October 21, 2025 • 49 mins
Steve Sax and Tim Cates recap the Blue Jays win over the Mariners in the ALCS. Mookie Betts has been consistent this October and the Dodgers need him to continue his hot hitting in the World Series. Andrew Friedman tired of the narrative of Dodgers just buy championships
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
They say. The hardest thing in sports isn't winning a title.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's hard to repeat seasons.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's winning it again.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
This year.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Is not trying to win a championship, They're trying to repeat.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It's October baseball for your world champion in La Dodger.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
The twenty twenty five Dodgers are the National League's Western
Division champions.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And you know what that means.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Saxon Kates and AM is back.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
This is Saxon Kates in the Morning with Tim Kates
and former World champion Dodger Steve Sacks.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Reacting, taking your phone calls, talking Dodgers playoff baseball all
postseason long.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Now here they are on AM five to seventy LA
Sports and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Steve Sacks, Tim Kats, Tim Kates.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And World Champion Dodger Steve Sacks.
Speaker 5 (00:51):
All right, here we go. The World Series is said,
Buckle up, La. It's the Dodgers and the Jura Toe
Blue Jays in the twenty twenty five MLB World Series
Game one Friday night at the Rogers Center north of
the Border in Toronto, Canada. First pitch five to oh eight,
(01:15):
and we are off and running. In our preview leading
you up to Game one of the Fall Classic. I
am Tim Kates, joined by two times World Series Champion,
Rookie of the Year, our favorite number three oh one
and only, Steve sag Saxy. Good morning, Tim Kits.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Tim? I'm excited now that we finally know what the
matchup will be, and it's not the opponent I had
hoped for. I wanted the Seattle Mariners, full disclosure, but
they were nine outs away from making that come true. Instead,
it's the Toronto Blue Jays who will square off against
show Hey Otani and the Dodgers. And just quick from
(01:54):
the get go, here your initial thoughts Toronto Blue Jays
Dodgers World Series. First thing that comes to my initial
thoughts about this series.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Well, it's it's a very formidable opponent, no question about it.
This team's got firepower, they've got pitching, they got defense,
they got good chemistry on this team. Uh, and it's
gonna be It's gonna be a battle, no doubt. I
think the Blue Jays when they look over and see
the Dodgers, they're they're going to see a team that's
well stocked. Starting pitching is crazy off the chart, and
(02:25):
I definitely give the advantage to the Dodgers, not because
I'm a homer and I think that that that you know,
they're just a better team. I mean, the Milwaukee Brewers
saw that the team that had the best record in
all of baseball, and they didn't have a chance against
the Dodgers. The discrepancy between talent and these two organizations
that the Dodgers just finished off was pretty apparent. I
(02:46):
don't think it's quite as vast with the Toronto Blue Jays,
but I think the Dodgers are the better team. It's
just a matter of execution. Now.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
It was a great game seven of the Alcs last night.
The Seattle Mariners jumped out to the early lead. They
were up three to one in the seventh when this
happened for Toronto.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
One oh pitch, swinging a five ball left field and
deep a Rosoreno.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Turns good.
Speaker 7 (03:20):
A stringer danger four three Blue Jays in the bottom
of the seventh, one knee, no problem. You have to
have that guy in a big game, and he crushed
(03:42):
a pitch out till left center.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You have got to be kidding me, Ben, That is
the best moment in sports I have ever seen.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Blue Jay's radio with the call, and George Springer three
run a home run.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
Hey, that's a big homer bit. I can point to
several that are a little bigger than that.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Yeah, talk about one knee.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
They're playing that up like, oh, we could barely walk.
Did you see when he hit hit the ball and
it's it's almost a you know, it's right down the line.
He's sprinting like crazy to first. But when he when
he hits out of the part, oh the knees bad.
You know, come on, it is George Springer whole. It's
not forget.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Was a part of the twenty seventeen Houston Astros team. So, Dodger,
what was that?
Speaker 6 (04:24):
Tim? What was that again about that? They were cheating.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Eventeen twenty and seventeen, they were hitting trash cans and
they were cheating their way to a World Series championships.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
See part of that team.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
He was part of that team in twenty and seventeen.
George Spring now a member of the Toronto Blue Jays,
and he hit that three run home run last night
and in Seattle this morning, they're waking up and they
are just absolutely miserable with the way the final nine
outs of that game happened last night, Edward Barzardo on
the mound, and they could not been more upset that
(04:57):
Dan Wilson didn't go to their closer. They were upset
that Brian wu got taken out of the game like
he did. And the Seattle fans are livid with the
way their postseason run comes to an end. I mean,
they had the one of the best closers in baseball
rested and ready to go in, Andres Munos, and he
was sitting there and they didn't go to him in
(05:18):
the seventh inning. And this brings up so many questions
about when to bring in your reliever. Steve Sachs. Is
it the ninth inning, is it the eighth inning? Throw
all that out. It's high leverage situation when you've got
the top of the lineup in Springer and vlad Guerrero
junior runners on bay seventh inning and you're clinging to
a three to one lead Dan Wilson last night, and
(05:39):
that coaching staff absolutely made the wrong decision not to
go to their high leverage reliever and the highest of
leverage situations.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Yeah, you know, hindsight the twenty twenty, You know, with
hindsight and all that, I get it, but I'm not
having Bizardo in the leverage situation against Springer.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
No.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
No, I would have extended Wu. And I know that
he wasn't at his best. He had a little bit
of location issues. He was getting it done though, but
he was getting it done. A big fan of Brian Wu.
He's this guy can flat out get it done a
lot of times in you know, those questionable situations in
the high leverage time. I like this guy. You know,
(06:24):
he's I've saw him pitching college as well, and he's
just amazing. And I would have had him in there
in that situation, extended him down and then had Munnos
in eight and nine, because there's one of the best
relievers in the game and you have him on the
bench in that leverage situation not looking good.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
No, now that you got all off season, you got
the all of eternity to sit there and think about
how close the Seattle Mariners were to get into their
first ever World Series, and they were nine outs away
from doing it last night, Saxy. They were so close
to getting into the Fall Classic. Full disclosure. Was already
starting to do prep on Seattle. I was already starting
(07:03):
to do history on Seattle, the city. I was already
starting to think about different guests that live up in Seattle.
Sports talk hosts Our Buddy Dave Softy Maller up there.
I was gonna call him and get him on this morning.
I was excited to talk Seattle Mariners, baseball, talk, coffee,
and the origins of Starbucks. Alaman Hendricks. Absolutely, I was
even more excited because looking at the Seattle Mariners lineup,
(07:26):
it didn't scare me. I mean, six through nine, I mean, pu,
it's stunk in this series. And I was excited because
I wanted to see that Mariners roster and that lineup
in a seven game World Series because I felt like, man,
that is the easier the two opponents for the Dodgers,
just based on the way their offense is playing right now,
(07:48):
and it's top heavy with the Rodriguez and Raleigh and Naylor.
And you know, Suarez had cooled off in the in
the in the ALCS, but absolutely, yes he did it.
