October 24, 2025 • 22 mins
The Dodgers are trying to become the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back World Series championships. And they are the favorites against the Toronto Blue Jays, who haven't been to the Fall Classic in more than 30 years. Richard and Wes dig into it.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, I am here on Cyprus Street. Welcome to Dodger
Blue Dream two forty five on Monday. World Series starts Friday.
I'm Richard Parks, the third. I'm about to go get
my lucky World Series haircut. It's been quite a week
in Los Angeles. Maybe it's me, but everybody seems to
(00:24):
be talking about the Dodgers and their trip to the
World Series for the second year in a row. I'm
getting the same haircut I got last year before the
World Series from the same barber with Fabian, and Fabian
is a Dodger fan, so we'll probably talk a little
ball while I'm in there. All right, let's get it.
(00:46):
All right, it's just you today, I see holding it down.
Baseball fans are a superstitious bunch. I got this haircut
last year before the World Series, so I got I
got it this year. Babian or Tease, is my barber,
and he's also a season ticket holder at Dodger Stadium.
(01:09):
And when you have season tickets, you have a chance
to buy those seats for the postseason games. It's a
pricey ticket no matter how you slice it, but this
makes it a bit better of a deal. Do you
have your tickets.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I haven't got any tickets because I said I wasn't
going to get tickets until the World Series. I had
a feeling we were gonna go to the World Series.
I didn't want to jinx it by getting tickets because
other years that I've gotten tickets in the playoffs, we
haven't made it right for the.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
World Series, Like I said, a superstitious bunch. We made it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So I'm gonna get my tickets.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yere, it works, Yeah, yeah, we're all doing our part here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I don't know. I don't know what I got last year,
but I think about thirty minutes later time which we
spent shooting the breeze about baseball, I had my lucky
World Series haircut.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tell me what you think. This is pretty much what
we did last year. If I remember, I pretty much
remember we did something like this.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
All right, cool, well it all right, right, let's roll
with it. Let's run it back back to back, baby.
The Dodgers are trying to be the first team in
baseball in twenty five years to win back to back titles,
and they're being talked about as the favorites to win
the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. But as
(02:36):
I found out over the course of this week in
conversations I had with fans of both the Dodgers and
the Blue Jays, and experts and my co host, Chef West,
it's a little bit more complicated than that. And I
always think pride Goe before the fall. The baseball gods
don't like it when you get too cocky, and we
(02:57):
just really don't know what's going to happen. So today
on the show, we're going to talk about this World
Series matchup, which kicks off today Friday at five pm,
very specifically Pacific time. You'll hear from me and my
co host, You'll hear from my Canadian friend James for
a little bit of the Blue Jays perspective, and I
(03:18):
also talk to a Dodgers beat writer who travels with
the team and knows the situation inside and out. Once again,
thanks for tuning in to Dodger Blue Dream the twenty
twenty five World Series preview. We'll be right back. The
(03:51):
Dodgers are trying to go back to back, and if
they do, it will cement their status as a baseball dynasty.
Nobody's gone back back to back since the New York
Yankees have a three peat in the Y two K
era a quarter century ago. Not only that, this would
be the Dodgers third title in six years. That's a dynasty.
(04:13):
For the Blue Jays, a World Series title would validate
a huge investment they've put into their young players and
also their stadium that so far hasn't really panned out,
and the Blue Jays have not been to the World
Series since nineteen ninety three, when they won it for
the second consecutive year. The Blue Jays actually have gone
(04:35):
back to back, but that was back then and this
is now. With my lucky haircut, it was now time
to meet up with my co host, chef wes Avla
to pick apart all the ins and outs of how
we feel about this series coming up against the Toronto
Blue Jays. What date is it today? Tuesday, October twenty first,
(04:56):
twenty first, twenty twenty five. An exciting time, very exciting.
How are you feeling about it?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'm feeling very good, very confident, excited, excited.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yes, not nervous. Not nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It wasn't like last year with the Yankees. With the Yankees,
it felt a little nervous because you know, they had
the sleeping giant.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Here, Wes is referring to Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, who
wasn't really doing much in the postseason last year. That
makes the Yankees a whole different team, and it seems
like we're all looking at this year a little bit
differently than last year. I spoke with Fabian Ardaya about this.
Fabian is a Dodgers beat writer for The Athletic.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
And this year, not to say that there hasn't been
as much going on, because there still has been a
lot of interesting stuff happening, but this has been more
of an almost pure domination for the Dodgers to get
to this point, even factory in the extra round that
they had to play in. I mean, they're nine and
one heading into this World Series in October, and that
is a testament to how strong their starting rotation is.
