October 27, 2025 • 22 mins
Doug recaps the first two games of the World Series — the Blue Jays making history and landing the first punch in Game 1 before Yamamoto’s dominant performance evened things up. He breaks down key moments, gives his outlook as the series shifts to LA, and kicks things off by answering listener questions from Twitter/X! Plus, some thoughts on the in-game concert in Toronto.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back, everybody. I'm your host, Doug mn Kavidge, and
this is the Dugout Podcast. Today's episode, we're going to
talk about breakdown of Game one in Game two of
the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the
Toronto Blue Jays, and I also sent out some questions
on social media x Instagram. I asked fans kind of
(00:24):
if they have questions, they want to hear them on
the podcast. I'd love to, you know, lovely interacting with fans,
love the question and answer, and it kind of this
one kind of ties into what we talked about on
our preview. This one's from Chris Vitally with how locked
in the Dodgers' rotation has been. Do you think rust
is going to play a factor at all with the
longer layoff or is the extra rest going to work
in their favor? Now we talked about this before. To me,
(00:47):
if you're a hitter, especially veteran hitters like the Dodgers
that they have, you know, hittings all timing and not
having competitive at bats, sure you can intersquad. All you
wanted is to your own guys, but it's not the
same thing, especially in October veteran hitters are always concerned
about timing. Some guys are different. Some guys might just
(01:10):
jump right back in and not miss a beat. I
think that where it really helps is the bullpen kind
of lets them reset, kind of lets the recharge the
battery and get ready for another long seven game series.
I think starting pitchers are more like hitters. They're used
to throwing every fifth day, so you like staying on schedule.
(01:31):
That being said, rest in October is huge because these
games take an emotional strain on you, not only physically
but more mentally. You get a chance to kind of exhale,
get back to normal rest up because you know the
next you know, seven to ten days, they're going to
be an absolute mental grind. So that was also we
talked about that on the preview. I felt like it
(01:52):
was paramount for the Blue Jays to go ahead and
get Game one because of that. They're at home, They're
coming off an emotional series in Toronto, they don't have
to travel a couple of days off boom. They just
rolled right into the World Series and just keep playing.
Another question I had the preview is can the Blue
Jays continue their relentless attack one through nine, one through ten,
(02:15):
one through eleven. With their with their deep offense, can
they grind against these pitchers? Can they? Can they continually
put pressure on the Dodgers starters to get deeper into
that bullpen. And lastly, Bobashett, is he going to play?
How much is he going to play? Where's he going
to play? How healthy is his knee? How long will
(02:37):
he play in these games? You don't know? So all
these questions were answered. Bashett end up playing second base,
made a hell to play on the backhand, played six
and things, had some good at bats. You can tell
he hasn't played sin September fifth, so you know he's
going to be, you know, not quite himself, but his
presence alone can can help. So you know, obviously having
(02:57):
him in the game is, you know, is paramount for
these guys and probably was a little bit of a
jolt to see him back out there now. To me,
bottom of the first was a huge win for the
Blue Jays. They make Blake Snell throw twenty nine pitches.
Twenty nine pitches a lot. We shoot for fifteen pitches
on average per inning. If you can stay around fifteen
(03:18):
seventeen in that range, generally your starters go deeper into game,
especially with an ace, you want to try to do
as much as you can to get that pitch count up.
I mean, the Blue Jays did not score, but that's
about as good ass scoring is making running up that
pitch count to almost thirty pitches. Thirty pitches in an
organization I know, managing most organizations in the minor leagues,
(03:42):
if a kid throws thirty pitches, they don't send them
back out there the next time. I remember this visically
with Blake Snell when he was with the Rays, like
he would get close twenty six to twenty seven, and
it wasn't a rule we have, but I can tell
our guys that I was playing, like, hey, three more pitches,
he's not going to be able to go back out
because obviously they didn't want to see him, just like
(04:03):
everybody else, they wanted to see somebody else. Thirty pitches.
Bell was a win win win for the Blue Jays,
although they didn't score. Moving forward the Dodgers, I thought
we talked about it on the preview, Who's going to
win the battle of the leadoff hitter of each inning?
Leadoff hitters getting on base in October in any game
for that matter, is huge. But to do it in October,
(04:25):
it's a huge momentum swing. It's a huge you'll notice
that especially. It's funny how in the game of baseball,
if you if you get on first via a hit
to lead off an inning versus getting on first leading
offiniting by a walk walk score, it seems like twice
as many times as a guy that gets a hit.
It's crazy, but you know, you look over time and
(04:45):
it's almost true. It's pretty much true that leadoff walks
generally end up scoring. The Dodgers, you know, get a
lead off walk in the top of the second, they
score a run. Keeping at one. To me, this is
where it got out of hand. The third inning where
it could have got ugly for the Blue Jays. Nookie
Betts walks, Freddie Freeman walks, Will Smith ends up singling.
(05:07):
So you're looking at first and second, nobody out and
already up to nothing. Well, Freddie Freeman gets a little
too aggressive rounding second. The throat instead of going home,
goes behind him and end up getting in a rundown.