They're all hitting under two hundred. I mean I was
licking my jocks, thinking, yes, we want Seattle. Let them
squeak by with a three to one win. Bring on
(08:10):
the Mariners. Not only did the Dodgers sweep them the
final weekend of this series. But the way they're playing
right now, offensively, the Dodgers can completely control them with
the way they're pitching. Staff was pitching right now. But
gosh darned. The Blue Jays, the most comebacks in baseball
this season, did it again last night. And here Schneider,
(08:30):
their manager, after the game, like, yeah, we you know what,
We've done it before. We were confident we can do
it again. And I'd believe in my guys. I mean,
he was just so calm and cool about how he
bleed in his team in their final nine outs. It
was unreal to hear, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Well you know what, Tim, Uh, that's fine because these
things don't automatically roll over. You don't just automatically roll over,
you know, to the next series and all of a sudden,
you know you're killing you know, Guarreral Guerrero as well
as he's swinging the bat, you know you can pitch
to him at times he will chase and I think
if you can neutralize that guy in Springer, those are
(09:05):
the two guys you got to really go after. Alejandro
Kirk He's he's he's a good hitter, but but he's
not a guy that can really kill you. It's Springer
and Guerrero the two guys that you have to really neutralize,
not afraid of Barger or not, you know. And Miles Straws,
a guy that feels in kinder filefa is not gonna
hurt you. It's those two guys. Lucas is of journey
(09:26):
journeyman in the minor leagues throughout his career. He's having
a good postseason. Sometimes you see guys that come in
and do that nothing to lose, and they've got talent.
They put it on display and they're able to do
it kind of like ki k a. You know. That's
kind of what reminds me of Lucas a little bit.
So they got some This is a This is a
definitely a worthy lineup, and the Dodgers can pitch to
it though, but you got a neutralized Springer and Guerrero.
(09:48):
Of course, those are the two main guys, and then
you're okay.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
This matchup the Dodgers in Blue Jays has has got
so many storylines going into it. I am fired up
about this series. These are two teams top five in
payroll in baseball. These are two teams with superstar players
show Hey Otani, Mookie Bets, Freddie Freeman, and then you've
(10:12):
got Vlad Guerrero Junior, who is just an absolute dynamic
player for the Toronto Blue Jays. Then you've got the
whole dynamic of two forty year old pitchers basically I
know he's not forty yet in Clayton Kershaw, but you've
got Max Scherzer and you've got Clayton Kershaw, two guys
at the end of their careers and two guys that
(10:32):
will certainly be going to Cooperstown as Hall of famers.
And now two guys who will be pitching maybe in
this world series in different roles. Suser may be pitching
out of the bullpen, maybe starting He's kind of resurrected
his twenty twenty five career season here in the October.
Will we see Clayton Kershaw maybe. Then you've got the
other storylines of show Hey Otani, Steve. Remember when he
(10:55):
was in free agency, there was reports he was on
a plane from la to go to Tuat because he
was gonna sign with the Blue Jays, and twenty four
hours later he signed with the Dodgers. It was basically
down to those two teams Dodgers and the Blue Jays.
Here they are two years later, squaring off in the
World Series. And on a bigger note, you've got Ken's luck,
(11:16):
Kendrick Lamar and Drake too, musicians, rappers, artists who don't
like each other and are one from la and Kendrick
Lamar and one is from Toronto and Drake and now
they're gonna be butting heads in this world series rivalry.
I cannot wait. The storylines are abundant for this fall classic.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
So you got it all the way, not only you know,
for sports, you've got it, for music, You've got pop culture,
You've got all this stuff. I mean, hey, let's go
back to the seventies and throw Jimmy Hendricks in there, right.
I mean, he's from Seattle, but we can't use him.
But you know, it was a great pop culture thing.
You know, if if Seattle got in there, but we
can't use it. And I was gonna go all off
(12:00):
on the Jimmy Hendrick thing. I was gonna talk about
Purple Haze and you know, all the great songs. But
now we got to go to Toronto. But I guess
you got your own mix of guys for Toronto, Right.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Yeah, Kens like Lamar and Blake. What I say Blake? Uh,
you got Ken's like Lamar and Drake Rake Drake, the
two rappers that are known for southern California.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
I was almost gonna bring one in, you know, for
for the Blue Jays and say, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
We've got Justin Bieber, but we don't. We have Shane Biba. Well,
it is Justin Bieber. It's Canada versus the United States.
I mean, we can get into the whole country squaring
off against each other.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
We can. And you know, there's a couple of things
I'm perturbed about and I might as well get it
off my chest in the beginning here. Okay, Okay, So
first of all, why are they copying our colors? They
got red, white and blue. They got the red numbers
on the front. They've got a blue uniform mostly blue.
Now when the roads are blue, okay, and the white,
You're not America, You're Canada. You're red and white. You
(12:59):
got a big leaf on your flag. Okay, you've got
the Toronto maple leafs. Why are you copy in America?
I don't get it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Well, they've always wanted to be like the United States,
North of the border.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
You know, I guess so, I.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Mean the good thing.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
I loved it. They got a beautiful anthem.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Whoa it is? Really?
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Have you heard the anthem?
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I first really liked the Canadian national anthem was when
I fell in love with hockey in the summer of
nineteen eighty eight, when Wayne Kretzky was traded to the
La Kings from the Edmonton Oilers. And then I became
a huge puck fan and I would watch every La
Kings game on Prime Ticket here in Los Angeles and
(13:39):
they do the national anthem and all these Canadian teams
they would show the Canadian national anthem, and miss I
memorized it. Yeah, and I started to sing, and I
love it.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
I know it. Maybe I'll do my rendition of it
because I can. I don't know if you know, I
can sing, And I'll do my rendition of it before
the World Series is over.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Well, like maybe we kick off the World Series on Friday,
you know, start Game one on a high note with
Steve saksing and the Canadian national anthem.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
Yeah, it's a beautiful anthem, and you know what I
like about it. It's hard to star search that anthem,
you know, a lot of people in the US Star
search the national anthem. They think they're singing it for themselves.
I don't want to hear that. I want to hear
the way Francis scott Key wrote it. Okay, that's how
the anthem. I will listen if you can't sing it
like Whitney Houston, if you're gonna do your own version,
if it ain't like Whitney Houston, don't even go there.
(14:30):
Because everybody's talking about how bad it was. I mean,
I've heard lots of anthems in my life, and a
lot of them, unless they sing it correctly, are really bad,
very bad, and it's disgusting.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
It's hard to mess up the Canadian national anthem. It's
also hardy.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
Chantion is beautiful and you know what, it's short. It
is not a long one.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
It is it's uh and we're gonna hear it Friday,
and we're gonna hear it Saturday for Games one and
two of this World series, which a lot of Dodger
fans who have you know, watching what's happening here in October.
I got two texts last night alone from people are like, what,
why don't we have home field advantage? I'm like, guys,
the Blue Jays had better wins. Yeah, I mean they
(15:12):
had a better record than the regular season. The response
one of them question Mark really, and I said, yeah,
I mean, look at the standings, dude. The Dodgers did
not have his.
Speaker 6 (15:21):
Bands and you can just look that up real easy, right.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
But I think people are more surprised that the Blue
Jays had more wins than the Dodgers in the regular season.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
They did, and they were you know, they not not
a lot. But I think they had one more win, right,
ninety four? Yes, Dodgers had ninety Have Dodgers have ninety three.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
The Dodgers finished the regular season, of course, the top
the NL West, and the Dodgers record during the regular
season was ninety three and sixty nine. Yeah, yeah, Toronto finished.
How about the Yankees getting back? I mean, this is
another thing. You look at the standings, like waist, I
thought blue Jays ran away with the division. No, no, no.
The the Yankees came stumbling back the final month and
(16:03):
a half of the season, and actually true finished tied
atop the AL East, both teams ninety four and sixty eights.