(06:00):
Which was a big part of the narrative last year
was how little starting pision they had, which made every
single game almost a puzzle to see how Dodgers would
find their way to get twenty seven out's. This year,
it's a lot more straightforward. It's you let Blake Snell
or your Shobi Almoto or Tyler glasnow or Chokio Tani
take you as deep as possible. And I think that's
(06:22):
the biggest thing that's kind of standing out this year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Where to last, where the Dodgers have Shohey and the
Yankees had Aaron Judge, the Toronto Blue Jays have their
superstar in Vladimir Guerrero Junior.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
They got Vlatti and Vladdy's got some serious pop.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Right now, Vlatti is tearing up the postseason. He's already
tied the franchise record for the most home runs in
a postseason before even making it to the World Series.
Gladdy's hitting a lot of home runs. Yeah, He's hit
like six kiss or something.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, it's so good to see him hit too, because
he's got a really nice swing. You know, he's got
some power, got a good attitude. Dude, it's great. It's
it's like seem you know, like comparable for us would
be like Tailor. He's got that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Energy to him, you know, very likable guy.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Very likable. He's on he's on the Blue Jays. I'm
not a Blue Jays fan.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, Latti.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Everybody loves Flatty. He's like poppy, He's like, you know,
he's got that energy that you just like the guy.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You can't hate the guy, and he's their homegrown star.
He's actually Canadian. Yeah, he's Dominican Canadian.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
I mean, first of all, Guerrero is a Canadian.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
This is my friend James Braithwaite who lives in Toronto.
I reached out to him to get the Canadian perspective
from a Blue Jays fan, which is like the best.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
He's the son of Vladimir Guerrero's senior, who was a
Montreal Expo And there's incredibly cute footage you can see
of Vladdie Junior on the field as like a five
year old with the expos.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
It's so cool.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
But so yeah, Vladdie is a Canadian and he is
I would say, by far, the most famous Canadian baseball
player we've ever had. I mean, we have a couple
Hall of famers, but like right now, he is definitely
the most famous. And yeah, they seem to have built
like this team around him. That is a team that
seems to be having a ton of fun. Like I
(08:14):
heard Don Maddingly talk about it. He's like, Oh, this
is a team that really actually enjoys each other's company.
Like these are guys that will show up merrily to
practices that they don't even need to be too. They
just come because they want to hang out with each
other on their days off, and they just seem like
there's like a really cool atmosphere and a really happy atmosphere,
which I don't feel a lot of teams.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Have signed a big extension half a billy really five
hundred mili Yeah, so he's their superstar.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Yeah. I would start with the fact that Vladimir Greer
Junior has looked like the best hitter on the planet is.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
October once again. Dodgers beat writer Fabian Ardayah from The
Athletic Hell.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yeah, Obviously, the talent has always been in there. The
talent has been immense. He's been one of the top
prospects in the sport even before he turned nineteen years old.
Like this has been the promise of VLADIMIRK. Graver Junior.
He's kind of lived up to it in his first
real extended October run, and he in a lot of
ways has kind of fueled this Blue Jays offense.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Buck so vlatdy, super likable guy and obviously important to
the team. But if you're looking for a villain, Chef
Wes has your back.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And they got that cheating scumbag George Springer, which was
part of the twenty seventeen Astros, which Dodger fans will
never forget.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
George Springer, who was on the twenty seventeen Houston Astros
who stole signs in their World Series against the Dodgers,
which they won, now plays for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He hit the game winning home run in Game seven
of the ALCS that sent them to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Child.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Although everybody seems to hate George Springer.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
He was on the twenty seventeen Cheaton Astros.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Absolutely absolutely. He also has the darkest eyes.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Like looking into his eyes even when he's smiling, it's
something that's just like so like that it's just dark
pits of sadness his eyes, even when he's super happy,
he just has these dark pit eyes.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
And there's one more prominent Blue Jay Dodger fans might remember, and.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
They got Max Schuzer. So it's gonna be a fun series.
