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00:00i just think that the next three days if the yank three four days and three games or one day
00:07and me and you doing this again later in the week is a referendum on the captain of the team
00:14like he needs this to be the moment hello welcome to the pinstripe post my name is ryan sampson i'm
00:22the host and producer of the show that's the star of the show joel sherman today is monday october
00:26six joel is back in new york after a busy travel trip to toronto where the new york yankees got
00:30absolutely spanked in toronto two nothing down in the series in the american league division series
00:36they're coming home in a must-win situation here in the bronx uh joel it's looking bleak right now
00:42yankees fans are very very upset um but i gotta get your perspective here what is your takeaway right
00:49now the yankees down 2-0 in the series well i'm curious uh what are yankee fans upset about i think
00:55they're mostly upset about the fact that one game one aaron judge striking out with the bases loaded
01:00and probably the worst swing i think i've seen him since 2017 and then the other thing they're
01:05upset about is max free just absolutely crap in the bed yesterday and a chance for them to
01:10try and win a game and even the series and which has been a house of horrors for him in toronto
01:15um i think those are the two big things i mean everything else is kind of played out way toronto
01:21would want it and you would expect from toronto to do it their their lineup doesn't strike out
01:26and your key guys just are not hitting in clutch moments and you're not getting enough slug from
01:31your big hitters am i wrong no i think you're right it almost feels like like what do you do
01:37like uh freed has been he's going to finish top five in the al cy young he's been the ace he has
01:45pitched terribly in toronto uh if he pitched even half ass in toronto he might win the cy young this
01:50year you know would have improved his numbers so much uh it was a bad time for him to be there again
01:55and yet they need to get him to game five where he would get the ball again so and take their shots
02:00at it uh and it's interesting judge is hitting this postseason but he would be better off being one
02:08for 13 but the one was a grand slam in uh game two because what's missing as has been missing from
02:14his resume for his entire time as a great yankee uh possibly a three-time mvp by the time uh the
02:22voting is done is announced this year is gigantic moments at this time of year i went and looked at it
02:30um ryan uh i don't know if people are um uh familiar with the baseball reference statistic
02:38win probability added uh it literally could take each at bat and show you did it get you closer to
02:46a win or a loss at what percentage and his five biggest win percentage added moments in the postseason
02:54four have common losses uh the one that came in the win was in the fourth inning most of these are
03:01early innings and one of them was a first inning homer off jack flarity in a game he would later drop
03:08a fly ball in center field and trigger the beginning of the end of the yankees last year in game five of
03:13the world series that's just been who he is uh in the postseason he is missing this from his resume uh
03:22you know if he even just takes ball four the other day and kind of begins to string that lineup along
03:29you know i think aaron boone uses a different level of relief pitcher uh from there moving forward and
03:35at least it's a game yeah uh there's real questions i don't think it ends up being what was the final 10
03:41one or whatever the final score was in game one uh and that feels like it mushroomed into game two that
03:47was their biggest at bat and you know judges two rbis so far this postseason are a gift that jaron
03:55uh darren uh jaron duran drops in love it's a gift that he didn't catch it it was gift from the official
04:02scorer that it was called the hit yeah uh and that was an rbi and the second was at the beginning of
04:06them begin their comeback yesterday uh he had an rbi single that made a 13-2 i think or something like
04:13that so uh or 13-2 or something along those lines so uh he hasn't had a lot of me he's had a lot
04:20i think the comparison i made was uh he's kind of been louise louise arise when they need all rise
04:26not uh just louise and uh that hasn't happened and i don't know how they win three straight games
04:32uh if aaron judge doesn't rise up well certainly the one thing i think and and i talked about this
04:40with dan martin over the weekend uh after even after yesterday's loss the yankees believe it or
04:46not it feels like they have it lined up if they do want to make a comeback here because of the
04:51situation it currently is you have carlos rodon if you can win game three and him give you six solid
04:58innings or seven innings even possibly and the lineup actually produces and you win this game three game
05:04four you got cam schlittler on the mound on what expects to be a bullpen game for the the blue jays
05:10and then like you said it's a it's a anyone can win game five back in toronto and you need max
05:15freed just to be half as good or even half as better as he was in the game one so or game two sorry
05:22so is there hope here can there be hope or is this really they're just dead in the water here and
05:28it's just a matter of if not i mean it's just a matter of when not if they lose this series