The Yankees won eight straight down the stretch, the Blue
Jays won four straight down the stretch. I mean one
game separates the fact that the Dodgers have to fly
to Toronto for the first two games as apparents to
having the home field the first two games.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Crazy, And the Dodgers, you know, they the Blue Jays
ninety four and sixty eight. They they split their last
ten too. They could have been better. They split their
last ten, but they won their last four in a row,
so they were really struggling. And then they pumped it
up the last four games and won four in a row,
two to barely eke out. You know that. You know
(16:46):
that that advantage over the Dodgers in postseason. I don't
like that because now the Dodgers got open the first
two there, then they go you know, three, four, five
in Los Angeles. Then they gotta go back again. Hope,
I hope the Dodgers shut them out before they have
to go. They're gonna make one trip there for sure.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Yeah, you got to get one of the first two games,
because I don't think you want to go back to
Toronto for Game six or possibly Game seven. How about this,
if if it was still meaningful, the All Star Game
and who won deciding home field advantage. Remember that whole
experiment with baseball saying this time it counts. Yeah in
the All Star Game, American League versus National League, whoever
(17:24):
won that, that team in the World Series would have
home field advantage. Well, the Dodgers would have had home
field advantage if they were still doing that, because remember
the National League beat the American League seven to six
in that game. So, I mean, now it counts right.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
They should do that for the NFL so they wouldn't
have to wear a skirt when they're playing with their
little flags on their hips. That's That's the most deplorable
thing I've ever seen what the All Star Game decided.
No flag football in the NFL. Oh, yes, that is
absolutely scary, sick that they do that. Yeah, flag football
(17:59):
with these big monsters. What would Dick Bucker say.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Uh, he wouldn't approve, he wouldn't show up.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Uh yeah, What would Jack Lambert.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Say, wouldn't even bother being there?
Speaker 6 (18:07):
No? No, they know, they wouldn't say they wouldn't even
be there.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
No, I mean, I I don't. I'm so wrapped up
with the Dodgers postseason. I totally forgot the All Star Game.
You know what happened. Remember it was the swing off
with the home runs. Yeah, and it was decided by
like a home run derby style.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I like, one swing could decide it, right, right.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Imagine if they were still playing for home field in
the World Series, the dramatics of that World Series swing
off in a un you know, precedented home run derby
style finish to the All Star Game. Because they didn't
have any more pitching, the Dodgers could have had home
field advantage based on that home run derby swing off
in the All Star Game.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
Yes, everything, let's go back to that. Yeah, go back
to everything is based on the long ball, right, even
even deciding you know, home field advantage.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
That would have been awesome to have that decided that way.
I think we'd go back to that. I think they
won't because I don't think the I think the experiment
in their eyes didn't work, or else they would not
have changed it back. But I liked it. You know.
It brought a little meaning to the Midsummer Classic again
for the American League and National League. And now with
the wild card, Steve, now that you've got more teams
(19:18):
that are you know it contenders, the second half basketball,
like everybody gets in, right, I mean, now it's more competitive.
So the thinking was back then, well, you know, you
don't have the wild card or you don't have these
many teams that are fighting. They're all gonna be sellers
at the deadline. They have nothing to play for. You're
letting the All Star Game be decided about, you know,
by guys who have no shot in making October. Now
(19:39):
that you've made it so like half the teams in
the final month of the season, even more than that,
we're still in contention for at least for a wild
card spot. You do make the Midsummer Classic worse something
because these guys now do have something to play for
because they could actually make the postseason.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, but they changed the rules so often. I mean
the Midsommer Classic, it's not again what you you see
in nineteen seventy where Pete Rose is running over Ray Fosse, right, right,
it's not that way. I think if the powers that
be had their way, you know, like they have done
in the NFL where they wear the skirt flags, I
think what they do in baseball is it would go
(20:15):
to more of the you know, like the Hollywood Stars
softball game and oh, I hope not, and play a
softball game with the guys where they can turn their
hats around backwards and have their sunglasses on the back
of their head. Why that guy was wearing his sunglasses
at night in a dome stadium with his glasses on
(20:36):
the back of his head. I can't figure that out. Well, really,
you got glasses on your head, dude.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Yeah, it's a night game, You're in a dome. You
got glasses on your head?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
What is this a fashion joke?
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Unbelievable all show, It's unbelievable, by the way. Major League
Baseball part of the new collective bargaining agreement signed in
December twenty sixteen. Part of it was to get rid
of the home field advantage decided by the All Star
Game and so beginning in the twenty seventeen season and
moving forward, that is when they stopped that. The first
(21:12):
rule to create this whole this time it counts in
the All Star Game was started in two thousand and
three and lasted all the way through two thousand and sixteen.
I didn't realize it lasted that long thirteen plus season,
but they finally got rid of it as part of
the new collective bargain agreement.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
So I wonder why that was.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
I'm not sure. Maybe I don't know why the players
wouldn't want it or the owners wouldn't want it.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I don't remember that argument back in twenty six.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I think it's probably they put too much emphasis on
the importance of the pitcher where they might try too
hard and hurt their elbow. Yeah, that could make sense,
you know, instead of it, you know, being just a
sliver of a difference between a team. Well, if you
push them one more inning, then you then you're gonna
have home field advantage. I mean, you can do this right,
(22:02):
and then the guy gets hurt and they say, well,
see what happened. It's too much pressure. I think that's
what happened.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
By the way, when they enacted this time it counts
for the All Star Game to decide home field advantage
for the World Series. Ten of the thirteen teams with
home field advantage went on to win the World Series.
That stat alone helped convince Baseball's decision makers that if
it was it was time for a change. Under the
revised format, the team at the best regular season record
(22:32):
will again have home field advantage in this Series. So
I guess homefield advantage really means something in the World Series.
And because of that, they didn't think it was fair
that neutral players in an All Star Game in July,
who gets home field advantage? And ye, I guess it
took him thirteen years to figure that out.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
By the way, Well, Tim, like you said, I was
all set to bring in the culture of Seattle. I
had Jimmy Hendricks, you know, uh, you know top songs,
I had you know, all those down. We could play
some of those in the breaks. You could have it
as a jingle at the beginning. But there's no uh,
We're not gonna hear about Jimmy Hendricks or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
No Nirvana talk, no Pearl Jam talk, no grunge music
from the nineties, talk from the Pacific Northwest, no Pikes plays,
no uh Starbucks talk, nothing.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
No Petch coffee. Nope, that's out.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I mean, gosh, but what is Toronto good for?
Speaker 6 (23:29):
We're not going to talk about the beauty of snow
Qualmi Falls. You've been, I've never been.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
I don't even know what that is good.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
You had to go there. It's unbelievable, is that? Yeah? Well, anyway,
that's all gone, so we can talk about you know,
Toronto now.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
So I mean, I guess I'm gonna have to google
what Toronto's good for.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
I guess. I mean, well, I mean they got that
big space needle. Oh, yeah, they've got that thing. So
I will tell you there it is a beautiful city.
I mean clean, very very clean. As they say in
New York. It's very clean. Okay, I like that part
of it. People are really nice and uh, that's about
all I know in Toronto. A few times I was there,
(24:04):
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Uh, they got that big space needle. As you said,
that's that's sort of it.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
And in Toronto Center has definitely advantaged to play there
for the Blue Jays.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Oh, they got that hotel and right yeah, what's that?