You know, he's a really tough competitor, so be nice
to shell like him, you know, Mad Max, Mad Max.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
And we have Max Scherzer.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
And so Max Schurzer was not put into the first
series because he had a couple of really lousy games
before the end of the season and so they had
taken him out, which everyone's like, uh, I don't want
to be the guy to tell him that he's not
playing in the series because.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
He's like, he's a little nuts. He's like, he's aggressive.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
He's just like I always picture pictures as being like
a little psychopathic because it's just such a stressful position
that there has to be something slightly wrong with you
to be able to do that and not have your
brain fall out of your ears live on television. And
Max is that guy, just like super aggressive, and so
(11:24):
they did not have him in. So during this last
sears against the Mariners, they did put him in, and
everyone's like, what is going to happen? Like, he's a
Hall of Fame pitcher, but he's forty one years old.
He hasn't pitched in three weeks, and when he did
pitch three weeks ago, it was not great. What's this
going to be like? And he was awesome. I think
he pitched six innings. It was it was really great.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, I saw that footage of him like arguing to
stay in the game. That was that was great. Theater. Yeah,
great postseason baseball there.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
Also he has like one blue eye and one brown eye,
so he just like looks extra crazy in the footage.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It's it's very fun.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Yes, and he's one of those pitchers he talks to
himself constantly.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, mad Max.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
He got Mad Max. I mean Mad Max's been he's
been in playoffs. He'd been in big games before.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So, including with the Dodgers in twenty twenty one, twenty one.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
But also a lot of Dodgers fans don't like because
him dead arm Max, because he didn't want to pitch
that second. He's like, no, I'm not gonna throw my arm.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I think there was an important game that people wanted
him to start that he chose not to. But that
was kind of why he was acquired. And then we
ended up getting bounced and so that became a part
of the story. And then that was his only time
as a Dodger.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's it. Then he made down a year or something.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, just sort of playing wherever he wants, you know,
for like a year. He keeps bouncing around somehow, making
forty million here, forty million there. Mad Max is one
of Toronto's big deal starters. They've also got Kevin Gusman
and Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, but they do
not have what we have. I think last year we
(12:58):
were nervous because we just had no pitching, and this
year we have all the pitching.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We have A would you say we have a plethora.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Of I would? I would? We actually have too much pitching.
I mean shohe who I think people are just starting
to understand. But you know, he's one of the best
pitchers in the league. It's sort of generally accepted that
if he only pitched, he would be the best pitcher
in the game. He's our fourth starter, fourth and the
(13:28):
way these guys are pitching, they're pitching to their potential
and they're fully.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Healthy and they're rested.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, the reason why we don't have the best record
in baseball is because all these guys were on the
IL y all year getting ready for this moment, and
so we're kind of more on the Japanese pitching rotation
schedule where there's an extra day built in, but we
just have more you know, it's like kersh is just
in the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah, playing Honestly, they're playing it smarter, you know, like
they're given Doc the tools to win, you know what
I mean. Last year we were missing a lot. Like
the Dogs came through big time, but there was a
point where I was like, do who is going to
pitch tomorrow? You know, like, oh, guess what. It's a
bullpen game, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And we have so many starters and they're all healthy,
and they're looking really good. And I've never really seen
the Dodgers play as well as they are playing right now. Yeah,
they're on a hot one. Everything seems to be clicking
right when they need to be. Yeah, historically dominant.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It's nuts.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
It's nice to see it in real time and not
just man I remember that year back in back in
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right, we're actually witnessing history. Yeah, and the most exciting
picture to watch also hits sho. Hey, Otani had a
game for the Ages in the NLCS clincher. Those curios
strikes out because it's a called strike three. Oh Tani,
we're gonna start going six innings and striking out ten
(15:02):
and hitting three home runs.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Their go to TONI show. Hey, oh my goodness, to Toddy.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh Tony, Oh Tony has done it again.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I mean the show hey game.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
I mean people people here in Canada were asking, were like,
what's the equivalent of what show hey just did in
hockey and someone wrote They're like, that would be like
the goaltender got a hat trick. Yeah, And I'm like, yes,
that yeah, yeah, exactly, Like it's just impossible.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Right when your superstar comes through like that. That's the
note that we're coming into the World Series on. The
Jays are coming into the World Series on a very
good note as well, with this comeback victory, exciting late
inning three run home run heroics, and they're superstar of
Vladdie Junior really clicking throughout the post killing the Yankees.
(15:55):
But the Jays are they actually I think led the
majors in come from behind victories this year.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
They're tied with the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
No really, wow, Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
I saw that too. I think they're the highest in
the American League. Them and the Dodgers had the same number,
where it was like they were making a big deal
that the Jase had it, but then when they pulled
up the Dodgers it was the exactly same number, so
it was like that.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Makes it interesting. One of the big differences here since
the Dodgers swept their championship series, they're going to end
up having an entire week off before Game one of
the World Series. The J's, on the other hand, have
just three because their championship series went to seven games.