05:33what did jim carrey say is lloyd christmas uh so you say there's a chance right uh just to give
05:41you the numbers there's been 90 best of five series in the history of the playoffs that have gone
05:46to nothing the team that has gone up to nothing has won 80 times of the last 18 that have gone to
05:54nothing uh 17 times the team that has gone up to nothing has won would you like to know the one
06:02that didn't sure the 2017 yankees went down 0-2 to cleveland and people understand this was not an
06:13al central team like you're thinking cleveland was the defending american league champion and had had the
06:18best record in the american league they were really that that's the best version of of of cleveland
06:24since the manny ramirez jim tomei uh you know kenny lofton albert bell group they were really good
06:30they almost won the world series the year before they got to game seven in 2016 in 2017 you could
06:36argue that at least during the regular season they were even better they had the best record
06:39the yankees lost two in cleveland and they came back and so a few things just for yankee fans
06:47about that let's go back to judge yeah the yankees won that series though judge went one for 13 with
06:5511 strikeouts in the last three games of the series he was he was carried along how was he carried along
07:01masahiro tanaka threw seven shutout innings in game three uh and like if you're looking what carlos
07:09rodan needs to do he needs to have a tanaka moment right they got huge hits over those three games
07:16from greg bird brett gardner and dd gregorius uh so like is ben rice going to step up and be greg
07:25bird is volpe going to be dd gregorius is uh bellinger's supposed uh able to be gardner by the
07:32way if you'd like to bring the house down somehow convince brett gardner come back to the flock and
07:38throw out the first pitch before game one tomorrow they they would have had your savage and you would
07:44have the savage right like back uh somebody who's been away somebody who i think the fans love and
07:49is by the way best friends you know really pals with judge uh real mentor to judge in the clubhouse
07:56and their bullpen was great uh chapman and david robertson and uh and canely were all excellent so
08:05like there was a formula and they got back to game five and game five was pitched by the guy who would
08:10go on to win the cy young award that year cory kluber and the yankees kind of got on him and did
08:15it so like i've seen and and there's been three times i think at least since i've been around the
08:21yankees with some regularity they also did this in the 96 world series uh where they lost two at home
08:27to the braves and then went and won three in a row well that that was a seven game series but i'll tell
08:32you in a five game series in 2001 they went down two nothing to oakland and then a little bit like
08:38they won i think a one nothing game with mucina that's the flip play with jeter where they keep
08:43it one to nothing they went to oakland and they come back to new york they advanced it got all the
08:48way to game seven of the world series i've seen it i've seen the yankees do it but again i can't
08:55imagine that there'd be three games maybe not even one game where judge disappears and this happens
09:01the the the the rules are different with the yankees to me ryan they've won 27 championships
09:07and if you're bernie williams or reggie jackson if you're derrick jeter or mariano rivera this is
09:13it isn't just you you you make your bones from april to september you have meaningful october moments
09:20and i would even point out tino martinez was a 240 postseason hitter in about i think it was 81
09:27exactly half of regular season 81 postseason games for the yankees but he took langston deep
09:33he goes deep against the diamondbacks like he's a forever yankee in some way because he has those
09:38memories and jeter and judge of course is going to be a forever yankee because of how good he's been
09:42during the uh the regular season but um he's got to have some moments here he's got to have some
09:50moments where he puts the team on his back and if he doesn't it's part of his legacy too
09:58it's it certainly is and i'm i'm just that image of the swing i i just can't get it out of my head
10:06and i knew when it happened i said joel just put the ball in play man like don't even worry about
10:12hitting a home run here just put the ball in play make them feel that i was the guy who after the game
10:18i don't know if you saw the interview i asked him if he was over anxious and he kind of pooh-poohed it
10:21and actually asked me if i had seen the whole at bat no yes i had seen the whole at bat uh i've seen
10:26all of his at bats in the postseason if he'd like to know um in person uh and i asked the question
10:34because i do feel like at some point it's probably even he is dying to have the moment and gossman is a
10:41guy he's owned yeah kevin gossman is a guy he's owned he has six homers off of him he has about a
10:47340 batting average off of him in literally the most plate appearances that anyone has against
10:52kevin gossman it's over 60 plate appearances so it's not an insignificant number and you know again
10:58it was a game in which he i think he got a hit in his first about against gossman and he got a hit
11:03later in the game and you know you trade it all in for just a again even just take the walk there
11:10and keep it going or you know get a big hit it was interesting after the game yesterday
11:15when judge was asked about where he thinks he is he talked about like i think i'm having a good at
