00:00We'll both be at Media Day at Rogers Center on Thursday and at Games 1 and 2 over the weekend
00:06in Toronto before we fly from Canada and across the country to Los Angeles for 3, 4, and 5.
00:15John, obviously the Blue Jays are going to be staggering underdogs in this series.
00:22And we've covered plenty of series where staggering underdogs have won.
00:26The 1990 Reds were staggering underdogs to the A's and swept the A's.
00:32The one I hearkened to last night just because it began with a limping slugger, Kirk Gibson,
00:37the Dodgers, coincidentally, were the huge underdogs in 1988 against the Bash Brother,
00:43against Sandy Alderson and Tony LaRusso's Bash Brother A's.
00:47Gibson hits the homer in Game 1 with a hamstring and a knee injury and kind of gimps around.
00:54It reminded me of Springer who took a 96-mile-an-hour fastball off his right knee from Brian Wu
00:59and, you know, like really looked like he was struggling on, especially Game 6,
01:06where he was down on his knees a lot and he didn't run really well.
01:10But, man, that is a clutch player.
01:13They put the ball in play.
01:14And, John, I know there's upsets.
01:16I don't know how this team, because of starting pitching, gets through the Dodger lineup and limits enough runs
01:25where the Blue Jays could do enough damage against what is, you know, the best rotation in the sport, pitching its best.
01:32Please convince me, hey, a small sample size otherwise, because I'd love it to be a series since I'm doing all this traveling for it.
01:39But, I mean, it looks rough for me.
01:42It feels like the Blue Jays won their championship last night.
01:45Yeah, I'll go back to what you started with.
01:47Anyone can win.
01:48It's a small series, short series, you know, of 162 games.
01:52They did win more games than the Dodgers.
01:54Of course, the Dodgers were playing load management.
01:56You know, Snell barely performed in the regular season.
02:00Now he's the best pitcher in the game.
02:03So, I mean, obviously the Dodgers are going to be overwhelming favorites.
02:07But what's an overwhelming favorite in a best-of-seven series?
02:11You know, not just the Reds, you know, the Pirates in 1960.
02:14But you really don't have to go back that far.
02:16The underdog has won a lot.
02:19And it's because anybody can win in baseball.
02:22I mean, obviously the Blue Jays are a really good team.
02:25They have stars, which it seems to take stars.
02:28I think that's why these small market teams don't do it.
02:30And we'll talk to Pat Murphy later.
02:33But why do these small market teams not do it?
02:35They don't have an Otani.
02:36They don't have a Vlad Guerrero.
02:37They don't have a Raleigh.
02:38They don't have, you know, big, big players like this.
02:42And it seems like those players do rise to the occasion.
02:45I know we have the Lemkes and the other, you know, Doyle,
02:48the World Series heroes that are surprises.
02:50But ultimately, it's a big help to have Otani, Betts, and Freeman.
02:55And that's why the Dodgers are going to be the big favorite.
02:57But Toronto's a good, well-rounded team.
03:01It only takes four wins.
03:03Anything can happen in a baseball game, as we saw last night, as we do this.
03:07So certainly they can win.
03:09Am I picking Toronto?
03:10I mean, it's tough to do that.
03:12I should probably consult with Mike Puma, who at the beginning of the year had Toronto
03:15against the Dodgers.
03:16I think we all probably had the Dodgers, unless you're a real gambler.
03:20But to pick Toronto at the beginning of the year, you know, I didn't see it.
03:23I think I kind of made fun of him early on with that pick.
03:27Right.
03:27Mike Puma, of course, our Mets beat writer.
03:33John, you know, the one thing as just a wrap-up for this, I wonder if you have a thought on
03:36it, is we also covered the Yankee dynasty, which was the last time a team won back-to-back
03:42titles.
03:43The Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000.
03:46And there was this, there were two things about that.
03:49Well, there was a lot about that team, but temperamentally, there was kind of a calm that
03:53came over that team at this time of year.