Baseball is all about day in, day out rhythm, and
(16:42):
you play for six months, especially hitters, they love to
get their reps in. Conversely, with pitching, it's good to
be rested. So how will that affect momentum? The Dodgers
have had a bye week essentially because we swept and
their series went to seven, So on opposite ends of
the spectrum in terms of the Jays have been playing
(17:04):
the maximum amount of high pressure baseball through this last week,
and the Dodgers have essentially played the minimum. We played
one game over the minimum because we had that one
loss to Philly.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And that's good. I mean, that just means we're playing
really well.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Yeah, And it still hasn't felt like the Dodgers have
been on full cylinders either, which is the thing. And
with their offense, if you're main concern, and most teams
concerned usually coming off a long layoff like this is
for their offense to recover. I don't know, if they
necessarily were firing on all cylinders going into this. So
it's not like they rode their offense to get to
(17:40):
this point. They're starting pitching has given them enough cushion
to get their offense going. And I do think the
Dodgers certainly would rather have the long layoff, I think,
than go seven like the Blue Jays just did, and
they had to expend a lot of resources. Obviously, they'll
have a few days off before Friday's Game one, but
they're still in a spot where they had use almost everybody.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
I'm hoping that you that the Dodgers are so relaxed
and like so burned in the swimming pool from all
this time off that they like have forgotten how to
play baseball. And I hope that we're feeling I hope
we still feel the panic from our Game seven.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
No, I hope you guys are feeling super like we're
here's the World Series. We're still celebrating and then they're like, wait,
what where that bullgo? That's what I will.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the show.
We left off talking about the bye week rest versus rust.
(18:49):
One of the reasons why people talk about it is
that the Dodgers have gotten similar time off in recent postseasons,
and so the years that we've had the bye week,
there's been a pattern where we've been bounced early in
the playoffs a couple times, and Dodger fans have debated
whether the bye week played into that.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I think it played into it until shoe came out. No,
it's not like that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
It's just different.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It's just different.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
They not like us, They not like us.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
They not like us at all. That's true. And since
DVD's been around, we.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Haven't lost a stellar records. Since DVD has been around.
They needed me to come back to get hot, so
for us to come back. Joking aside, the X factor
for both teams may be the bullpen, and you heard
plenty about that in our episode Save the Dogs. So
far this postseason, our starters have been so good and
gone so deep. Our bullpen really hasn't been tested the
(19:48):
way it might be against the Jas.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
We have some gaps in our bullpen, for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They do beat the Dodgers when it comes to defense overall,
do they Yeah, the teams are pretty fairly matched, I
would say, But the Jays they've got to be the
underdog in this situation, they are, Yeah, they are, I'll
give them that.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
They are. Like technically they are the underdogs.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
I mean, obviously the Blue Jays will be cast as
the underdogs.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
But like, this is a team that obviously earned their
way here. I mean they romped through the Yankees and
obviously that Mariners series and ALCS was kind of a dogfight.
But that is a team that kind of came back
from down to to oh after losing two games at
home and kind of showed how tough they are. Of
an help.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Or do you want to make any predictions or.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I think we'll win it in five. I think we're
gonna win the World Series in five. I think they'll
lose like probably game four.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Hmm, that's the game I'm going.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
To Well, it depends how Dog plays it.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
He's not gonna be punting games this year because we
have our pitching is too deep. There's no there's no
swe the.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
That case of sweep.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Sounds nice.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Just shut him down. I feel bad for Vladdie. That's
everybody else can go.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He's young.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
He has like like twelve more times go get the
Will Series.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
When the Dodgers don't make it to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
He can win, he will series, and I'll be like,
all right, go for guys, Yeah, bloody, bloody, I'll be
up from then. Lose the Yankees, you hear me talking
a lot more. But the Blue Jays you can't. It's
hard to hate. I mean, I just don't like George Springer.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
He's come back, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Because he was on that team. But everybody else is
all right. I mean they're like, no, let's.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Have a good series, you know, let's let's see some
interesting games. It should be good, all right, Go Dodgers,
Go the Yeers. Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced
by me Richard Parks, the third This episode was story
edited by Caitlin Esh. Original music in this episode by
(21:46):
William Ryan Fritch and Jonathan Snipes. Production assistants from Tyler Hill.
