OverDrive - Romero on the Blue Jays' playoff push, Cease's spotlight and Guerrero Jr. taking steps

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Blue Bird Territory Host and Former MLB Pitcher Ricky Romero joined OverDrive to discuss the Blue Jays' series win against the Guardians, Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber returning back to the team, Dylan Cease's incredible season, Pete Walker's impact to the pitching staff, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s inconsistency and the position in the lineup, the Dodgers' season and more.

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. The Jays coming off a big win in Cleveland, 6'3. They win the matinee and they take the series in Cleveland, two games to one. They moved to within half a game of the Cleveland Guardians. Joining us now to chat about it is former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher.

Romero. Ricky, how's it going? Welcome into Overdrive. Good. How are you guys? Yeah, a big win today. It is a big win. And it did two things, brought them a little bit closer to the playoffs. It gave them the tie break as well. But we were kind of chatting a little earlier in the show. What was bigger? Kind of what it does for them in the playoff picture or the fact that we saw some signs of life from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both, right? it's been such a roller coaster of a season so far up to this date. You know, we've been waiting for them just to play 500 ball,

and it seems like they're getting closer and closer. I think earlier in the season they were pretty close, and then they went on a losing streak. And, and, but right now they just seem to be playing Blue J baseball and what we're accustomed to watching, what we got accustomed to watching last season, right? It was good pitching, good bullpen, and then timely hitting. And that's the biggest thing that I noticed right now.

Obviously, Vladdy still hasn't been the Vladdy that we know. But, hey, man, you got to tip your hat off to what he's been able to do on defense. He made some great defensive plays today to help save that game, too. I mean, it could have easily been broken open by the Cleveland Guardians. And Soriano kind of held them in check. You know, he kind of held the line a little bit, you know, right there. And obviously, I wish he would have got in the wind. That's the starter and me.

I wish they would have let him face one more hitter. But in all, I think what you're seeing out of this, this Blue J team is just the team that's just going out there, putting the ball on play, getting timely hitting. I think Brett Bateman has been unbelievable at the top of the lineup. He's just brought a different dynamic to this lineup. And so good to see, man. I mean, obviously we know what Dylan Seas has done all season long.

He's probably the front runner for the Cy Young right now. But, you know, the rest of the guys, it just seems like they're just, you know, going out there playing with nothing to lose. So, Ricky, they're playing with nothing to lose has been, you know, some great, surprises in the likes of Bateman. There's also hope that they may be getting some of their key arms back with Trey U Savage on the rehab trail

from his meniscus surgery and maybe Shane Bieber, a little more of a question mark, dealing with that terrorist major injury. I mean, you've been in MLB clubhouses for years and years. You've seen pitchers overcome these types

of injuries. What do you think the likelihood of either one of these guys coming back and being effective, given, you know, the challenge that's in front of them? Yeah, the one that's most concerning is, obviously, Shane Bieber. I think anytime you have that, you know, nagging shoulder injury and you're messing with the arm, I think it's a little bit tougher. Obviously, he's a guy that's had a history of arm injuries, and that one just, you know, it's hard for me to think that he's going to be back this season, especially as a starter.

I mean, it takes time to rebuild back up and all that stuff. And I think right now they're just running out of time. For Trey, on the other hand, obviously, it just seems like all the reports are positive on him. The only thing, too, it's, you know, he was built up to be a starter. If he comes back, it's kind of hard to just, you know, maybe you piggyback him with somebody else in that rotation as of now. But, you know, the biggest thing is I think it's getting Trey back. I think, you know, he proved what he could do last October. it's been a little bit of an up and down season for him, but it was expected.

I'd said it from the beginning. Trey is going to go through some growing pains. Nobody knew him last season. This season he comes in. There's more video on him. There's a bigger scouting report on him, and he's going to have to be able to make adjustments. And he has, as the season has gone on, I think at times, he's fought his delivery at times. And that was always the biggest question mark.

Can he repeat this delivery for 30 plus starts? And, you know, it continues to be somewhat of a question. but he's a guy that obviously has nasty stuff, and when he's in the zone, he's pretty much unhittable. So it's just that unique R. Mango that he comes from, and getting him back would be huge, huge. Again, this is a team that's fighting for a wild card spot right now. And in a three-game series, do you run out Dylan C's and Jose Soriano,

your odds are pretty good. Yeah, I mean, especially if Dylan C's going to pitch the way that he has recently. I saw a stat earlier today after yesterday's six innings of shutout baseball. He's got a 0.18 ERA in his last seven road starts, a sub-100 batting average against him. Like, how impressive is that, you know, for a guy who pitched many years in the big leagues, that that stat line exists in Major League Baseball? It's crazy. And you know what's awesome about watching Dillon Seast this season?

