think there's something that I don't know about why they're doing what they're doing, which could be injury-based or health-based or whatever. Maybe Springer's playing through some leg things and some back things and they're trying to protect them. With Steve Phillips, our TSM baseball insider game for tonight, J's Yankees.

So look into the future for us here, Steve. For the Blue Jays to win tonight, how does it play out? How does it happen? What do they have to do? early lead margin for error where the pitchers have the confidence to throw it over the plate

they keep tacking on runs Lauer needs to be fantastic and give them four or maybe five innings and you've got to get it to Sir Anthony Dominguez and Hoffman at the end without having to go through a lot of the middle relief and the guys who threw yesterday

you've got to try to find some link from Lauer I'm assuming, or Yosevic, to get you there, but you've got to avoid the five or six reliever performance game on a day that it's a bullpen day. What about Schlittler, Steve? How confident are you that he backs it up? Hayes was talking about, you know, he's still a kid, he's a rookie, they shouldn't be too intimidated by this guy.

He did have an outstanding performance against the socks, but how confident are you that he backs it up or brings something similar? Yeah, so he's not going to strike out. 12 Blue Jays. And, you know, that's the other thing is he had a great start. There's no question. It was a bit of a perfect storm with the lineup for the Red Sox. But I think that, you know, we're talking about a lineup that takes the pitches out of

the zone. When you come in the zone, they make you pay a price for it. They're locked in a bit. And so I do think, now, you know, Fernando Cruz's split, got some of the guys fooled some yesterday. and the split seems to be the pitch de jure where, you know, everybody is getting swings and misses on that split-finger fastball. But, yeah, I think that they could do some damage on Schlittler. I don't think we're looking at an eight- inning shutout.

I don't think he's that guy. I like Yosevic better than I like Schlittler. And I think that, you know, so I do think that that, you know, but Schlittler, listen, he's a good young pitcher and he's got the 100-mile-power fastball. in addition to the split, but a split's not as good as his seventh. So, and his release point's not, and he's young. And so, you know, he's not pissed all that great this year against Jay. So I think they've got a shot against them, but I don't think that, you know, they're going to win a three to two game.

They need to score some runs. Yeah, it feels like it's just going to be a shootout again tonight, man. Like, it's just going to be one of those nights, multiple home runs on both sides, and maybe whoever gets to like 8 or 10 tonight is going to win the game. But it's been fun so far, and the beauty of it is, we get to see how it plays out tonight. Always great catching up with you, Steve. Enjoy the games. We'll do it again soon.

All right, you got it, guys. Detroit just tied it up on Seattle. Seattle is up 3-0. In Detroit, now 3-3, with runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs in the 5th. Love it. Mama Phillips will be happy about that. All right. Yes.

Love hearing that. Thanks, Steve. Steve Phillips, our TSM Baseball Insider. Yeah, that's, Tiger's staying alive. They got to win this one. Got to win this one. Cubs have to win, Dodgers have to win, Yankees have to win. Phillies have to win. Like four closeout games today.

You know what? I love all sports and I watch them all, but you know what? Four elimination games in October in one night, that's a pretty cool product they're putting out there. Yeah, it is. Then you got lease halves tonight, Battle of Alberta tonight, Vegas, L.A. tonight. So you got Eichael who just signed and Mitch Marner making his debut at home. Like, I'm going to be up until 2 in the morning today.

I can already feel where this is going. And I'm more than happy to do that. Vegas, L.A. L.A. is already probably like, we need a win in game two after getting pumped by Colorado. That's how the stress factor works. Game two, we better do something good tonight. Pumped at home and then you've got to go to Vegas. for their home opener. You're right. You start the season 02. You're like... Everyone's

pissed. That's how long it takes. 48 hours. Everyone's pissed. It's quick. Hour 2 coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Seasoned gamer, or just video game curious,

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