Dodger Blue Dream is produced in partnership with Iheart's Michael
Toura podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Okay, I am here on Cyprus Street. Welcome to Dodger
Blue Dream two forty five on Monday. World Series starts Friday.
I'm Richard Parks, the third. I'm about to go get
my lucky World Series haircut. It's been quite a week
in Los Angeles. Maybe it's me, but everybody seems to
(00:24):
be talking about the Dodgers and their trip to the
World Series for the second year in a row. I'm
getting the same haircut I got last year before the
World Series from the same barber with Fabian, and Fabian
is a Dodger fan, so we'll probably talk a little
ball while I'm in there. All right, let's get it.
(00:46):
All right, it's just you today, I see holding it down.
Baseball fans are a superstitious bunch. I got this haircut
last year before the World Series, so I got I
got it this year. Babian or Tease, is my barber,
and he's also a season ticket holder at Dodger Stadium.
(01:09):
And when you have season tickets, you have a chance
to buy those seats for the postseason games. It's a
pricey ticket no matter how you slice it, but this
makes it a bit better of a deal. Do you
have your tickets.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I haven't got any tickets because I said I wasn't
going to get tickets until the World Series. I had
a feeling we were gonna go to the World Series.
I didn't want to jinx it by getting tickets because
other years that I've gotten tickets in the playoffs, we
haven't made it right for the.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
World Series, Like I said, a superstitious bunch. We made it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So I'm gonna get my tickets.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yere, it works, Yeah, yeah, we're all doing our part here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I don't know. I don't know what I got last year,
but I think about thirty minutes later time which we
spent shooting the breeze about baseball, I had my lucky
World Series haircut.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tell me what you think. This is pretty much what
we did last year. If I remember, I pretty much
remember we did something like this.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
All right, cool, well it all right, right, let's roll
with it. Let's run it back back to back, baby.
The Dodgers are trying to be the first team in
baseball in twenty five years to win back to back titles,
and they're being talked about as the favorites to win
the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. But as
(02:36):
I found out over the course of this week in
conversations I had with fans of both the Dodgers and
the Blue Jays, and experts and my co host, Chef West,
it's a little bit more complicated than that. And I
always think pride Goe before the fall. The baseball gods
don't like it when you get too cocky, and we
(02:57):
just really don't know what's going to happen. So today
on the show, we're going to talk about this World
Series matchup, which kicks off today Friday at five pm,
very specifically Pacific time. You'll hear from me and my
co host, You'll hear from my Canadian friend James for
a little bit of the Blue Jays perspective, and I
(03:18):
also talk to a Dodgers beat writer who travels with
the team and knows the situation inside and out. Once again,
thanks for tuning in to Dodger Blue Dream the twenty
twenty five World Series preview. We'll be right back. The
(03:51):
Dodgers are trying to go back to back, and if
they do, it will cement their status as a baseball dynasty.
Nobody's gone back back to back since the New York
Yankees have a three peat in the Y two K
era a quarter century ago. Not only that, this would
be the Dodgers third title in six years. That's a dynasty.
(04:13):
For the Blue Jays, a World Series title would validate
a huge investment they've put into their young players and
also their stadium that so far hasn't really panned out,
and the Blue Jays have not been to the World
Series since nineteen ninety three, when they won it for
the second consecutive year. The Blue Jays actually have gone
(04:35):
back to back, but that was back then and this
is now. With my lucky haircut, it was now time
to meet up with my co host, chef wes Avla
to pick apart all the ins and outs of how
we feel about this series coming up against the Toronto
Blue Jays. What date is it today? Tuesday, October twenty first,
(04:56):
twenty first, twenty twenty five. An exciting time, very exciting.
How are you feeling about it?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I'm feeling very good, very confident, excited, excited.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yes, not nervous. Not nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It wasn't like last year with the Yankees. With the Yankees,
it felt a little nervous because you know, they had
the sleeping giant.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Here, Wes is referring to Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, who
wasn't really doing much in the postseason last year. That
makes the Yankees a whole different team, and it seems
like we're all looking at this year a little bit
differently than last year. I spoke with Fabian Ardaya about this.
Fabian is a Dodgers beat writer for The Athletic.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
And this year, not to say that there hasn't been
as much going on, because there still has been a
lot of interesting stuff happening, but this has been more
of an almost pure domination for the Dodgers to get
to this point, even factory in the extra round that
they had to play in. I mean, they're nine and
one heading into this World Series in October, and that
is a testament to how strong their starting rotation is.