They got that hotel and right field you can stay yet.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Oh they had to close up the windows on that
thing though. Do you heard about that? Right?
Speaker 5 (24:22):
I can only imagine what was happening.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Yeah, they had to darken the windows. They had to
do it. You know, they got a car dealership in
that in that thing in the in the stadium.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
It's huge.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
You have a car dealership in there. It's like they
got everything.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
There I guess the hotel and Ride of Field gave
a new meeting to seventh any stretch and things that
were up there, Tim he and Steve Sacks, I am
Tim Kates were off and running on this Tuesday morning.
Thanks for being with us. Is the World Series is
said Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, Kejula Lamar against
(24:55):
Drake show Hey against Vlad Guerrero, Good versus Evil, US
versus Canada. Game one is Friday night for the Rogers Sentator.
We'll have it for you right here at five oh eight,
first pitch on your home of the Dodgers MFI seventy
LA Sports coming up. We'll hear from Mookie Betts. We'll
hear from Andrew Freeman. We'll here for the manager Dave Roberts,
(25:15):
and a certain Dodger closer could be coming back in
the World Series, but I don't think it's a good thing.
We'll get into that next hour. Jerry Royce will join
us in the eight o'clock hour. So much to get
to your phone calls as well. Eight six, six, nine
eighty seven, two five seventy. It's Sax and Kate's and
the am right here on AFI seventy LA Sports. Uh
(25:41):
Ken Jluck Lamar against Drake, Dodgers versus Blue Jays, Good
versus Evil, US versus Canada. Let's go Gay. One of
the World Series is Friday right here on am FI
seventy LA Sports and we'll have first pitch for you
at five oh eight for pitch. Do not know who
(26:01):
will be the opening starter for the Dodgers. I will
imagine those Steve based on what the Dodgers have done
so far in this postseason. In the wild Card round
the DS and the CS, Dave Roberts would probably be
leaning towards Blake Snell in a game one starts.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
I would think, so, I mean, go with what works right,
and that's been a very healthy combination for the Dodgers.
What did Milwaukee get one run a game? I mean
that's what they kind of were able to muster up.
You know this is remember these are two different types
of teams. Toronto's more of a slugging team. Milwaukee's was
more of a team that old school strings hits together
(26:41):
and runs the bases differently. So you're gonna have more
swing and miss, I think with the Toronto club, so
more chance to pitch. I think the pitchability part of
this team on the Dodgers is gonna come through more.
So this might be a team that you can actually
strategize better as far as leverage situations and kind of
(27:03):
mitigate those because you're able to pitch to them better.
As far as striking them out, You're looking for more
big time strikeouts, I think here than you would have
with Milwaukee.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Game one is Friday night at the Rogers Center in
Toronto as the Blue Jays beat the Mariners last night
four to three. George Springer at three run home run
at seventh inning to propel the Blue Jays to a win,
their first time back in the World Series since nineteen
ninety three, when Joe Carter and that group John Olerude
won back to back World Series titles for the Toronto
(27:36):
Blue Jays. Yesterday, the Dodgers had a workout at Dodgers Stadium,
had the game on the jumbotrons and left center and
right center field as they went through a workout, some
batting practice, a little bit of a sim game as well.
Mookie Betts, who is really quietly Steve, had himself a
nice postseason, hitting near three hundred in October four doubles.
(27:57):
He's got himself a triple six. Yes for walks, he's
got an ops over eight hundred in this postseason and
no home runs. How about that, Mookie Betts, who had
a lot of power during the regular season, zero home
runs for this Dodgers team. Again, that just shows you
how they've scored without having to use slug in the
home runs, despite the three home runs from Shoe Otani
(28:20):
of course on Friday night. But here's Rookie Betts after
the workout last night with David Vasse and some of
the media around the Dodger Batty Cage.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
How do you rest, how you prepare, what you guys
do for your bodies, and you know, how you guys
stayed together as a group, as a family.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
What does that look like just here?
Speaker 8 (28:35):
I mean practicing. I mean we've been together so much
throughout the year, so that plays a little part. And
you know, guys kind of want to enjoy a little
family time before we get back rolling again. So it's
kind of a balance. You know, when you're here, you
need to be present, hang out with the boys, and
then when you go home, turn your brain off.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So it's a balance of both. But that's why you
just got to be wherever you are.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
Are you obviously being no Tiny's historic night the other
night as a teammate and also as a fan of
the game, can you reflect on how historic that night
was for you?
Speaker 8 (29:09):
I mean, I mean, it's no more historic than you
guys have already all already said. I mean, it's amazing,
you know. And I don't want to rain on in
the parade or anything, but we is down and over it.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
We got to.
Speaker 8 (29:25):
Focus on Friday and hopefully can do it and do
it this series too.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Ki hella gratifying? Is it the first one hundred games
of your season obviously wasn't what you thought it would be.
But since then, I mean, you've been one of the
best players, hitters, your total game has really rosen to
the top. It gets lost once we're in October, but
do you have time to reflect that you came out
(29:50):
on the other end of it and here you are
in the World Series again and a big part of.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
It, I mean a little bit.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
You know, I do feel like I have contributed to
the wins, especially here late that necessarily that necessarily had
to be offensively, but defensively or both, you know, and whatever.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
So that does.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
It does feel pretty good to know that I at
least helped. But you know, where we started versus where
we finished. I mean, I think it's just uh, shows
me and kind of reassures me to to just stay
in the moment, just help the team, help the boys
win in this inning, in this moment, and now that's
how you can control.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have you felt the excitement of the city this time around.
I know you go from the house to the stadium,
but can you feel the excitement that the city has
for this team?
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Yeah? Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
I mean I think, uh, you know, whether it's Friday
or Monday or whatever, everybody's gonna be here, and I
think everybody's locked and lowly ready to go, ready to
see some history, and we're ready to make it.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Anybody honking their horns at you on the freeway.
Speaker 8 (30:49):
No, not yet, but hopefully hopefully here soon.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
All Right. There's Mookie Bets with David Vasse in the
media last night at the team workouts. Yeah, the Dodgers
are putting Friday Night behind them, and I like that, Steve.
I like the fact that Mookie Bets isn't just sitting
reflecting on what show Hay did in Game five or
game four, excuse me, of that NLCS and the win
over the Brewers. You got to turn the page. That
was Friday Night. That was historic. That was a great moment.
(31:14):
Certainly what he did historic. But the Dodgers got a
mission of now winning the World Series and they got
to win four more. They can't sit there and glean
off of what show hey did in Game four of
the NLCS and ride that momentum. They've got to turn
the page. And I love that this is a new series.
We're on to the next one. That was great. We
reflect on on it, and I don't want to sit
here and harp on it. I love that for Mookie Bets.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Take you know, what you had from you know, being
able to go out there and just dominate those guys
in the in the NLCS and all before that as well.
So you take all this and you got four more
games to win. I mean, it's the same situation for Toronto.
But I think if you look at the the just
to you know, if you parse out position for position,
you know, you'd have to say that the Dodgers have
(31:56):
quite an advantage as far as who's the better players.
Does that mean the Dodgers are going to win. Heck, no,
does not mean that at all. Been on teams before,
as I said yesterday that you know, not as much talent,
but you know you still win because it's a team
that plays to bet, plays the best together. You know,
it's a collective coming together that's going to make the difference.