11:21bats you know trying not to do too much passing the baton and i'm like yeah that's a wonderful
11:26vanilla soundbite but i'm sure that isn't what him and his agent said to the yankees when he got
11:31360 million dollars i'd like to be a guy who passes the baton he's erin judge like it's a stand-up
11:38moment like at some point as part of the crescendo on top of a hall of fame career let's not kid
11:44ourselves where erin judge is going this is one of the might be one of the 25 greatest regular season
11:49hitters in the history of the sport uh but right now like if you're telling me you're tying a home
11:58run off of emmanuel class a or some double off of ken giles that no even strong yankee fan will
12:05remember is your big moments in october when you've now played i think it's 63 postseason games
12:12it's not insignificant it's up over towards about 230 240 plate appearances there there needs to come
12:20a time like like it feels to me if the yankees are going to come back and i and ryan we've done this
12:25long enough you know i don't usually go for the sports movie stuff yeah but it feels like if they're
12:31going to mount something they like almost the surge has to start with him like him like a two homer game
12:39yeah uh you know he hits one in the first they get ahead and at the first moment where it seems like
12:45toronto might come back he hits another one you know or drives in a couple of runs with guys on base like
12:51like they just they're a home run hitting team and they're a judge team when they hit homers and judge
12:57plays well they do a lot of winning and you know they've been out homeward eight to one in this
13:04series it's crazy eight one it's crazy and it's there's you know like stanton who's the greatest
13:10truth teller of their group just said nope can't win if we don't win the home run battle if we don't
13:15win it we won't win like pretty simple and to win the home run battle you need judge to get on the board
13:21absolutely it all starts with him and that's really what's been the difference in this series is the
13:25fact that game one he has bases loaded doesn't come through and vladimir greer yesterday just puts
13:29the the the icing on top of the cake with the grand slam yesterday just putting that game away
13:34uh and their star vlad is leading their way for the blue jays like i know they're hitting as a lineup
13:39but vlad is risen to the moment yankee stars their chorus is outplaying the yankee chorus
13:45their rotation i mean everything is better the blue jays i mean through if if for 162 games they
13:52were even they both won 94 games uh but the blue jays won the season series and got the series up
13:59there where they have home field that you called it the house of horrors it's what i called it in my
14:03column today they they the the blue jays are unleashed up there the yankees are cowed you know
14:10ryan one of the reasons i asked at the beginning of the show what do you think about this is last year
14:16we did a lot on the yankees will self-sabotage and that's how the season will end i actually think
14:22the yankees have kind of played brilliantly on defense uh almost this whole postseason uh ryan
14:27mcmahon is just a tremendous third baseman has uh really solidified things this you're getting the
14:33best version of volpe defensively again uh with dominguez off the the field i know judge made an
14:40error but there was a homer after it anyway it wasn't like that was the run deciding thing like
14:45that defense in their outfield is good i think austin wells is a good to very good defensive like
14:51like they're they're not beating themselves the toronto blue jays are mauling them they're
14:57completely outplaying that's why i asked you it's oftentimes these turn into recriminate into you know
15:03like uh the blame game and like where do you go like who do you like i just think it's pretty simple
15:09there's been 18 innings in this series and the blue jays have annihilated the yankees for 18 innings
15:15the yank oftentimes we can make this case for a lot of the two years we've done this together ryan
15:20before like the last couple of months where i think the yankees have tightened up a lot of things
15:25the yankees lost as much as the other team won i think that went right to game five of the world
15:30series game one and game five of the world series which is where they lost the world series last year
15:34i don't think the yankees have lost these two games i think the blue jays have won these two games
15:39pretty clear clearly and the yankees haven't looked in their class and that's about what their
15:46hitters are doing to the yankee pitching and what the yankee hitting is not doing and what they're not
15:53doing is getting a ball over the fence they're back in the bronx on tuesday they hope they're back in
15:59the bronx on wednesday they've got to get to they if i could just say one last thing about it i'm sorry
16:06to be wrong with it because i think one thing that will be heard is well you know all these years you said
16:10they're too addicted to the homers and i'm like they're too addicted to the homers and they're ignoring
16:15everything else i never would say i i think on this show i've always been pretty consistent if you
16:21told me i could be good at everything else or hit homers i would hit homers like it's the only sure way
16:25to get a run at a time where it is very hard to hit pitching the average fastball this postseason