That could have been a huge inning for the Dodgers.
Instead they only got one. You know, the old Cardinals
(05:28):
sin in baseball, you don't make the first or third
out at third base is something I can understand. Maybe
you know he thought the play at the plate was
gonna be close. I don't know, but that out seemed huge. Look,
you try to stay away from crooked numbers in October.
In any game you can live with giving up single runs,
you start giving up crooked numbers. And that inning had
(05:48):
a crooked number. Look to it. If Freddie doesn't make
that base, you won't even mistake. So you got to
give credit where credit is due. You Savage did a
hell of a job to keep them at one run
each time, and he kept him in the game. Next
thing you know about a four Balton varshow hits a
two round homer off a first pitch fastball for Blake Snell.
It makes it a two to two. Now it's a
(06:09):
whole different ballgame. You have a high pitch count, higher
pitch count than Blake Snell's used to in the fourth,
and you have a tie game. So now you have
a basically a four or five run game to to
to finish at with a tie. Moving forward, you think
you know you have a high pitch count for your
starter you're starting to get into that zone where you
might be able to swing that that middle guy in
(06:31):
from the Dodgers, where you can strike. I thought the
Blue Jays did a really good job of recognizing the
Blake Snell two zero change up three two change ups.
They did as good as they possibly could. They did
a hell a lot better than the Brewers did. Uh
with that? With that, you know, fall behind off speed
change up. Look, when an ace has got three pitch three,
command of three pitches, look, they're tough. But then when
(06:54):
they're command of all anytime you face someone with the
caliber of a Blake Snell, it's tough to begin with
a loan when he has command of all three. When
he has command of all three, it's almost impossible. You
almost have to pick your poison, pick a side of
the plate and go. And you know, I think you
noticed this, didn't This was not the same Blake Snell
stuff wise that he had the first two starts of
(07:16):
the postseason, which is, you know, it just makes him
human to expect you to have your A plus plus
game every time you step on the mound in October.
It's just not it's just not reality. You know. The
difference is his c r D game is better than
most guys a game. So you know, you could just
tell either loss was good, the stuff was good at
(07:38):
just controlling it around the zone wasn't the same as
it was against the Bruise. And you can say it's
you can say one hand, it was Blake Snell. On
the other hand, you get to give the Blue Jays
hitters credit for making him feel that way. Maybe the
fact that he wasn't comfortable coming out of the first
inning and had something to do with it. But you
know both, I thought Blake did a good job of
hold hold it together and I thought of the Blue
(08:00):
Jay's hitters did a really good job, you know, surviving,
which is what we talked about on the preview. Now
you go down and you get to the sixth inning,
and this is where it's all unrivaled for the Dodgers.
For me, lead off walk, they bring in Sheehan and
this inning had everything. It had something Baseball's never seen before.
It had singles, it had hit by pitches, it had
(08:22):
countless it had two strike RBI singles with the infield in.
It had all kinds of stuff in this inning. If
you're a Blue Jay fan, you loved it because it
just they just kept coming. This is the this is
the exact scenario that if you're a Blue Jays fan,
this is a blueprint of how you're going to have
to win. They got someone that they're not really used
to using the high leverage situations bringing him in the
(08:45):
sixth inning, and you saw what happened. The funny part
for me is is, uh, Barber doesn't play against lefties.
They bring in the lefty and banda and he gives
up a grand slam, U hanging slider, ends up in
the ends up over the fence to make it whatever
it was at the time. Nine to two blows the
(09:06):
game open something we've never seen before, a pinchhit grand
slamming the World Series, first pinchhit grand slam of the
World Series history. You know this. It didn't had everything
and it exploded, And what a really cool sight to
see Blue Jay fans going crazy at home in that scenario.
I think Kirk had a two run home. We're not
any to finish it off to make it eleven two,
but that's basically the blueprint for the Blue Jays. Look,
(09:27):
I don't expect them to score eleven runs ever again.
In this world series. Can it happen, of course, But
that was what this team can do to you when
it grinds on you, and it kind of puts them
in vulnerable situations. Now, if you're a Dodger fan, come
out of game one or game two, Look, you're just
trying to split one of these two games. So you
(09:49):
call it what you want. Blake didn't have it. We're right,
We're still okay. They win game two, they're still they're
in the driver's seat kind of thing. You always try
to split on the road the first two games, and
you feel pretty good about your chances. For me, Freddy
Freeman kind of looked a little bit rusty. You can
tell the time off. He wasn't missing pitches completely, but
(10:12):
they threw a lot of pitches that had a lot
of the white part of the play to him, and
he was fouling them back. He was following them off.
He was fouling back that you kind of see the
progression from game one to game two. He's sort of
having better swings. His foul balls became. I think he
just missed hit a couple of balls in game two,
But moving forward, I really see Freddy, you know, he's
(10:34):
too good to be kept down that long. He's right
on balls, he's just missing, he's a hair off. I
think that had something that had more to do with
the time off than anything else. So to me, heading
back to La in game three, I really think Freddie
Freeman is one of those guys that's going to have
a big game in one of those games, if not
all three. He's just too good of a hitter, too
(10:55):
good of a pure hitter to not do damage if
they keep making these mistakes to him that they made
to him in game one. Now I'm moving on to
the game two. I won't dwell on it too long.