(32:17):
And it all starts with your pitching staff. And you know,
Dodgers are pretty good in that regard.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
We talked about the connections between these two teams, these
two cities, and it even goes deeper to them. We
mentioned Max Scherzer versus Clayton Kershaw, two guys who scored
off against each other with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks way
back in two thousand and eight. And here they are.
For Clayton Kershaw his final season. Is it the final
season for Max Scherzer is forty plus years old. We'll
(32:44):
find out. But both guys now playing in this World
Series here in twenty twenty five. I mean Don Mattingly,
let's not forget, was the manager of the Dodgers. He
is now the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He'll be squaring off against his team. He let the
Dodgers to three NL West titles while serving as their
manager from twenty eleven to twenty fifteen. Chris Woodward the
(33:05):
Dodger first base coach. He was drafted by the Blue
Jays and played seven of his twelve MLB seasons with
the Toronto Blue Jays. He is now a Dodger, so
there's a lot of crossover, And think the biggest one
on the field right now is Taoscar Hernandez. He spent
time in both teams. He won two Silver Slug Awards
(33:27):
in six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was
there from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty two, ended up
going to Seattle and then came to the Dodgers last
year and then signed the offseason deal to stay in
La but Ta. Oscar Hernandez knows Toronto very well. Spent
time there, won a couple of awards there, never won
a World Series there. But I love the storylines going
(33:50):
into this series on and off the field. This is
good for baseball to have the connections, to be able
to connect the dots between the Dodgers Blue Jays. This
is good, This is fun. Dodgers Yankees. Last year was
the two big bad teams from the East Coast and
West Coast squaring off to legendary organizations. But I like
(34:10):
this on and off the field.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Baseball ties, Yeah, there's a lot of them here, and
you can only imagine what's gonna happen before Friday kicks off.
There's gonna be a ton of those there. And you know,
for the the amount of time since ninety three that
this team has been to the World Series, you can
imagine what Canada. I mean, this is a whole country
that's gonna be behind the Blue Jays. And the blue
(34:32):
Jays are way way over there in the eastern part
of Canada, but you got everybody in the West obviously pulling,
you know, for the for the Blue Jays. So this
is gonna be a big, big, epic rival. This is
what I believe the networks wanted. They wanted to have
the East versus West type of thing. They wanted it
(34:53):
to cover way over across and expand as much as
you possibly could of land masks so there's more people involved,
and to have it one country against the other. Great.
I mean, this is all great for the public to
get involved in this, but I think what they're going
to hammer on a lot. Is the power of each team,
Oh my god, the power and the middle of the
lineup for both teams are absolutely outstanding. But if you
(35:16):
look at this, the Dodgers were second and all of
baseball and home runs too. Of the New York Yankees
they had yank Yankees were first with two seventy four.
The Dodgers were second with two forty four. If you
look way down the list there, Toronto not as much
not as prolific as a home run team as you
might think with vlade in there and Springer, they were
like tied for eleventh with which if you really go
(35:39):
down the line, it's like fourteenth, you know, with a
couple of other clubs, so, you know, but a well
stacked team and they can go deep. But one thing
I'll tell you about their team that people aren't going
to really really realize about them, is they're going to
think that Toronto is you know, team is going to
tarry out by the home run. This team was the
second hardest team in all of baseball to strike out.
(36:00):
And I mentioned the strikeouts earlier because they have the
top guys on their team that are home run hitters.
When you talk about Springer and Guerrero. These guys strike out,
do strike out the most on their team. These are
the guys that are gonna have to be neutralized. All
those guys that I mentioned struck out over or right
around one hundred times a year, So that part of
(36:22):
the team does strike out. But the rest of the guys,
guys like Ernie Clement, who is a really good player.
I mean he's like a Tommy Edmond type of player.
These guys don't strike out very much at all. They
do have a mix of old school and home run power.
But the guys that I mentioned before, the guys you
got neutralized, they can be pitched to and they do
strike out a lot.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Coming up a little bit, we're going to get into
the economics of baseball and do fans really care about
what potentially could be looming in a lockout and why
there's gonna be a lockout, and this whole narrative about
the Dodgers ruining baseball. We'll get into it. I just
want to quickly point out the Toronto Blue Jays are
top five in salaries in baseball, and also they have
(37:03):
the third highest paid player in all of baseball, making
five hundred million dollars in Vladiguerrero. So this isn't small market,
cute little Toronto team north of the border. They got
the maple leaf on their helmet. No, no, this is
a high pain Toronto Blue Jays team with a big
time owner with deep pockets up in Canada. That the
(37:26):
almost landed show Halo time. We're gonna get into that.
Let's get some phone calls in here. Eight sixty six,
nine eighty seven, two five seventy Edgar and Carson, thanks
for being patient, Edgar, good morning, how you doing, what's
on your mind?
Speaker 9 (37:37):
Good morning, guys, gonna be on with you. Scammed, just
feeling pumped up for this world series. Let's go big Blue.
I feel like going and starting in Toronto is gonna
continue this trend of going and starting in the visitors stadium.
Dodgers have a chance to again take two. It's really
(37:58):
gonna fire them up. And so let's at least get one,
if not two, over there and then come back for
three in La. So let's go Dodgers in five.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
All right, he call on your shot early Dodgers in five.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
It's how it's five, Okay, it's.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
Gonna be a good series. It's not gonna be a
four game sweep like the Milwaukee Brewers. I don't even
think it's gonna be a five game series. I think
it's gonna be a little bit longer than that. And
that's why I'm a little nervous. That's why I wanted
the Seattle Mariners to make it to the World Series
on the matchup with the Dodgers, just to me, on
paper felt a lot easier and looked better as far
as the matchups were concerned. But here we are, the
(38:35):
Toronto Blue Jays and George Springer with the three run
home run last night, propelling Toronto to their first World
Series appearance since nineteen ninety three. Veronica in La, You're
next up with Saxon Kates and the Amhi, Veronica, how
are you hi?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Good morning. Hey, I'm getting ready for work, so I'm
gonna make this quick. We just need to remember that
Springer was part of the twenty seventeen Astros team and
nobody's talking about that.
Speaker 6 (39:00):
Yeah, I talked about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
He is a cheater.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
He is a cheater. He was on the twenty seventeen team. Ronicky,
You're right, no doubt about that. Thank you for the
phone call. Enjoy your day of work, and thanks you're
keeping us with you as you get ready this morning.
He was on that twenty seventeen team, and he was
a big part, a big part of that twenty seventeen
Houston Astros team, which it turns out we're using signals
(39:24):
and bag on trash cans and cheated their way past
the Dodgers in seven games of that World Series, and
even cheat their way past the New York Yankees in
the ALCS that year to make it to the World Series.
So Dodger fans won't let George Springer forget if you're
at a Dodger game the last few years, anytime a
former or current astro gets there, it doesn't even matter
(39:45):
if it's an astro player. Steve that wasn't even probably
in the major leagues. Heck, was probably in high school
back in twenty seventeen. Had nothing to do with the team.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
That you wanted to be with. The astrois go ahead.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Tim, Yeah, I mean, if you have an astro uniform on,
but you were in a high school in twenty seventeen,
you still get booed at Dodger standing. We saw that
this year out at the Ravine and certainly George Springer,
all two of a guys who are either still or
former Astros on that twenty seventeen team, they get booed mercifully.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Hey, they even remember that here in Sacramento when the
Astros came here to play the athletics. I'll tell you what.
Twov came to the plate and he was resoundingly booed.
I love it.