It's the evolution of Dillen Seas, the growth. You know, I think early in the season, everyone was like questioning, oh, man, did they overpay this guy? That's still not a proven guy. You know, yes, he does strike out a lot. But can he be a Cy Young type of contender? And I remember texting Pete Walker right away when they signed him. I was like, you have to be ecstatic about this signing. He goes, we see some stuff and he's going to make some adjustment.

If he's able to make these adjustments, he's going to be pretty unhittable. Not in those words, but like, you know, something in long. those lines. And you just saw it. I've always seen it. We've all seen Dillon C's be dominant and then next start, not so dominant. And I think that's been the key this season. The consistency that he's brought

every fifth day has just, you know, he's given the team a chance to win pretty much every time he goes out there. And it's like early in the season, you know, he was going five and dive. He was fighting himself a lot. You know, he was at 100 pitches in five innings. Lately, he's just been so consistent,

effective. And that's the key, man. I mean, when you have that much of a repertoire that's pretty nasty, it's being in the zone and learning how to expand within the zone. And I think that's the biggest key I've seen with him, the growth I've seen out of him. He's not trying to strike every hitter out. Yes, the strikeouts do happen. But at the same time, he's still within the zone. And he's getting, when he does get hitters to chase, he gets him to chase because he's in the zone so much. Ricky, I saw you on Twitter the other day. You had a funny post about being in L.A., and I guess you were at a restaurant where you were put into a corner

where there was a very famous picture of a very famous catch from a very recent World Series that broke the hearts of people here in Toronto. Of course, the Andy Paez catch. What did you make at that moment and what did you make of that picture and having to stare at it for your entire meal. Oh, man, yeah, we walked in, and it was like a French restaurant here at Manhattan Beach in the South Bay. And I sat down.

It was my wife and a couple of our friends, and I'm sitting there, and my wife looks in, and she goes, what do you keep looking at? I was like, that picture is just haunting me. And she looks, she goes, oh, my God. You know, she was there with me for game seven, and, you know, we all thought that was, that was it. That was the moment. And it didn't happen.

And, you know, my LA friends, till this day, still clown on me. And they're like, when I posted that picture, they're like just laughing the entire time. So, yeah, it's just one of those moments, right? I mean, if that goes the other way, Ernie Clement's pictures all over Toronto restaurants of him celebrating winning the World Series. Instead, it's that picture of that catch. I still don't know how you made that catch. I still, off the bat, everything. I'm sure you guys watched the game.

Still in my memory, I sit there and I've done events for the Toronto Blue Jays where I go back and do stuff in the stadium for fantasy camps and stuff like that. And the first day, the first one I did this season, I went back and I stood in center field and I walked over to like left center. And I was just like, man, how did he cover this much? How did he cover this much ground? There was just so many thoughts going through. It was just the pain, the pain of a fan, you know, hoping that, wishing that the Toronto Blue Jays had, you know, pulled that game center. You and most of the people listening in on the program still can't believe that he did.

There's a lot of can't believe that happens in that one. The Barger, why did they stop to play when Barger hit the ball into the thing? There's a lot that we could go back. There should be a 30 for 30. There's what, the 17 inning game? Like, it's unbelievable. And, you know, we'll see. The Jays are starting to get hot a little bit here.

maybe, you know, they're getting hot at the right time, right? We know what that could do for a ball club. I want to go back to, you said that you were chatting with Pete Walker when they acquired Dylan Seas. What is it about Pete Walker, you know, that, like, he's got this aura that he's just this guru pitching coach that can kind of mold pitchers into, you know, the best version of themselves. Like, what is it about him that allows him to have such success?

Yeah, and when I was in the organization, he was still. and he was in double A working his way up and then he eventually became my pitching coach but I think the biggest thing about Pete is that he was a former pitcher right he knows what it's like to be 60 feet six inches he knows what it's like to struggle he knows what it's like to be successful

and I think when you're able to mix that with what he knows about pitching mechanics and all that stuff I think it brings a lot of value to guys that sign there you know and I'm not just talking about you know we can talk about Dillon C's but it was like Ryu and Robbie Ray, you know, there's a lot of guys that have gone in through through the Blue Jays organization and been successful, let alone when Sy Youngs.