(06:00):
Which was a big part of the narrative last year
was how little starting pision they had, which made every
single game almost a puzzle to see how Dodgers would
find their way to get twenty seven out's. This year,
it's a lot more straightforward. It's you let Blake Snell
or your Shobi Almoto or Tyler glasnow or Chokio Tani
take you as deep as possible. And I think that's
(06:22):
the biggest thing that's kind of standing out this year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Where to last, where the Dodgers have Shohey and the
Yankees had Aaron Judge, the Toronto Blue Jays have their
superstar in Vladimir Guerrero Junior.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
They got Vlatti and Vladdy's got some serious pop.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Right now, Vlatti is tearing up the postseason. He's already
tied the franchise record for the most home runs in
a postseason before even making it to the World Series.
Gladdy's hitting a lot of home runs. Yeah, He's hit
like six kiss or something.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, it's so good to see him hit too, because
he's got a really nice swing. You know, he's got
some power, got a good attitude. Dude, it's great. It's
it's like seem you know, like comparable for us would
be like Tailor. He's got that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Energy to him, you know, very likable guy.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Very likable. He's on he's on the Blue Jays. I'm
not a Blue Jays fan.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, Latti.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Everybody loves Flatty. He's like poppy, He's like, you know,
he's got that energy that you just like the guy.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You can't hate the guy, and he's their homegrown star.
He's actually Canadian. Yeah, he's Dominican Canadian.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
I mean, first of all, Guerrero is a Canadian.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
This is my friend James Braithwaite who lives in Toronto.
I reached out to him to get the Canadian perspective
from a Blue Jays fan, which is like the best.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
He's the son of Vladimir Guerrero's senior, who was a
Montreal Expo And there's incredibly cute footage you can see
of Vladdie Junior on the field as like a five
year old with the expos.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
It's so cool.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
But so yeah, Vladdie is a Canadian and he is
I would say, by far, the most famous Canadian baseball
player we've ever had. I mean, we have a couple
Hall of famers, but like right now, he is definitely
the most famous. And yeah, they seem to have built
like this team around him. That is a team that
seems to be having a ton of fun. Like I
(08:14):
heard Don Maddingly talk about it. He's like, Oh, this
is a team that really actually enjoys each other's company.
Like these are guys that will show up merrily to
practices that they don't even need to be too. They
just come because they want to hang out with each
other on their days off, and they just seem like
there's like a really cool atmosphere and a really happy atmosphere,
which I don't feel a lot of teams.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Have signed a big extension half a billy really five
hundred mili Yeah, so he's their superstar.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Yeah. I would start with the fact that Vladimir Greer
Junior has looked like the best hitter on the planet is.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
October once again. Dodgers beat writer Fabian Ardayah from The
Athletic Hell.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yeah, Obviously, the talent has always been in there. The
talent has been immense. He's been one of the top
prospects in the sport even before he turned nineteen years old.
Like this has been the promise of VLADIMIRK. Graver Junior.
He's kind of lived up to it in his first
real extended October run, and he in a lot of
ways has kind of fueled this Blue Jays offense.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Buck so vlatdy, super likable guy and obviously important to
the team. But if you're looking for a villain, Chef
Wes has your back.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And they got that cheating scumbag George Springer, which was
part of the twenty seventeen Astros, which Dodger fans will
never forget.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
George Springer, who was on the twenty seventeen Houston Astros
who stole signs in their World Series against the Dodgers,
which they won, now plays for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He hit the game winning home run in Game seven
of the ALCS that sent them to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Child.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Although everybody seems to hate George Springer.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
He was on the twenty seventeen Cheaton Astros.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Absolutely absolutely. He also has the darkest eyes.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Like looking into his eyes even when he's smiling, it's
something that's just like so like that it's just dark
pits of sadness his eyes, even when he's super happy,
he just has these dark pit eyes.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
And there's one more prominent Blue Jay Dodger fans might remember, and.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
They got Max Schuzer. So it's gonna be a fun series.
You know, he's a really tough competitor, so be nice
to shell like him, you know, Mad Max, Mad Max.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
And we have Max Scherzer.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
And so Max Schurzer was not put into the first
series because he had a couple of really lousy games
before the end of the season and so they had
taken him out, which everyone's like, uh, I don't want
to be the guy to tell him that he's not
playing in the series because.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
He's like, he's a little nuts. He's like, he's aggressive.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
He's just like I always picture pictures as being like
a little psychopathic because it's just such a stressful position
that there has to be something slightly wrong with you
to be able to do that and not have your
brain fall out of your ears live on television. And
Max is that guy, just like super aggressive, and so
(11:24):
they did not have him in. So during this last
sears against the Mariners, they did put him in, and
everyone's like, what is going to happen? Like, he's a
Hall of Fame pitcher, but he's forty one years old.