Speaker 5 (40:23):
I mean, the whole place was all over him, as
it should be. Make sure they recognize and remember for
what they did in twenty seventeen to So, if you
have a last.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
Name that starts with an A because of Astros, you
deserve to be booted. Yeah right, if you even think
about it when you're in kindergarten. If you want to
be a Houston Astro, if you traveled to the state
of Texas and you actually thought about Huston, you're guilty, right,
I agree with that. I mean, if you have any
(40:53):
friends that have ever said the word Houston or Astro,
if you have an astronaut that actually thought about being
any good astronaut and the word astro came into his
vernacular at any part of his life, he's guilty because
it's part of that. I could go on, but I mean,
(41:13):
I think this is true.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
It absolutely is true. If you even thought about it,
you wanted to be or you were an Astros fan,
you are guilty by association for those twenty seventeen cheating
Houston Astros and George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays
the game winning home run last night a part of that.
In twenty seventeen, we'll come back get more of your
phone calls. We'll hear from Andrew Freeman, who weighed in
(41:35):
on this whole Dodgers ruining baseball, and he had some
interesting things to talk about his superstars compared to other superstars.
We'll hear from Dave Roberts. Next hour, we'll hear from
a Dodger reliever who wants on this World Series roster,
but what he did in the regular season as Dodger
fans not really wanting him a part of the fall classical.
(41:56):
Here from Jerry Royce, former Dodger leftander, coming up in
the at o'clock hour, so much to get to thanks
you being with us. It's Sax and Kate's and am
right here at NFI seventy LA Sports. It's Sax and
Kates in the am Steve Sax Tim Kats on your
(42:17):
home of the Dodgers An five seventy LA Sports Live
at local during the month of October, as it should be,
during yet another Dodgers World Series run, as they get
ready to square off against the Toronto Blue Jays, Game
one right here on AM five seventy LA Sports coming
up on Friday night, five toh eight, first pitch from
the Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada. We got you cover
(42:38):
with all the Dodger action and of course leading up
to Game one, David Bats our Dodger Insider with the
team embedded with them as they make their way to Toronto,
probably tomorrow, I would assume, and then Thursday they have
like a little mini media day for all the international
and US media and then Game one of the World
(42:59):
Series will be on Friday night world of course right
here on I seventy la Sports. But we talked about
it yesterday. It's one of these narratives that the media
wants to spend about how the Dodgers are bad for
baseball and the Dodgers are ruining baseball and they just
buy their superstars and they just roll out the baseball
and because of their talent and because of the money
(43:21):
and their pockets and how much money they got in there,
that they just go and win baseball games and just
roll over teams. And Andrew Freeman was on with Petro
Some Money last Friday, and it was very candid about
how he does not like this narrative at all.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
It really is a lazy narrative. I get it at
surface level. It's easy to pull on that thread, but
it discounts these guys so much. Because you watch us
play other teams, and you watch our stars out here
early on their knees taking ground balls.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
Doing extra work. You see the other team stars.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
They're never out here about having the right people and
the way they prepare and how much they want to
win and give back to these incredible fans.
Speaker 5 (44:07):
So it is a disservice to them.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Because the way they play the game, how they prepare,
regardless of how much they make or don't make, these
guys are wired the right way.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
And they care. I love that. I love what he
had to say, and you can hear the frustration in
his voice. You certainly heard it in Dave Roberts's voice
when he said, let's go ruin baseball with four more wins,
and he said, of course sarcastically after the game on
Friday night. But they hear this, Steve, they hear this
narrative that's being spun about how they're just out there
rolling the baseball out to the mound and their talent
(44:39):
and money is just better than other teams.
Speaker 6 (44:41):
Yeah, that's that is just malarkey. I don't believe that whatsoever.
I'll give you a flat example when you're in Yankee Stadium.
When I went to the Yankees and played, you know,
I was a free agent and I signed a good contract,
and my relationship with the fans in the runs was
(45:01):
one that you know, I played hard and that's all
they want. Fans anywhere in the country, they don't care
what kind of money you made. And it was very
much on display with the Yankees. I was there with
a lot of guys that were huge contract guys those
fans want to see. And that's kind of like the
heartbeat of America. Old school fans, proximity to the field,
(45:24):
very close, they get it, very educated fans. What they
wanted to see was the effort. They wanted to see
you transparent. They wanted to just see you play hard.
They wanted to see your love for the game. They
wanted to see you do anything it took within the
guidelines of fairness to win the game. That's what they wanted.
They don't care how much money you make. And that's
(45:45):
the same thing with Andrew Friedman's talking about. They don't care.
He doesn't care what the money that the players makes.
Look at the effort, look at the early work, look
at the you know, whatever it takes to get better,
and that's what people respect. They want to see the effort.
They don't care what kind of money you're bringing in.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
No.
Speaker 5 (46:03):
I like how he pointed it out that their superstars
are out there working, and I think that's the shot
at other superstars. And maybe it wasn't necessarily a shot
at the Milwaukee Brewers directly, but he was referencing the
opposing teams and superstars who are getting paid and got
their contracts and are out there and aren't putting it
in the work and are out there grinding four hours
before a game, getting loose, making sure that ankle is good,
(46:25):
making sure they're working on their defensive drills. The Dodgers
put in the work. Yes, they get paid, they got superstars.
They got guys who are making tons of money, sure,
but they're out there still grinding. They're out there still working,
and that's the point that Andrew Freeman and Steve just
alluded to. They're out there still working hard and putting
in the work to make sure that pays off with
(46:46):
the World Series Championship. And I love that. I just
I love the fact that they emphasize that, and I
know they hear it. I know they hear this narrative.
And I was watching Andrew Freeman's face when he said
that on Friday, and he looked ticked. And to see
Dave Roberts make that kind of sarcastic comment about let's
go ruin baseball with four more wins. Not that they
(47:07):
need a rallying cry, but this could be something that
you know, they can go on the road with and uses.
You know, nobody thinks we should be here because we
bought our way here, nobody wants us to see us win.
It could be this US against the world mentality that
they take into Toronto on Friday night for Game one
against the Blue.
Speaker 6 (47:25):
Jays could be a great rallying cry. Tim I think
that's outstanding. In eighty eight. We used the David Cone
rallying cry, saying that, you know, one of our pitchers
had a lollipop curveball, And of course, one of the
announcers on the National Network, Bob Costas, said that we
had the worst looking talent as far as that goes
(47:46):
on a World Series team ever, and Tommy the sort
of promptly used those two examples to really give us
an edge. And I think that's what the Dodgers will do.
They'll they'll David Roberts will remind him of this probably
and it'll it'll be a good rallying cry.
Speaker 5 (48:03):
Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy is
the number one hour down, two to go, and we
want you to be a part of the show at
eight sixty six, nine eighty seven to two five seventy.
Coming up, a Dodger reliever wants to be a part
of this World Series roster. But should he be based
on what he did in the regular season. We'll hear
from the manager Dave Roberts. Jerry Royce will join us
in the eight o'clock hour. Also coming up, there's a
(48:25):
lingering lockout in baseball, and that seems to be talked
about a lot with a upcoming World Series to be played,
how much do you care about the economics of baseball?
With the Dodgers on the eve of trying to win
back to back World Series championships, and the question has
been brought up on Twitter. Steve, will the United States
be rooting for the Dodgers since this US versus Canada
(48:49):
or they still have a hatred towards the boys in Blue.