Everybody saw it. To me, this was the Will Smith
Yamamoto show, and many in more ways than one. I
thought both guys pitched phenomenal. Gosman Yamamoto did fantastic. Yeah,
(11:19):
Freddie flicks first inning, flicks a split into the corner
on a half swing, beautiful piece of hit, and stays
on it. Like I said, he's too good a hitter
to keep down for too long. Will Smith singles him
home and make it one nothing. Anytime you give your
starting pitcher a lead before he steps on the mound,
it's a good feeling. Especially with someone who's been pitching
(11:39):
as well as Yamamoto and the stuff that he has,
he got to feel pretty good. I thought the bottom
of the first was a was a great answer by
the Blue Jays, but also a huge gut punch too.
Springer leads off with a double. Lucas singles the left.
You have first and third, nobody out, and you have
the hottest hitter on the planet and flat Junior up
(12:00):
thinking that worse. He's gonna at least put in play
even if the don't play. The game's tied one to one,
but a lot of you know, you got to give
tip your cap Yamamoto, firm fastball, same playing, huge spin
rate on the fastball, good carry umpires, given the down zone,
the down strike, say what you want. There's two guys
(12:21):
probably that are in this World Series that you don't
want to give the low strike to as a hitter.
They both threw Game two and they were giving it
to him, Adrian was giving it to him. That's a
tough that's a tough ask as a hitter to face
these guys who aren't getting the low strikes. Plus you
add the low strike to both of these guys and
it just makes it even that much tougher. I think
that had a lot to do with, you know, the
(12:42):
as much to do with their stuff as it did
to the low scoring game through seven was the low
strike they were getting called a strike. But the bottom
of the first you have a huge opportunity. You know,
sometimes you got to tip your cap to the pitcher.
You know, Blad Junior's falling pitches off, you know, tough
pitch in found them off, staying on it. Then he throws,
(13:03):
you know, a twenty five mile an hour off breaking ball, right.
The fact that he has that is kind of a
miracle to begin with throwing ninety seven and you back
can back it off twenty five twenty six miles an
hour and throw it twelve to six curveball off of that,
and to think you want that you have the ability
to throw that in that situation, knowing that if I
(13:27):
haven't thrown it yet, I probably don't have feel for
it yet. And you spin it up there and against
the best hitter on the in the world right now,
in Vlad Junior, not only do you hit with it,
but you you get a swing and miss, and look,
Vlad Junior stayed on that about as well as any
hitter possibly could it. I mean, the job he did
(13:48):
to even look that as good as he did on
that was thoroughly impressive. So you tip your cap. That
breaking ball kind of changed things. You know, you're looking
down as a hitter, you're looking down down, down him
down fastball ride on his fastball down split and then
he throws that that probably started over his head. So
he tipped your cap. A little bad luck with the
kirk line drive to Freddy and then the varshow strikeout
(14:11):
with the curveball again. So Yamamoto got out of it
in the first. But that was just an example of
Yamamoto's pitch ability and the fact that he's been in
these big games his whole pretty much his whole life
and falling over Japan and the WBC, so you know,
to control his emotions in that and to be able
to perform was pretty impressive. To get out of the
(14:33):
first blue Jay's tie, I think in the third on
a sackfly, So here we go. And then it was
how many consecutive hitters were retired by both guys up
unto the seventh Gosman matched him pitch for pitch. It
was fun to watch. And then you know, we also
saw something that I never thought i'd ever seen a
baseball game, which was a borderline halftime show. Look, I
(14:55):
love the Stand for Cancer. I stand for cancer. I
get it. I've done it as a player, I've done
it as a manager, I've done it as a coach.
Like that's it's an emotional, moving moment. That's not the
point at all. I love that. I have no problem
with that. I have a problem with after that, you
have a concert in right center field or right field
(15:17):
with the Jonas brothers, Like that's a little much, like
you don't really see that. Just get back. Look the
interviews in between innings are bad enough, or during the
inning are bad enough. I stand for cancer, like the
fight for cancer. Like I love that idea. I love it.
I just think it's an emotional part of the game
to have these guys come on out. Everybody. It's a
moving moment. I think everybody in the world knows someone
(15:39):
close to them or a loved one that's been affected
by this disease that it means something. Let's just leave
it at that, and maybe it's it's the way to
kind of bounce it back, to make it more uplifting.
But now is not the time, in the fifth or
sixth inning of a World Series game to have a concert.
Let's just cut that out, Okay, I said my p's
on that sent me over the edge. That was kind
(16:01):
of blown away that I don't like any part of that,
but I got it off my chest. So then you see,
you know, Will Smith, another guy coming off a broken hand,
didn't start the Wildcard series, came in late to kind
of get his legs under him, had great at bats,
is having singles, hasn't had an extra base hit yet. Boom,
(16:21):
seventh inning, first extra base hits, a homer on a
two strike fastball in that mist pulled his hands in sneakily, sneaky,
becoming one of the better, you know, clutch postseason performers.