He hasn't pitched in three weeks, and when he did
pitch three weeks ago, it was not great. What's this
going to be like? And he was awesome. I think
he pitched six innings. It was it was really great.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, I saw that footage of him like arguing to
stay in the game. That was that was great. Theater. Yeah,
great postseason baseball there.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
Also he has like one blue eye and one brown eye,
so he just like looks extra crazy in the footage.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It's it's very fun.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Yes, and he's one of those pitchers he talks to
himself constantly.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, mad Max.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
He got Mad Max. I mean Mad Max's been he's
been in playoffs. He'd been in big games before.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So, including with the Dodgers in twenty twenty one, twenty one.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
But also a lot of Dodgers fans don't like because
him dead arm Max, because he didn't want to pitch
that second. He's like, no, I'm not gonna throw my arm.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I think there was an important game that people wanted
him to start that he chose not to. But that
was kind of why he was acquired. And then we
ended up getting bounced and so that became a part
of the story. And then that was his only time
as a Dodger.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's it. Then he made down a year or something.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, just sort of playing wherever he wants, you know,
for like a year. He keeps bouncing around somehow, making
forty million here, forty million there. Mad Max is one
of Toronto's big deal starters. They've also got Kevin Gusman
and Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, but they do
not have what we have. I think last year we
(12:58):
were nervous because we just had no pitching, and this
year we have all the pitching.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We have A would you say we have a plethora.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Of I would? I would? We actually have too much pitching.
I mean shohe who I think people are just starting
to understand. But you know, he's one of the best
pitchers in the league. It's sort of generally accepted that
if he only pitched, he would be the best pitcher
in the game. He's our fourth starter, fourth and the
(13:28):
way these guys are pitching, they're pitching to their potential
and they're fully.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Healthy and they're rested.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, the reason why we don't have the best record
in baseball is because all these guys were on the
IL y all year getting ready for this moment, and
so we're kind of more on the Japanese pitching rotation
schedule where there's an extra day built in, but we
just have more you know, it's like kersh is just
in the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah, playing Honestly, they're playing it smarter, you know, like
they're given Doc the tools to win, you know what
I mean. Last year we were missing a lot. Like
the Dogs came through big time, but there was a
point where I was like, do who is going to
pitch tomorrow? You know, like, oh, guess what. It's a
bullpen game, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And we have so many starters and they're all healthy,
and they're looking really good. And I've never really seen
the Dodgers play as well as they are playing right now. Yeah,
they're on a hot one. Everything seems to be clicking
right when they need to be. Yeah, historically dominant.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It's nuts.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
It's nice to see it in real time and not
just man I remember that year back in back in
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right, we're actually witnessing history. Yeah, and the most exciting
picture to watch also hits sho. Hey, Otani had a
game for the Ages in the NLCS clincher. Those curios
strikes out because it's a called strike three. Oh Tani,
we're gonna start going six innings and striking out ten
(15:02):
and hitting three home runs.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Their go to TONI show. Hey, oh my goodness, to Toddy.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh Tony, Oh Tony has done it again.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I mean the show hey game.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
I mean people people here in Canada were asking, were like,
what's the equivalent of what show hey just did in
hockey and someone wrote They're like, that would be like
the goaltender got a hat trick. Yeah, And I'm like, yes,
that yeah, yeah, exactly, Like it's just impossible.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Right when your superstar comes through like that. That's the
note that we're coming into the World Series on. The
Jays are coming into the World Series on a very
good note as well, with this comeback victory, exciting late
inning three run home run heroics, and they're superstar of
Vladdie Junior really clicking throughout the post killing the Yankees.
(15:55):
But the Jays are they actually I think led the
majors in come from behind victories this year.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
They're tied with the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
No really, wow, Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
I saw that too. I think they're the highest in
the American League. Them and the Dodgers had the same number,
where it was like they were making a big deal
that the Jase had it, but then when they pulled
up the Dodgers it was the exactly same number, so
it was like that.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Makes it interesting. One of the big differences here since
the Dodgers swept their championship series, they're going to end
up having an entire week off before Game one of
the World Series. The J's, on the other hand, have
just three because their championship series went to seven games.