We'll talk about that when we come back. Steve Sacks,
Tim Katz and you on a FI seventy ice Sports
They say. The hardest thing in sports isn't winning a title.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's hard to repeat seasons.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's winning it again.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
This year.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Is not trying to win a championship, They're trying to repeat.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It's October baseball for your world champion in La Dodger.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
The twenty twenty five Dodgers are the National League's Western
Division champions.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And you know what that means.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
Saxon Kates and AM is back.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
This is Saxon Kates in the Morning with Tim Kates
and former World champion Dodger Steve Sacks.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Reacting, taking your phone calls, talking Dodgers playoff baseball all
postseason long.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Now here they are on AM five to seventy LA
Sports and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Steve Sacks, Tim Kats, Tim Kates.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And World Champion Dodger Steve Sacks.
Speaker 5 (00:51):
All right, here we go. The World Series is said,
Buckle up, La. It's the Dodgers and the Jura Toe
Blue Jays in the twenty twenty five MLB World Series
Game one Friday night at the Rogers Center north of
the Border in Toronto, Canada. First pitch five to oh eight,
(01:15):
and we are off and running. In our preview leading
you up to Game one of the Fall Classic. I
am Tim Kates, joined by two times World Series Champion,
Rookie of the Year, our favorite number three oh one
and only, Steve sag Saxy. Good morning, Tim Kits.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Tim? I'm excited now that we finally know what the
matchup will be, and it's not the opponent I had
hoped for. I wanted the Seattle Mariners, full disclosure, but
they were nine outs away from making that come true. Instead,
it's the Toronto Blue Jays who will square off against
show Hey Otani and the Dodgers. And just quick from
(01:54):
the get go, here your initial thoughts Toronto Blue Jays
Dodgers World Series. First thing that comes to my initial
thoughts about this series.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Well, it's it's a very formidable opponent, no question about it.
This team's got firepower, they've got pitching, they got defense,
they got good chemistry on this team. Uh, and it's
gonna be It's gonna be a battle, no doubt. I
think the Blue Jays when they look over and see
the Dodgers, they're they're going to see a team that's
well stocked. Starting pitching is crazy off the chart, and
(02:25):
I definitely give the advantage to the Dodgers, not because
I'm a homer and I think that that that you know,
they're just a better team. I mean, the Milwaukee Brewers
saw that the team that had the best record in
all of baseball, and they didn't have a chance against
the Dodgers. The discrepancy between talent and these two organizations
that the Dodgers just finished off was pretty apparent. I
(02:46):
don't think it's quite as vast with the Toronto Blue Jays,
but I think the Dodgers are the better team. It's
just a matter of execution. Now.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
It was a great game seven of the Alcs last night.
The Seattle Mariners jumped out to the early lead. They
were up three to one in the seventh when this
happened for Toronto.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
One oh pitch, swinging a five ball left field and
deep a Rosoreno.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Turns good.
Speaker 7 (03:20):
A stringer danger four three Blue Jays in the bottom
of the seventh, one knee, no problem. You have to
have that guy in a big game, and he crushed
(03:42):
a pitch out till left center.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You have got to be kidding me, Ben, That is
the best moment in sports I have ever seen.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Blue Jay's radio with the call, and George Springer three
run a home run.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
Hey, that's a big homer bit. I can point to
several that are a little bigger than that.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Yeah, talk about one knee.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
They're playing that up like, oh, we could barely walk.
Did you see when he hit hit the ball and
it's it's almost a you know, it's right down the line.
He's sprinting like crazy to first. But when he when
he hits out of the part, oh the knees bad.
You know, come on, it is George Springer whole. It's
not forget.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Was a part of the twenty seventeen Houston Astros team. So, Dodger,
what was that?
Speaker 6 (04:24):
Tim? What was that again about that? They were cheating.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Eventeen twenty and seventeen, they were hitting trash cans and
they were cheating their way to a World Series championships.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
See part of that team.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
He was part of that team in twenty and seventeen.
George Spring now a member of the Toronto Blue Jays,
and he hit that three run home run last night
and in Seattle this morning, they're waking up and they
are just absolutely miserable with the way the final nine
outs of that game happened last night, Edward Barzardo on
the mound, and they could not been more upset that
(04:57):
Dan Wilson didn't go to their closer. They were upset
that Brian wu got taken out of the game like
he did. And the Seattle fans are livid with the
way their postseason run comes to an end. I mean,
they had the one of the best closers in baseball
rested and ready to go in, Andres Munos, and he
was sitting there and they didn't go to him in
(05:18):
the seventh inning. And this brings up so many questions
about when to bring in your reliever. Steve Sachs. Is
it the ninth inning, is it the eighth inning? Throw
all that out. It's high leverage situation when you've got
the top of the lineup in Springer and vlad Guerrero
junior runners on bay seventh inning and you're clinging to
a three to one lead Dan Wilson last night, and
(05:39):
that coaching staff absolutely made the wrong decision not to
go to their high leverage reliever and the highest of
leverage situations.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Yeah, you know, hindsight the twenty twenty, You know, with
hindsight and all that, I get it, but I'm not
having Bizardo in the leverage situation against Springer.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
No.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
No, I would have extended Wu. And I know that
he wasn't at his best. He had a little bit
of location issues. He was getting it done though, but
he was getting it done. A big fan of Brian Wu.
He's this guy can flat out get it done a
lot of times in you know, those questionable situations in
the high leverage time. I like this guy. You know,
(06:24):
he's I've saw him pitching college as well, and he's
just amazing. And I would have had him in there
in that situation, extended him down and then had Munnos
in eight and nine, because there's one of the best
relievers in the game and you have him on the
bench in that leverage situation not looking good.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
No, now that you got all off season, you got
the all of eternity to sit there and think about
how close the Seattle Mariners were to get into their
first ever World Series, and they were nine outs away
from doing it last night, Saxy. They were so close
to getting into the Fall Classic. Full disclosure. Was already
starting to do prep on Seattle. I was already starting
(07:03):
to do history on Seattle, the city. I was already
starting to think about different guests that live up in Seattle.
Sports talk hosts Our Buddy Dave Softy Maller up there.
I was gonna call him and get him on this morning.
I was excited to talk Seattle Mariners, baseball, talk, coffee,
and the origins of Starbucks. Alaman Hendricks. Absolutely, I was
even more excited because looking at the Seattle Mariners lineup,
(07:26):
it didn't scare me. I mean, six through nine, I mean, pu,
it's stunk in this series. And I was excited because
I wanted to see that Mariners roster and that lineup
in a seven game World Series because I felt like, man,
that is the easier the two opponents for the Dodgers,
just based on the way their offense is playing right now,
(07:48):
and it's top heavy with the Rodriguez and Raleigh and Naylor.
And you know, Suarez had cooled off in the in
the in the ALCS, but absolutely, yes he did it.