16:29is 96 miles per hour like it's ridiculous how good the pitching is and then you see more of it come in
16:36from the bullpen etc so like you've got to get the ball over the fence the problem was the yankees
16:41the last few years were getting it over the fence but they were bad at all these other things now
16:44they're pretty they're really good on defense actually i mean just mcmahon again is transformative
16:50uh about how good he is on defense and i've actually think on the whole team mcmahon's had the best at
16:55bats yeah also like he's played really honored himself in these two games uh in toronto he hasn't
17:02struck out he put the ball hard in play i agree they made made good defensive plays he's been
17:07really good but like the yankees have to have both column a and column b they have column b which is
17:14they're not hurting themselves on the basis they're playing really well on defense this is not a
17:19technical airhead oh forgot how many outs there were whatever this is toronto putting the ball over
17:25the fence and the yankees are not putting it over the fence that's been the series and that was
17:30nobody's preview coming into this nobody the yankees out homing them by about like 70
17:36over the over the time and the blue jays have gone deep and the yankees haven't yankees are in
17:42their most comfortable place to hit homers for at least one and possibly two nights it either goes
17:47over the fence or it doesn't if it doesn't i i don't even know how they win three game three i don't
17:54know how they win game four and i don't know how they have a three game winning streak they've got to
17:58decisively win the homer battle for the next one two or three games completely agree joel and it
18:03also goes to the fact in last year you had the shield for judge and stan and soto and this year
18:11i mean stan hasn't really been stan like playoff like you would hope and the strange thing ryan is
18:17he has killed the ball right he's sending it into the ground i thought he hit that ball out in game
18:22three mind you too like i i yeah i thought that was going out i couldn't believe it i think i think
18:26he's hit like nine balls over 100 miles per hour in the postseason i mean he has rocketed the ball
18:32it's been on the ground uh which is kind of not his tradition uh so again does he kind of like does
18:40his launch angle because listen if he hits it 106 109 112 things we've seen so far in this postseason
18:47and it's in the air it's 430 we know what happens when he does that uh i just i yeah and look it
18:56wasn't as big of a bat because there were two outs but you know he strikes out with the bases loaded
19:00too there and you know like we have become used to over the past few postseasons of him being the
19:07rescue guy for them and getting big hits and so far there haven't been big hits from him either
19:13and the only you know the the the one thing i'll say is he's hit the ball hard but not
19:18up yep you know like the whole homer thing doesn't make a lot of sense with these two teams
19:24where the ball's being hit hard by stanton doesn't make a lot of sense to me because it's you know like
19:30i've seen him rocket into a lot of double plays obviously on the ground but usually when he hits it
19:34hard it's up yeah and it hasn't happened and and ryan it's like i you know i love doing the show with
19:41you it just feels like that could be the sentence and we could all go back you know take a nap this
19:45afternoon on like they're either going to hit the ball over the fence and stop the blue jays from
19:49doing the same you know the blue jays have gotten multi-homer games from varsho and kirk they got a
19:55homer from clement guerrero's at bats have been great and he has a homer in each game they are
20:01completely winning the long ball game and it's that's it yeah that's it yeah that is it um on the flip
20:10side with them hitting all these home runs it look i know the stats said that the blue jays don't
20:15strike out much right like you're gonna have a tough time with them because they just they don't
20:18do it am i crazy i'm hearing fan theories that they're they were stealing signs that they are on
20:24these pitches i just feel like that's just who the blue jays have been all year not not the power
20:28numbers but they just they don't strike out they don't swing and miss they are on top of you and
20:33that's been their approach at the plate all year long well the question is do you think they're
20:38stealing um on the field or do you think they're stealing them illegally if it's on the field the
20:43yankees can do no wine right nobody steals on the field like the yankees the question is do you think
20:47that they have this great record at the rogers center and a great record at the rogers center
20:52against the yankees because something else is going on i think that's a horrible thing to allege
20:56unless you have some real proof because that's suspendable stuff that's throw you out of it like
21:02after 2017 and the astros that's another level and i will say something um i talked to an executive
21:11to do that long scouting report i do for every series and this was before the red sock yankee
21:16series and he said the two teams that are the best in baseball and on field thievery are the yankees and
21:22the red socks but then when you're the best at it you're also the most paranoid about it because you
21:28think like oh we can do it i bet you everybody could do it but the the executive i talked to said