This game was all him and Yamamoto, singles, homers, calling
the game to be able to flip, to do what
(16:42):
they did together on the mound. But then you add
the bat to it. Months he comes up, it's a
two strike fastball opposite field over the fence to make
it three to one and a two run league with
Yamamoto dealing the way he was as a Dodger, fan,
you got to feel pretty damn good. You gotta feel
like this game is over. I know I felt that
way having a couple more runs later. But like, the
(17:02):
interesting part of this game was Yamamoto. Did you know
at the beginning it was fastball, split occasional twelve six
breaking ball. You know, he kept it, He used it
when he had to, and then it became more of
a cutter slider guy, and then he backed it up.
Like the point is, like a lot of guys have
(17:23):
two or three pitches. They just don't have the ability
to change it. They have one way of getting you out,
and they stick to it and they stay to it.
This guy has, which makes him so much so tough
is the fact that he won. He has six pitches
to begin with, which is mind blowing. But he also
has the confidence, the conviction to command them and to
(17:43):
be able to know when to switch. He does a
fantastic job of understanding hitters and how what they might
be looking for. There's nothing worse as a hitter when
you're up there and you're still guessing and you're thinking,
good lord, I don't know what's going to come now,
and you can see the look on their faces like
some of the hitters were like, now I got to
(18:04):
think about that too. So credit to will Smith, credits
to that Mark pryor the pitching staff, the coaching staff,
Will Smith, the game planing of what they could do.
But also have a horse out there that can that
can flip flop things like that so quickly and you
don't have to worry about command because his conviction is
so good and the trust is so good. Look to
(18:25):
throw one hundred and four pitches against the Blue Jays
and a complete game win one hundred and four pitches
is pretty impressive, Greg Maddocks s. But to do it
with the powerful stuff and to do it two or
three different ways was was pretty exceptional. I mean it's amazing.
I know, watching him as a as a former hitter.
(18:45):
I always try to watch a game, and you know,
try to watch it from a manager's perspective or as
a player, and you're thinking, like, what what would I
look for? What would I sit on? What would I
look do I cut the plate in half? I got
to pick something, And it's it's tough to do against
guys like that because they have so many ways of
(19:06):
getting you out and they have command of it. To
either side of the plate. So I thought the Blue
Jays did a pretty darn good job. Sometimes you just
gotta tip your cap. But as the series heads back
to LA, this is the first time, probably in a while,
that these guys have had three games in a row.
The Blue Jays did it in the Alcs, but the
(19:26):
Dodgers haven't played three games in a row. And I
don't remember how long. It seems like it's forever, But
this you'll see. I think Freddy's really close to clicking.
Freddy thousand balls off of Game one, hit some deep
flat balls in game two. If he gets his timing
down and the pitches that they made to him in
game one, Freddie's gonna do something big. He's too good
to keep down this long. But you know, it just
(19:49):
shows you the depth of the Dodgers lineup, and both
of these lineups, these pitchers are doing a fantastic job.
The game three you have Surezer. I think I think
the Blue Jays flipped him, maybe to give Bieber another day,
because his stuff wasn't that great the last time he
went out there. What is Serzer Green? Forty one years old.
He's a grinder, a gamer, elite stuff I think he
(20:11):
can grit his way through a couple a couple of
leans alone. So he's been in these games before, he's
pitched at Dodger Stadium. He's been a Dodger that type stuff.
He's the guy to handle it. I think they wanted
to give Bieber a couple more days, which makes sense
coming off as Tommy John. But you know you got
Glass now, then you got the you know, the best
player in the world. No Tony throw in Game four,
(20:32):
So expect one of these games to be a higher
scoring game. I think just depends on which one. The
Dodgers are still like their starting rotation is just it's
really deep, it's really tough. One of these has to have,
you know, a really bad game to continue. These games
aren't going to be aren't gonna be easy. But again,
it's just one game. If you get blown out one game,
so what, It's still only one loss and you turn
(20:54):
around and it can flip the script. But I'm pulling
for the Blue Jays to get one of these, to
bring it back Toronto because I just love baseball and
I want to see these games go as long as possible.
I just don't know how they do it. They're gonna
have to grind, keep, continue to grind our bats and
find a way to get creative in their bullpen, and
hopefully their bullpen has enough in the tank to bail
(21:15):
them out of a couple games. So I just don't
see I just don't see Baber getting through this lineup
without having to throw four or five relievers every every
game from here on out until they get back to
your Savage or Gosman's looking forward, this is gonna be
you know, Dodger Stave is gonna be electric. I'm looking
forward to this game tonight again. Hit me up on
(21:38):
Twitter if you have questions. I like doing. I want
to try to get to these watch parties that we're having.
I'd love to have more of them. I really appreciate
the interaction with fans, whether you're a Blue Jay fan,
whether you're a Dodger fan or just a baseball fan.
I really enjoy it. That's gonna wrap up this episode.