03:55They just kind of felt like when they got to 27 outs, they would have more runs than the
04:00other team.
04:01And so they never kind of got flustered.
04:03They were behind three, two or something.
04:04They knew Rivera was sitting at the end if they had had a lead.
04:07And they just had a lot of reps doing it, and they got great at it.
04:13And there felt like an inevitability to their winning after a while.
04:17I'm starting to feel it about the Dodgers a little bit.
04:21You were with them for these rounds.
04:24You feeling it?
04:26Yeah, I mean, this is the dynasty.
04:28They're in a dynasty.
04:29They've been in the playoffs 13 years in a row.
04:31They won the division 12 years in a row.
04:33If they win the championship, this will be three times in six years World Series champion.
04:37It is a legit dynasty.
04:40You know, they have an amazing amount of talent.
04:42They know it.
04:43I mean, even the guys who aren't good in the regular season are pretty good, but not great.
04:48Like Edmund, and particularly Quique Hernandez, become great in the postseason.
04:52But do they even need them to be great?
04:54They've got Betts.
04:57Ohtani's the best player probably since Babe Ruth or ever.
05:00Betts is an all-time great.
05:02And Freeman, to me, first ballot Hall of Famer, and that's not even doing it justice.
05:07On one ankle last year, he eliminated the Yankees in the World Series.
05:12So, I mean, they've got three absolute superstars.
05:16They've got at least four Hall of Famers.
05:18I'm not even counting Dave Roberts, who I think is an underrated manager.
05:21They have an overwhelming team.
05:24You know, they coasted through the regular season.
05:26They didn't mind playing that first round against the Reds.
05:29That was one where I would have had a hard time seeing, even in a two out of three, that Cincinnati could have won that.
05:37Yeah.
05:37I mean, they really certainly are a confident team.
05:40And by the way, Betts is an outstanding shortstop.
05:42I mean, I thought when we first saw him, I thought he was well below average at the start, which, why wouldn't he be?
05:48He's an outfielder.
05:49He's outstanding.
05:51I think he's one of the best shortstops in baseball right now.
05:55That, to me, is amazing.
05:57Yeah.
05:58It's almost like they're toying with everyone.
05:59They're right fielders playing shortstop.
06:01The starter everyone was going after is closing.
06:05Otani pitches and hits.
06:07It's like it's a fantasy camp for the Dodgers.
06:10You know, John, when Freeman was a free agent, you know, when I was writing and advocating that the Yankees should go hard after him,
06:17I, the cap, the comp I made as an offensive player was George Brett, who I thought he was like, he hit like, and I thought he would age like Brett hit until he was 40.
06:28I actually think, and also hit big in the postseason.
06:32And I think we're, we're seeing all that from Freddie.
06:34I just want to say on that.
06:35Yeah.
06:36I mean, the Yankees did go hard after him.
06:38It never really came out because he had told his agent once the Matt Olsen trade happened and he went to Atlanta and he was out of a job in Atlanta.
06:46He told his agent, get me home.
06:49Basically, that was it.
06:50That was a three word message.
06:52And Excel, Casey Close, had to get him to the Dodgers.
06:56And that was it.
06:56He didn't, he didn't really, he didn't, he wanted to go home at that point.
07:00He didn't go to the Yankees.
07:02The Yankees would have been happy to pay him more than that.
07:05And he didn't, he didn't want to do it.
07:06You know, when I talked to him about this during the LCS, you know, his answer is, oh, they never made an offer.
07:12They never made an offer.
07:13Yeah, well, you didn't let them make an offer.
07:14The Yankees would have been happy to sign him.
07:17I don't know if they were listening to you, but they were on that page and would have signed him happily had they had that opportunity.
07:23Let's table it.
07:24I think the chronology by then is they already had re-signed Judge's pal Anthony Rizzo, right?
07:30That could be.
07:31You're better at that than I am.
07:32Yeah, I think that they, you know, after the lockout, whatever happened then, you know.
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