21:34not everybody does it at the level and success level that those two teams and he said the yankees
21:39were the best and he said they're really great at it so like we could have a conversation if this on
21:48field gamesmanship that's gotten heightened where we saw what happened to like teoscar hernandez and
21:55matt strom the other day like this isn't just a yankee thing it's not just a blue jay thing it's
21:59not just everybody is got the high speed slow-mo cameras on everything and they're looking for every
22:06tell like this is the world series of poker not the world series of you know baseball eventually
22:12and uh i don't know how great that is for the sport but again at a time where the average fastball
22:18is in the mid to high 90s offenses are looking for every advantage they could get to try to hit the ball
22:24and one of them is to kind of have a general idea of either what when it's caught what what is coming
22:29or where it's coming to and what quadrant of the plate and so uh everyone is trying to do it and
22:35there's some better than the others and look the blue jays they they didn't just have a low strikeout
22:43percentage in their ballpark like they they hit the ball uh and i mean they really
22:50hit the ball and maybe also like look maybe one of the advantages of getting five days off because
22:57you win the division because you won the season series is you could do even more homework for five
23:02days while the yankees and the red you know yankees yankees already have played to do or die games
23:07this postseason they're about to play their third tomorrow so uh like maybe the blue jays just like
23:14hey let's use the week well let's go to school on everybody and figure out every little thing we could
23:19take advantage of it's a real advantage my final two questions for you joel the first being
23:25tomorrow night carlos rodan uh we saw him do it in game two against the red sox can he or not i
23:32should say kenny do you believe he will be capable of giving them a strong performance tomorrow night
23:37against this blue jays lineup you know the one thing i keep thinking is like uh rodan and freed really
23:44had to expend heavy to get through the season uh they they coincidentally both finished at 195 and
23:51a third innings which i find bizarre that the two guys on the same team had the exact like to the
23:56fraction 195 the third innings and you know the yankees don't get where they're getting without
24:01those guys being not only high level starters but horses who got the yankees as far as they all have
24:08gotten has something you know and then freed worked very hard in game one against boston is that now
24:15he's over 200 innings for the season rodan is up over 200 innings for the season uh you know it's hard
24:22to ignore the fresh arm of you savage the fresh arm of schlitler i even thought that like it was about
24:28defense i think connelly early threw the ball very well for the red sox he got their defense right like
24:35again when all the time we talked about the yankees beating themselves the red sox beat themselves
24:39like like the red sox had a real shot to win that series maybe they win it if uh roman anthony is
24:45healthy but like they certainly have a much better chance if they play clean baseball in that series
24:51they didn't the yankees did for the most part and advanced um and and again the blue jays are putting
24:59it in play the yankees are not botching the ball now you can't botch a ball that goes over the fence
25:04that's got to stop uh as we know rodan has some penchant for the home run ball uh which freed
25:10actually doesn't and gave up a couple uh he's got to keep them in the park and you gotta here and i
25:20recognize how silly this is because of how easy it is to say and not do a veteran pitching coach who i
25:28asked like how would you attack the blue jays and he kind of uh you know what babbit is batting average
25:34on balls in play he's like you just have to pray your back you you gotta throw your best pitches to
25:40get weak contact and just pray that it's a good babbit david yeah it's going to be play you hope it
25:47doesn't dunk over the infield and go down the line he's like they're very hard team to strike out a lot
25:53they're not going to strike out a lot you got to be really sharp defensively and hope that what
25:58you're pitching is doing is taking it off the meat of the bat and then you win the babbit game so
26:03can rodan do that he has more tools to do it uh you know the change up and the cutter are real for him
26:10they help them have you know a really really top flight top 10 in the american league among starters
26:17season this year and it's a calling card game their season is on the line and they need them
26:24to to to see if they could get the ball to the end game and look the end game is going to have to be
26:32close to flawless for three more games also and that's a tough thing because the yankees as the
26:40season went along kind of try to transition into more of a strikeout bullpen and you know like devin
26:46williams is counting on you striking out david bednar is counting on you striking out a third
26:51of the time fernando cruz is counting on you striking out a third of the time these guys can't
26:56mount their problems with walks and cruz and williams in particular are guys who are problematic
27:02walk guys you've got to do the i'm throwing good pitches and if i get to two strikes early in a
27:10count and i want to go first strike out whatever but like at two and two you got to play the game