Check me out wherever you find your podcast Apple, Spotify,
how about on Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is. Until next time,
(22:03):
I'm w Cavin is the Dugoff Podcast. Take Care
Welcome back, everybody. I'm your host, Doug mn Kavidge, and
this is the Dugout Podcast. Today's episode, we're going to
talk about breakdown of Game one in Game two of
the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the
Toronto Blue Jays, and I also sent out some questions
on social media x Instagram. I asked fans kind of
(00:24):
if they have questions, they want to hear them on
the podcast. I'd love to, you know, lovely interacting with fans,
love the question and answer, and it kind of this
one kind of ties into what we talked about on
our preview. This one's from Chris Vitally with how locked
in the Dodgers' rotation has been. Do you think rust
is going to play a factor at all with the
longer layoff or is the extra rest going to work
in their favor? Now we talked about this before. To me,
(00:47):
if you're a hitter, especially veteran hitters like the Dodgers
that they have, you know, hittings all timing and not
having competitive at bats, sure you can intersquad. All you
wanted is to your own guys, but it's not the
same thing, especially in October veteran hitters are always concerned
about timing. Some guys are different. Some guys might just
(01:10):
jump right back in and not miss a beat. I
think that where it really helps is the bullpen kind
of lets them reset, kind of lets the recharge the
battery and get ready for another long seven game series.
I think starting pitchers are more like hitters. They're used
to throwing every fifth day, so you like staying on schedule.
(01:31):
That being said, rest in October is huge because these
games take an emotional strain on you, not only physically
but more mentally. You get a chance to kind of exhale,
get back to normal rest up because you know the
next you know, seven to ten days, they're going to
be an absolute mental grind. So that was also we
talked about that on the preview. I felt like it
(01:52):
was paramount for the Blue Jays to go ahead and
get Game one because of that. They're at home, They're
coming off an emotional series in Toronto, they don't have
to travel a couple of days off boom. They just
rolled right into the World Series and just keep playing.
Another question I had the preview is can the Blue
Jays continue their relentless attack one through nine, one through ten,
(02:15):
one through eleven. With their with their deep offense, can
they grind against these pitchers? Can they? Can they continually
put pressure on the Dodgers starters to get deeper into
that bullpen. And lastly, Bobashett, is he going to play?
How much is he going to play? Where's he going
to play? How healthy is his knee? How long will
(02:37):
he play in these games? You don't know? So all
these questions were answered. Bashett end up playing second base,
made a hell to play on the backhand, played six
and things, had some good at bats. You can tell
he hasn't played sin September fifth, so you know he's
going to be, you know, not quite himself, but his
presence alone can can help. So you know, obviously having
(02:57):
him in the game is, you know, is paramount for
these guys and probably was a little bit of a
jolt to see him back out there now. To me,
bottom of the first was a huge win for the
Blue Jays. They make Blake Snell throw twenty nine pitches.
Twenty nine pitches a lot. We shoot for fifteen pitches
on average per inning. If you can stay around fifteen
(03:18):
seventeen in that range, generally your starters go deeper into game,
especially with an ace, you want to try to do
as much as you can to get that pitch count up.
I mean, the Blue Jays did not score, but that's
about as good ass scoring is making running up that
pitch count to almost thirty pitches. Thirty pitches in an
organization I know, managing most organizations in the minor leagues,
(03:42):
if a kid throws thirty pitches, they don't send them
back out there the next time. I remember this visically
with Blake Snell when he was with the Rays, like
he would get close twenty six to twenty seven, and
it wasn't a rule we have, but I can tell
our guys that I was playing, like, hey, three more pitches,
he's not going to be able to go back out
because obviously they didn't want to see him, just like
(04:03):
everybody else, they wanted to see somebody else. Thirty pitches.
Bell was a win win win for the Blue Jays,
although they didn't score. Moving forward the Dodgers, I thought
we talked about it on the preview, Who's going to
win the battle of the leadoff hitter of each inning?
Leadoff hitters getting on base in October in any game
for that matter, is huge. But to do it in October,
(04:25):
it's a huge momentum swing. It's a huge you'll notice
that especially. It's funny how in the game of baseball,
if you if you get on first via a hit
to lead off an inning versus getting on first leading
offiniting by a walk walk score, it seems like twice
as many times as a guy that gets a hit.
It's crazy, but you know, you look over time and
(04:45):
it's almost true. It's pretty much true that leadoff walks
generally end up scoring. The Dodgers, you know, get a
lead off walk in the top of the second, they
score a run. Keeping at one. To me, this is
where it got out of hand. The third inning where
it could have got ugly for the Blue Jays. Nookie
Betts walks, Freddie Freeman walks, Will Smith ends up singling.
(05:07):
So you're looking at first and second, nobody out and
already up to nothing. Well, Freddie Freeman gets a little
too aggressive rounding second. The throat instead of going home,
goes behind him and end up getting in a rundown.
That could have been a huge inning for the Dodgers.