So I think it's the way he relates to a player. I remember when I was going through my struggles in 2012, we'd sit in that computer room for hours and he'd sit there and, you know, he's not only a pitching coach, I feel like he, you know, he should major, he has major in psychology too because he, you know, he's trying to like, you know, talk you out of things and, you know, and, you know, almost like your therapist. Like, you know, he does it all, man. And I think that's the biggest thing. It's the way he relates to the players, the way he goes about his work, you know,

the adjustments that he knows he's got to make on certain pitchers. I think there's not one mold for a pitcher. I think everyone is their own Picasso, you know. So he's got to figure that out and he's really good at it. And I think when you put in the work and you sit there and you do all this stuff in the video room and you present it to these guys, it's an easier transition rather than, you know, an analytical guy coming up to you and saying, hey, you got to make these changes. It's different. You know, you, you kind of have to have a Pete Walker to kind of help you understand

it, understand it in baseball terms. And we do live in a very analytical time. But this guy, he understands, man. He understands pitching. He understands human beings. He understands what it's like to struggle. And you put that all together in one basket. It's a huge recipe for success, especially nowadays. You talk about that mix between psychology and analytics, Ricky, and there's been the conversation the past month or so, maybe until Vlad hit that home run yesterday, the towering moonshot that we hadn't seen sometime,

is, you know, the analytics would probably say if Vlad should be down in the lineup a little bit. He shouldn't be hit in third or second, which is where he's hit the majority of the year, if not the entire year. And yet John Schneider's talked about how he doesn't want it to be seen as a punishment to move the guy down, the lineup. Where do you stand on that? Do you think a clubhouse sees a guy getting demoted into

the lineup that may be hitting fifth or sixth instead of second or third as punishment? Or is, you know, where do you sit on that situation with Vlad? Yeah, it's tough, right? I mean, I think everyone would think like, yeah, they need to move them down and this and that. But I think the biggest thing, and no one knows other than Bladdy and Schneider, the type of conversations that they have, the type of conversations that the department has, you know, in moving this lineup and stuff like that. I think, you know, it's as tough of a season as he's had, I mean, it's hard. I wish I had a good answer for you in that regard.

But, you know, in the end, he is the heart and soul of this team, whether you like it or not. like, you know, I think last year he proved what he can do in October. And to this day, that's why I say, man, you, you respect what he's able to do on defense because not a lot of times when you're having bad, a lot of times when you're having bad offensive years, it carries on into defense. You're watching it a little bit with Kyle Tucker here in L.A. Where he's, you know, not producing offensively. It's kind of leading into the defensive part.

And, you know, and it leads to booze and stuff like that. And obviously, he's struggling. But with Lattie, I feel like it's completely. opposite. He's not letting the offensive struggles carry into the defensive part. And as far as the lineup, only they know why they're doing what they're doing and they feel like they, he could still produce at the two-hole, you know, regardless of what anybody thinks. And I think that just shows you, you know, the belief that John Schneider has in him and the belief that the whole organization has in him. I think if guys were frustrated, maybe they would maybe voice it. I don't know. But again,

This is the leader, the heart, and soul of the team in the face of the franchise. And, you know, I feel like they're going to live and die with him. You talk about living in L.A., Ricky, and obviously the Dodgers are always the favorite to win another world series, a third straight potentially. And yet there's been a lot of interesting, you know, stories rolling around out there about the Dodgers and their owner and his financial troubles in a federal investigation to how he got all the money that he's bought these sports teams with. Of course, he recently made a deal to sell his majority

stake in the L.A. Lakers. In your read of this situation, and is there any chance that all the discord around Mark Walter's troubles could put some kind of a dent in the Dodgers clubhouse? They haven't been playing great lately. I think they're four

and six in their last 10. Are we reading too much into that? Or do you think this team is just too good to let something like that affect it? Yeah, I think they're too good, too. let somebody like something like this affect them. I think they have enough leadership top to bottom. They're all proven winners that I don't think it's any of that is affecting them on the field.

I think that what's affecting them is that Shohei Otani doesn't look healthy. You know, I think there's some part in that. He's obviously been in a bit of a slump. And we all know what he can do at the top of the lineup. He can change the course of the game at any moment. And obviously on the mountain too, and they don't have them on the mound either. Yes, they have Yamamoto. oh yes, they have plates now and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,

all sorts of top to bottom. But at the end of the day, I think that group is, you know, they have so many veteran leadership that I don't think they would have let that shit sink that easily. But if anything, it proves to other teams that they are beatable. And you just never know what can happen in the five-game series, right? I mean, they can go cold easily like they've gone cold as of late and get bounced. You know, that's the game of baseball sometimes.

the best team doesn't always win. So it'll be interesting how they play in October. And, you know, and hopefully for our sake, we don't see it to repeat. I think everyone wants to see something new. I think we're going to see a new MVP in the National League, maybe a new National League champion when all said and done as well. Ricky, really appreciate the time, as always. And thank you so much, and we'll do it again soon.

Absolutely. Thank you, guys. Absolutely. Ricky Romero, former Toronto Blue J. Hello, Canada. This is Brian Adams Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. We'll play a few of mine, a ton of my favorites, and some must-hear behind-the-scenes stories from the world of rock and roll.

Oh, too many get to! One thing about doing rock and roll so long is you end up meeting a lot of the people that you admire. Sometimes you even get to work with him. Brian Adams Radio. Now available on the free IHare Radio, everybody how are you