27:17of not getting to three and two i would treat two and two like ball three against this team
27:22i would not add to my problems by walking them and again all easier said than done hey just throw a
27:29good strike but the yankees margin for error as we know is now gone it's now gone and they've got to
27:38figure out like limit the walks limit bad counts get this team to put the ball in play like like
27:46kevin gosman did to the yankees for five innings where he got he got 15 outs and 50 pitches to begin
27:52the game the other day there is something to be said for rodon's change up getting the ball on the
27:57ground and him not feeling like the judgment on him is does he go six innings with eight strikeouts
28:06the key thing is to go six innings with two runs or less yep and and and get you know
28:12get the lead to your bullpen yeah get the lead to your bullpen and again how do you get the lead
28:18aaron judge going to bat in the first inning man you know stanton probably getting it bat in the first
28:25inning it's uh the shane bieber we're gonna see tomorrow finished well but he ain't that shane bieber
28:32and you've got to like begin to change the context of this series the yankees have played behind the
28:40whole series uh and i know what the final score was in game one that was a close game for two
28:46thirds of the game and then the yankees put in the soft underbelly of their of their bullpen and it got
28:53beat up and you know i am curious like deval looked great again does deval move up and get some
29:02some run he's gonna have to you know they've got we know we know it's not luke weaver we know it's
29:07not luke weaver getting that run yeah i wouldn't believe that just one pitch got weaver back on track
29:13it feels like he's tipping pitches and i feel like in the post game i don't think he i wonder if he's
29:20almost if if his attempt again the paranoia that's what it sounded like when luke was talking the other
29:26night after the game was his paranoia has led to him throwing worse pitches yeah then you know what's
29:34going on and it's like and it's a different age but literally everyone in baseball knew when sandy
29:41koufax was throwing his curveball but it was sandy koufax's curveball so it didn't get hit uh at some
29:48point i think you've got to throw your best stuff and i get it there's you know what it reminds me
29:56of you're a fan of uh uh the movie uh oceans 11 the remake of course the one with cluny and damon and
30:02those guys um they um where they say that you forgot in your casino you're always being watched
30:12on the cameras that's julia roberts right at the end to um andy garcia andy garcia that's right
30:19yeah yeah and i think that's the game now the cameras are everywhere they're super they're super
30:25slow-mo they're super detailed they could hologram people so like uh oh on somebody told me that there
30:37was a pitcher who was like essentially it was like hourglass stuff it was like fastball slider
30:46change up that's crazy and they hologrammed it and that's how they knew fastball it was about an inch
30:54an inch and a half slider an inch an inch and a half to change up any advantage huh joel right and by the
31:00way i i see that all as kind of fair game what's going on as long as it's not being relayed through
31:07electronic signal during the game like but i don't love it to be honest like i think it's gone too far
31:14i think it's too i think the overt quality of the yankees stuff or what we saw teoscar hernandez do the
31:22other day with his hand i think that that look in the old days even aaron judge aaron judge did that
31:29his next at bat there'd be a fastball up near his head and the problem is i think i i use the word
31:37problem it's not nobody should have a baseball thrown at them but the ability to legislate this
31:42on the field has gone away where a pitcher can't just say all right uh turn to the guy on second
31:51base and say you're gonna bat again in this game and when you do stay loose in there my friend
31:56it's uh that would clean up some of it but you can't you can't do it anymore yeah uh it's and i
32:03think that's what happened to luke yeah i think i think luke is now where i said you could come deep
32:10in the paranoia of it all i think luke is deep in the paranoia of it all seems like it uh my final
32:16question for you joel if the yankees go down and get swept and it's ugly again tomorrow night in the
32:21bronx no it's not that it's not that but i will say is this an ultimate disappointing season is the
32:29question in terms of really good question so that that's that's awesome thinking about it a lot that's
32:35my honest question because right like you finished with the same record like you said with the blue
32:39jays you ended up losing the division to them because you did have a division lead earlier this
32:44regular season and they had a really bad slump in the middle of the year and i know that they they
32:48squashed that narrative against the red sox by winning that wild card series but getting swept
32:53by your division rival a team that you tied for in the al east is that an ultimate disappointment
32:59disappointment for this season the yankees are judged by championships this would fall short of it
33:05but ryan i would ask a question and let's table it because it's stuff i'm thinking about writing
33:10when and if they're eliminated but i would just ask this question do you think this team is better
33:16than last year's team absolutely absolutely right so so it's a tough thing to say that they got a good