Instead they only got one. You know, the old Cardinals
(05:28):
sin in baseball, you don't make the first or third
out at third base is something I can understand. Maybe
you know he thought the play at the plate was
gonna be close. I don't know, but that out seemed huge. Look,
you try to stay away from crooked numbers in October.
In any game you can live with giving up single runs,
you start giving up crooked numbers. And that inning had
(05:48):
a crooked number. Look to it. If Freddie doesn't make
that base, you won't even mistake. So you got to
give credit where credit is due. You Savage did a
hell of a job to keep them at one run
each time, and he kept him in the game. Next
thing you know about a four Balton varshow hits a
two round homer off a first pitch fastball for Blake Snell.
It makes it a two to two. Now it's a
(06:09):
whole different ballgame. You have a high pitch count, higher
pitch count than Blake Snell's used to in the fourth,
and you have a tie game. So now you have
a basically a four or five run game to to
to finish at with a tie. Moving forward, you think
you know you have a high pitch count for your
starter you're starting to get into that zone where you
might be able to swing that that middle guy in
(06:31):
from the Dodgers, where you can strike. I thought the
Blue Jays did a really good job of recognizing the
Blake Snell two zero change up three two change ups.
They did as good as they possibly could. They did
a hell a lot better than the Brewers did. Uh
with that? With that, you know, fall behind off speed
change up. Look, when an ace has got three pitch three,
command of three pitches, look, they're tough. But then when
(06:54):
they're command of all anytime you face someone with the
caliber of a Blake Snell, it's tough to begin with
a loan when he has command of all three. When
he has command of all three, it's almost impossible. You
almost have to pick your poison, pick a side of
the plate and go. And you know, I think you
noticed this, didn't This was not the same Blake Snell
stuff wise that he had the first two starts of
(07:16):
the postseason, which is, you know, it just makes him
human to expect you to have your A plus plus
game every time you step on the mound in October.
It's just not it's just not reality. You know. The
difference is his c r D game is better than
most guys a game. So you know, you could just
tell either loss was good, the stuff was good at
(07:38):
just controlling it around the zone wasn't the same as
it was against the Bruise. And you can say it's
you can say one hand, it was Blake Snell. On
the other hand, you get to give the Blue Jays
hitters credit for making him feel that way. Maybe the
fact that he wasn't comfortable coming out of the first
inning and had something to do with it. But you
know both, I thought Blake did a good job of
hold hold it together and I thought of the Blue
(08:00):
Jay's hitters did a really good job, you know, surviving,
which is what we talked about on the preview. Now
you go down and you get to the sixth inning,
and this is where it's all unrivaled for the Dodgers.
For me, lead off walk, they bring in Sheehan and
this inning had everything. It had something Baseball's never seen before.
It had singles, it had hit by pitches, it had
(08:22):
countless it had two strike RBI singles with the infield in.
It had all kinds of stuff in this inning. If
you're a Blue Jay fan, you loved it because it
just they just kept coming. This is the this is
the exact scenario that if you're a Blue Jays fan,
this is a blueprint of how you're going to have
to win. They got someone that they're not really used
to using the high leverage situations bringing him in the
(08:45):
sixth inning, and you saw what happened. The funny part
for me is is, uh, Barber doesn't play against lefties.
They bring in the lefty and banda and he gives
up a grand slam, U hanging slider, ends up in
the ends up over the fence to make it whatever
it was at the time. Nine to two blows the
(09:06):
game open something we've never seen before, a pinchhit grand
slamming the World Series, first pinchhit grand slam of the
World Series history. You know this. It didn't had everything
and it exploded, And what a really cool sight to
see Blue Jay fans going crazy at home in that scenario.
I think Kirk had a two run home. We're not
any to finish it off to make it eleven two,
but that's basically the blueprint for the Blue Jays. Look,
(09:27):
I don't expect them to score eleven runs ever again.
In this world series. Can it happen, of course, But
that was what this team can do to you when
it grinds on you, and it kind of puts them
in vulnerable situations. Now, if you're a Dodger fan, come
out of game one or game two, Look, you're just
trying to split one of these two games. So you
(09:49):
call it what you want. Blake didn't have it. We're right,
We're still okay. They win game two, they're still they're
in the driver's seat kind of thing. You always try
to split on the road the first two games, and
you feel pretty good about your chances. For me, Freddy
Freeman kind of looked a little bit rusty. You can
tell the time off. He wasn't missing pitches completely, but
(10:12):
they threw a lot of pitches that had a lot
of the white part of the play to him, and
he was fouling them back. He was following them off.
He was fouling back that you kind of see the
progression from game one to game two. He's sort of
having better swings. His foul balls became. I think he
just missed hit a couple of balls in game two,
But moving forward, I really see Freddy, you know, he's
(10:34):
too good to be kept down that long. He's right
on balls, he's just missing, he's a hair off. I
think that had something that had more to do with
the time off than anything else. So to me, heading
back to La in game three, I really think Freddie
Freeman is one of those guys that's going to have
a big game in one of those games, if not
all three. He's just too good of a hitter, too
(10:55):
good of a pure hitter to not do damage if
they keep making these mistakes to him that they made
to him in game one. Now I'm moving on to
the game two. I won't dwell on it too long.