Baseball is all about day in, day out rhythm, and
(16:42):
you play for six months, especially hitters, they love to
get their reps in. Conversely, with pitching, it's good to
be rested. So how will that affect momentum? The Dodgers
have had a bye week essentially because we swept and
their series went to seven, So on opposite ends of
the spectrum in terms of the Jays have been playing
(17:04):
the maximum amount of high pressure baseball through this last week,
and the Dodgers have essentially played the minimum. We played
one game over the minimum because we had that one
loss to Philly.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And that's good. I mean, that just means we're playing
really well.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Yeah, And it still hasn't felt like the Dodgers have
been on full cylinders either, which is the thing. And
with their offense, if you're main concern, and most teams
concerned usually coming off a long layoff like this is
for their offense to recover. I don't know, if they
necessarily were firing on all cylinders going into this. So
it's not like they rode their offense to get to
(17:40):
this point. They're starting pitching has given them enough cushion
to get their offense going. And I do think the
Dodgers certainly would rather have the long layoff, I think,
than go seven like the Blue Jays just did, and
they had to expend a lot of resources. Obviously, they'll
have a few days off before Friday's Game one, but
they're still in a spot where they had use almost everybody.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
I'm hoping that you that the Dodgers are so relaxed
and like so burned in the swimming pool from all
this time off that they like have forgotten how to
play baseball. And I hope that we're feeling I hope
we still feel the panic from our Game seven.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
No, I hope you guys are feeling super like we're
here's the World Series. We're still celebrating and then they're like, wait,
what where that bullgo? That's what I will.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the show.
We left off talking about the bye week rest versus rust.
(18:49):
One of the reasons why people talk about it is
that the Dodgers have gotten similar time off in recent postseasons,
and so the years that we've had the bye week,
there's been a pattern where we've been bounced early in
the playoffs a couple times, and Dodger fans have debated
whether the bye week played into that.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I think it played into it until shoe came out. No,
it's not like that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
It's just different.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It's just different.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
They not like us, They not like us.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
They not like us at all. That's true. And since
DVD's been around, we.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Haven't lost a stellar records. Since DVD has been around.
They needed me to come back to get hot, so
for us to come back. Joking aside, the X factor
for both teams may be the bullpen, and you heard
plenty about that in our episode Save the Dogs. So
far this postseason, our starters have been so good and
gone so deep. Our bullpen really hasn't been tested the
(19:48):
way it might be against the Jas.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
We have some gaps in our bullpen, for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They do beat the Dodgers when it comes to defense overall,
do they Yeah, the teams are pretty fairly matched, I
would say, But the Jays they've got to be the
underdog in this situation, they are, Yeah, they are, I'll
give them that.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
They are. Like technically they are the underdogs.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
I mean, obviously the Blue Jays will be cast as
the underdogs.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
But like, this is a team that obviously earned their
way here. I mean they romped through the Yankees and
obviously that Mariners series and ALCS was kind of a dogfight.
But that is a team that kind of came back
from down to to oh after losing two games at
home and kind of showed how tough they are. Of
an help.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Or do you want to make any predictions or.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I think we'll win it in five. I think we're
gonna win the World Series in five. I think they'll
lose like probably game four.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Hmm, that's the game I'm going.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
To Well, it depends how Dog plays it.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
He's not gonna be punting games this year because we
have our pitching is too deep. There's no there's no
swe the.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
That case of sweep.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Sounds nice.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Just shut him down. I feel bad for Vladdie. That's
everybody else can go.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He's young.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
He has like like twelve more times go get the
Will Series.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
When the Dodgers don't make it to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
He can win, he will series, and I'll be like,
all right, go for guys, Yeah, bloody, bloody, I'll be
up from then. Lose the Yankees, you hear me talking
a lot more. But the Blue Jays you can't. It's
hard to hate. I mean, I just don't like George Springer.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
He's come back, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Because he was on that team. But everybody else is
all right. I mean they're like, no, let's.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Have a good series, you know, let's let's see some
interesting games. It should be good, all right, Go Dodgers,
Go the Yeers. Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced
by me Richard Parks, the third This episode was story
edited by Caitlin Esh. Original music in this episode by
(21:46):
William Ryan Fritch and Jonathan Snipes. Production assistants from Tyler Hill.
Dodger Blue Dream is produced in partnership with Iheart's Michael
Toura podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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