33:22draw last year right they get cleveland and kansas city kansas city has a losing record if you take the
33:30white socks 120 plus lost white socks out of it so they got a good draw and they got all the way to the
33:35world series and this year's team i just think is better but then again i think i've said this on
33:42the show a lot i thought the 2017 19 and 22 yankees were better than the 2024 yankees they all lost in
33:48the alcs to the astros i thought those were better teams i thought last year's team was a one trick
33:55pony hit ball out stadium you know that was their trick and when it happened it was really good
34:01and they could win and overcome stuff against inferior opponents that's why i was very careful
34:07the blue jays are beating them like like it's hard and and and that's to the detriment of the whole
34:15group that the blue jays are beating them but i feel it's a different level of ugly when you're
34:20beating yourself and i think that they're a better all-around team this year than they were last year
34:29and they may end up going two and four in the postseason so it's almost like i'm not even sure
34:36like one of my jobs is always you got to pivot like what would you do next i'm not positive what i would
34:42do next right this second i'll come up with something when i got to have my fingers touch a keyboard
34:46uh but i think they've ended up with a well-rounded team that feels like if garrett cole were making this
34:56one of these three starts you know and then you had schlittler and again no crying in baseball
35:03zach wheeler is not available to the phillies their ace is gone right the blue jays are playing without
35:08you know who's their second best position player on a daily basis no crying but like ryan it's
35:15i know the so i always say there's fair and there's sports fair and unfair in real in real life
35:25i think it would be unfair to do what we're about to do to the yankees after their next loss to the
35:31blue jays if there's a next loss to the blue jays but in the sports world where everything is small
35:38sample like i can't you just can't hide behind small sample forever like at some point the small
35:44sample has to go your way um there will be something that i still haven't completely put my
35:53finger on that the yankees are lacking to be more bulletproof uh at this time of year is it one or two
36:02more guys who strike out a little less i don't know like because you got to give up somebody then
36:08and those guys are hard to find who are also well-rounded players who can like you know it's it's the
36:14thing about bellinger that makes him so special is he doesn't strike out and he's good at everything
36:21how he's going to get a lot of money this offseason because of that uh kyle tucker is going to get a
36:27ton of money because of that this offseason like they're just like i talked to somebody who knows
36:33tucker well because i'm like how's kyle tucker getting hundreds of millions of dollars i never feel
36:38him in the game he goes if you play against them though he never does bad he's only good at
36:44everything he goes you know how hard it is in major league baseball to be good at everything
36:48and he goes and and kyle isn't just good he's very good at everything and i'm like okay i'll trust you
36:54on it because i'm watching bellinger be very good at everything they're hard to find they get paid a lot
36:59of money uh and like one of the problems is like aaron judge is pretty good at everything and then he
37:05hurt his arm and he strikes out a little too much but the exchanges he led the world in batting this
37:11year by a lot he still hit and he hit home runs and and here we are back to him and maybe the yankees
37:19would have championships over the last nine years if aaron judge hit in october and so that's not
37:25changing right he's the captain of the team signed for nine years and he's barely a third of the way
37:31into that he's a beloved yankee he's a great player and it just feels like if he's hit if he hit in
37:40october we might be having like uh well at least they won that one time at least they won those two
37:45times like he hasn't he hasn't had a reggie like i mean bernie williams was a brilliant postseason
37:55hitter he had two walk-off homers in the postseason bernie williams besides tons of other big hits like
38:01we're going full circle here i just think that the next three days if the yank three four days and three
38:10games or one day and me and you doing this again later in the week is a referendum on the captain
38:18of the team like he needs this to be the moment because uh my friend kenny rosenthal wrote a column
38:26this morning that i agree with which is he's 34 in april he obviously is still a great player but at
38:32some point his window to do this while he's still an elite player gets tougher and tougher every year
38:39and one of the reasons they get eliminated is because he hasn't been april to september judge
38:48in october and ryan i just don't know how they get they go three and oh against the blue jays for
38:56the rest of 2025 without him being a great player well said joel we're looking forward to your coverage
39:03throughout the rest of the week and this postseason we appreciate you giving us time just to talk about
39:06this and we'll see how it plays out over the next couple days hopefully if it happens that way
39:11joel sherman thank you sir all right ryan all the best and all the viewers thank you so much
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