Everybody saw it. To me, this was the Will Smith
Yamamoto show, and many in more ways than one. I
thought both guys pitched phenomenal. Gosman Yamamoto did fantastic. Yeah,
(11:19):
Freddie flicks first inning, flicks a split into the corner
on a half swing, beautiful piece of hit, and stays
on it. Like I said, he's too good a hitter
to keep down for too long. Will Smith singles him
home and make it one nothing. Anytime you give your
starting pitcher a lead before he steps on the mound,
it's a good feeling. Especially with someone who's been pitching
(11:39):
as well as Yamamoto and the stuff that he has,
he got to feel pretty good. I thought the bottom
of the first was a was a great answer by
the Blue Jays, but also a huge gut punch too.
Springer leads off with a double. Lucas singles the left.
You have first and third, nobody out, and you have
the hottest hitter on the planet and flat Junior up
(12:00):
thinking that worse. He's gonna at least put in play
even if the don't play. The game's tied one to one,
but a lot of you know, you got to give
tip your cap Yamamoto, firm fastball, same playing, huge spin
rate on the fastball, good carry umpires, given the down zone,
the down strike, say what you want. There's two guys
(12:21):
probably that are in this World Series that you don't
want to give the low strike to as a hitter.
They both threw Game two and they were giving it
to him, Adrian was giving it to him. That's a
tough that's a tough ask as a hitter to face
these guys who aren't getting the low strikes. Plus you
add the low strike to both of these guys and
it just makes it even that much tougher. I think
that had a lot to do with, you know, the
(12:42):
as much to do with their stuff as it did
to the low scoring game through seven was the low
strike they were getting called a strike. But the bottom
of the first you have a huge opportunity. You know,
sometimes you got to tip your cap to the pitcher.
You know, Blad Junior's falling pitches off, you know, tough
pitch in found them off, staying on it. Then he throws,
(13:03):
you know, a twenty five mile an hour off breaking ball, right.
The fact that he has that is kind of a
miracle to begin with throwing ninety seven and you back
can back it off twenty five twenty six miles an
hour and throw it twelve to six curveball off of that,
and to think you want that you have the ability
to throw that in that situation, knowing that if I
(13:27):
haven't thrown it yet, I probably don't have feel for
it yet. And you spin it up there and against
the best hitter on the in the world right now,
in Vlad Junior, not only do you hit with it,
but you you get a swing and miss, and look,
Vlad Junior stayed on that about as well as any
hitter possibly could it. I mean, the job he did
(13:48):
to even look that as good as he did on
that was thoroughly impressive. So you tip your cap. That
breaking ball kind of changed things. You know, you're looking
down as a hitter, you're looking down down, down him
down fastball ride on his fastball down split and then
he throws that that probably started over his head. So
he tipped your cap. A little bad luck with the
kirk line drive to Freddy and then the varshow strikeout
(14:11):
with the curveball again. So Yamamoto got out of it
in the first. But that was just an example of
Yamamoto's pitch ability and the fact that he's been in
these big games his whole pretty much his whole life
and falling over Japan and the WBC, so you know,
to control his emotions in that and to be able
to perform was pretty impressive. To get out of the
(14:33):
first blue Jay's tie, I think in the third on
a sackfly, So here we go. And then it was
how many consecutive hitters were retired by both guys up
unto the seventh Gosman matched him pitch for pitch. It
was fun to watch. And then you know, we also
saw something that I never thought i'd ever seen a
baseball game, which was a borderline halftime show. Look, I
(14:55):
love the Stand for Cancer. I stand for cancer. I
get it. I've done it as a player, I've done
it as a manager, I've done it as a coach.
Like that's it's an emotional, moving moment. That's not the
point at all. I love that. I have no problem
with that. I have a problem with after that, you
have a concert in right center field or right field
(15:17):
with the Jonas brothers, Like that's a little much, like
you don't really see that. Just get back. Look the
interviews in between innings are bad enough, or during the
inning are bad enough. I stand for cancer, like the
fight for cancer. Like I love that idea. I love it.
I just think it's an emotional part of the game
to have these guys come on out. Everybody. It's a
moving moment. I think everybody in the world knows someone
(15:39):
close to them or a loved one that's been affected
by this disease that it means something. Let's just leave
it at that, and maybe it's it's the way to
kind of bounce it back, to make it more uplifting.
But now is not the time, in the fifth or
sixth inning of a World Series game to have a concert.
Let's just cut that out, Okay, I said my p's
on that sent me over the edge. That was kind
(16:01):
of blown away that I don't like any part of that,
but I got it off my chest. So then you see,
you know, Will Smith, another guy coming off a broken hand,
didn't start the Wildcard series, came in late to kind
of get his legs under him, had great at bats,
is having singles, hasn't had an extra base hit yet. Boom,
(16:21):
seventh inning, first extra base hits, a homer on a
two strike fastball in that mist pulled his hands in sneakily, sneaky,
becoming one of the better, you know, clutch postseason performers.
This game was all him and Yamamoto, singles, homers, calling
the game to be able to flip, to do what
(16:42):
they did together on the mound. But then you add
the bat to it. Months he comes up, it's a
two strike fastball opposite field over the fence to make
it three to one and a two run league with
Yamamoto dealing the way he was as a Dodger, fan,
you got to feel pretty damn good. You gotta feel
like this game is over. I know I felt that
way having a couple more runs later. But like, the
(17:02):
interesting part of this game was Yamamoto. Did you know
at the beginning it was fastball, split occasional twelve six
breaking ball. You know, he kept it, He used it
when he had to, and then it became more of
a cutter slider guy, and then he backed it up.
Like the point is, like a lot of guys have
(17:23):
two or three pitches. They just don't have the ability
to change it. They have one way of getting you out,
and they stick to it and they stay to it.
This guy has, which makes him so much so tough
is the fact that he won. He has six pitches
to begin with, which is mind blowing. But he also
has the confidence, the conviction to command them and to
(17:43):
be able to know when to switch. He does a
fantastic job of understanding hitters and how what they might
be looking for. There's nothing worse as a hitter when
you're up there and you're still guessing and you're thinking,
good lord, I don't know what's going to come now,
and you can see the look on their faces like
some of the hitters were like, now I got to
(18:04):
think about that too. So credit to will Smith, credits
to that Mark pryor the pitching staff, the coaching staff,
Will Smith, the game planing of what they could do.
But also have a horse out there that can that
can flip flop things like that so quickly and you
don't have to worry about command because his conviction is
so good and the trust is so good. Look to
(18:25):
throw one hundred and four pitches against the Blue Jays
and a complete game win one hundred and four pitches
is pretty impressive, Greg Maddocks s. But to do it
with the powerful stuff and to do it two or
three different ways was was pretty exceptional. I mean it's amazing.
I know, watching him as a as a former hitter.
(18:45):
I always try to watch a game, and you know,
try to watch it from a manager's perspective or as
a player, and you're thinking, like, what what would I
look for? What would I sit on? What would I
look do I cut the plate in half? I got
to pick something, And it's it's tough to do against
guys like that because they have so many ways of
(19:06):
getting you out and they have command of it. To
either side of the plate. So I thought the Blue
Jays did a pretty darn good job. Sometimes you just
gotta tip your cap. But as the series heads back
to LA, this is the first time, probably in a while,
that these guys have had three games in a row.
The Blue Jays did it in the Alcs, but the
(19:26):
Dodgers haven't played three games in a row. And I
don't remember how long. It seems like it's forever, But
this you'll see. I think Freddy's really close to clicking.
Freddy thousand balls off of Game one, hit some deep
flat balls in game two. If he gets his timing
down and the pitches that they made to him in
game one, Freddie's gonna do something big. He's too good
to keep down this long. But you know, it just
(19:49):
shows you the depth of the Dodgers lineup, and both
of these lineups, these pitchers are doing a fantastic job.
The game three you have Surezer. I think I think
the Blue Jays flipped him, maybe to give Bieber another day,
because his stuff wasn't that great the last time he
went out there. What is Serzer Green? Forty one years old.
He's a grinder, a gamer, elite stuff I think he
(20:11):
can grit his way through a couple a couple of
leans alone. So he's been in these games before, he's
pitched at Dodger Stadium. He's been a Dodger that type stuff.
He's the guy to handle it. I think they wanted
to give Bieber a couple more days, which makes sense
coming off as Tommy John. But you know you got
Glass now, then you got the you know, the best
player in the world. No Tony throw in Game four,
(20:32):
So expect one of these games to be a higher
scoring game. I think just depends on which one. The
Dodgers are still like their starting rotation is just it's
really deep, it's really tough. One of these has to have,
you know, a really bad game to continue. These games
aren't going to be aren't gonna be easy. But again,
it's just one game. If you get blown out one game,
so what, It's still only one loss and you turn
(20:54):
around and it can flip the script. But I'm pulling
for the Blue Jays to get one of these, to
bring it back Toronto because I just love baseball and
I want to see these games go as long as possible.
I just don't know how they do it. They're gonna
have to grind, keep, continue to grind our bats and
find a way to get creative in their bullpen, and
hopefully their bullpen has enough in the tank to bail
(21:15):
them out of a couple games. So I just don't
see I just don't see Baber getting through this lineup
without having to throw four or five relievers every every
game from here on out until they get back to
your Savage or Gosman's looking forward, this is gonna be
you know, Dodger Stave is gonna be electric. I'm looking
forward to this game tonight again. Hit me up on
(21:38):
Twitter if you have questions. I like doing. I want
to try to get to these watch parties that we're having.
I'd love to have more of them. I really appreciate
the interaction with fans, whether you're a Blue Jay fan,
whether you're a Dodger fan or just a baseball fan.
I really enjoy it. That's gonna wrap up this episode.
Check me out wherever you find your podcast Apple, Spotify,
how about on Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is. Until next time,
(22:03):
I'm w Cavin is the Dugoff Podcast. Take Care
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