They're all hitting under two hundred. I mean I was
licking my jocks, thinking, yes, we want Seattle. Let them
squeak by with a three to one win. Bring on
(08:10):
the Mariners. Not only did the Dodgers sweep them the
final weekend of this series. But the way they're playing
right now, offensively, the Dodgers can completely control them with
the way they're pitching. Staff was pitching right now. But
gosh darned. The Blue Jays, the most comebacks in baseball
this season, did it again last night. And here Schneider,
(08:30):
their manager, after the game, like, yeah, we you know what,
We've done it before. We were confident we can do
it again. And I'd believe in my guys. I mean,
he was just so calm and cool about how he
bleed in his team in their final nine outs. It
was unreal to hear, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Well you know what, Tim, Uh, that's fine because these
things don't automatically roll over. You don't just automatically roll over,
you know, to the next series and all of a sudden,
you know you're killing you know, Guarreral Guerrero as well
as he's swinging the bat, you know you can pitch
to him at times he will chase and I think
if you can neutralize that guy in Springer, those are
(09:05):
the two guys you got to really go after. Alejandro
Kirk He's he's he's a good hitter, but but he's
not a guy that can really kill you. It's Springer
and Guerrero the two guys that you have to really neutralize,
not afraid of Barger or not, you know. And Miles Straws,
a guy that feels in kinder filefa is not gonna
hurt you. It's those two guys. Lucas is of journey
(09:26):
journeyman in the minor leagues throughout his career. He's having
a good postseason. Sometimes you see guys that come in
and do that nothing to lose, and they've got talent.
They put it on display and they're able to do
it kind of like ki k a. You know. That's
kind of what reminds me of Lucas a little bit.
So they got some This is a This is a
definitely a worthy lineup, and the Dodgers can pitch to
it though, but you got a neutralized Springer and Guerrero.
(09:48):
Of course, those are the two main guys, and then
you're okay.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
This matchup the Dodgers in Blue Jays has has got
so many storylines going into it. I am fired up
about this series. These are two teams top five in
payroll in baseball. These are two teams with superstar players
show Hey Otani, Mookie Bets, Freddie Freeman, and then you've
(10:12):
got Vlad Guerrero Junior, who is just an absolute dynamic
player for the Toronto Blue Jays. Then you've got the
whole dynamic of two forty year old pitchers basically I
know he's not forty yet in Clayton Kershaw, but you've
got Max Scherzer and you've got Clayton Kershaw, two guys
at the end of their careers and two guys that
(10:32):
will certainly be going to Cooperstown as Hall of famers.
And now two guys who will be pitching maybe in
this world series in different roles. Suser may be pitching
out of the bullpen, maybe starting He's kind of resurrected
his twenty twenty five career season here in the October.
Will we see Clayton Kershaw maybe. Then you've got the
other storylines of show Hey Otani, Steve. Remember when he
(10:55):
was in free agency, there was reports he was on
a plane from la to go to Tuat because he
was gonna sign with the Blue Jays, and twenty four
hours later he signed with the Dodgers. It was basically
down to those two teams Dodgers and the Blue Jays.
Here they are two years later, squaring off in the
World Series. And on a bigger note, you've got Ken's luck,
(11:16):
Kendrick Lamar and Drake too, musicians, rappers, artists who don't
like each other and are one from la and Kendrick
Lamar and one is from Toronto and Drake and now
they're gonna be butting heads in this world series rivalry.
I cannot wait. The storylines are abundant for this fall classic.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
So you got it all the way, not only you know,
for sports, you've got it, for music, You've got pop culture,
You've got all this stuff. I mean, hey, let's go
back to the seventies and throw Jimmy Hendricks in there, right.
I mean, he's from Seattle, but we can't use him.
But you know, it was a great pop culture thing.
You know, if if Seattle got in there, but we
can't use it. And I was gonna go all off
(12:00):
on the Jimmy Hendrick thing. I was gonna talk about
Purple Haze and you know, all the great songs. But
now we got to go to Toronto. But I guess
you got your own mix of guys for Toronto, Right.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Yeah, Kens like Lamar and Blake. What I say Blake? Uh,
you got Ken's like Lamar and Drake Rake Drake, the
two rappers that are known for southern California.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
I was almost gonna bring one in, you know, for
for the Blue Jays and say, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
We've got Justin Bieber, but we don't. We have Shane Biba. Well,
it is Justin Bieber. It's Canada versus the United States.
I mean, we can get into the whole country squaring
off against each other.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
We can. And you know, there's a couple of things
I'm perturbed about and I might as well get it
off my chest in the beginning here. Okay, Okay, So
first of all, why are they copying our colors? They
got red, white and blue. They got the red numbers
on the front. They've got a blue uniform mostly blue.
Now when the roads are blue, okay, and the white,
You're not America, You're Canada. You're red and white. You
(12:59):
got a big leaf on your flag. Okay, you've got
the Toronto maple leafs. Why are you copy in America?
I don't get it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Well, they've always wanted to be like the United States,
North of the border.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
You know, I guess so, I.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Mean the good thing.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
I loved it. They got a beautiful anthem.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Whoa it is? Really?
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Have you heard the anthem?
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I first really liked the Canadian national anthem was when
I fell in love with hockey in the summer of
nineteen eighty eight, when Wayne Kretzky was traded to the
La Kings from the Edmonton Oilers. And then I became
a huge puck fan and I would watch every La
Kings game on Prime Ticket here in Los Angeles and
(13:39):
they do the national anthem and all these Canadian teams
they would show the Canadian national anthem, and miss I
memorized it. Yeah, and I started to sing, and I
love it.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
I know it. Maybe I'll do my rendition of it
because I can. I don't know if you know, I
can sing, And I'll do my rendition of it before
the World Series is over.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Well, like maybe we kick off the World Series on Friday,
you know, start Game one on a high note with
Steve saksing and the Canadian national anthem.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
Yeah, it's a beautiful anthem, and you know what I
like about it. It's hard to star search that anthem,
you know, a lot of people in the US Star
search the national anthem. They think they're singing it for themselves.
I don't want to hear that. I want to hear
the way Francis scott Key wrote it. Okay, that's how
the anthem. I will listen if you can't sing it
like Whitney Houston, if you're gonna do your own version,
if it ain't like Whitney Houston, don't even go there.
(14:30):
Because everybody's talking about how bad it was. I mean,
I've heard lots of anthems in my life, and a
lot of them, unless they sing it correctly, are really bad,
very bad, and it's disgusting.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
It's hard to mess up the Canadian national anthem. It's
also hardy.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
Chantion is beautiful and you know what, it's short. It
is not a long one.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
It is it's uh and we're gonna hear it Friday,
and we're gonna hear it Saturday for Games one and
two of this World series, which a lot of Dodger
fans who have you know, watching what's happening here in October.
I got two texts last night alone from people are like, what,
why don't we have home field advantage? I'm like, guys,
the Blue Jays had better wins. Yeah, I mean they
(15:12):
had a better record than the regular season. The response
one of them question Mark really, and I said, yeah,
I mean, look at the standings, dude. The Dodgers did
not have his.
Speaker 6 (15:21):
Bands and you can just look that up real easy, right.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
But I think people are more surprised that the Blue
Jays had more wins than the Dodgers in the regular season.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
They did, and they were you know, they not not
a lot. But I think they had one more win, right,
ninety four? Yes, Dodgers had ninety Have Dodgers have ninety three.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
The Dodgers finished the regular season, of course, the top
the NL West, and the Dodgers record during the regular
season was ninety three and sixty nine. Yeah, yeah, Toronto finished.
How about the Yankees getting back? I mean, this is
another thing. You look at the standings, like waist, I
thought blue Jays ran away with the division. No, no, no.
The the Yankees came stumbling back the final month and
(16:03):
a half of the season, and actually true finished tied
atop the AL East, both teams ninety four and sixty eights.
The Yankees won eight straight down the stretch, the Blue
Jays won four straight down the stretch. I mean one
game separates the fact that the Dodgers have to fly
to Toronto for the first two games as apparents to
having the home field the first two games.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Crazy, And the Dodgers, you know, they the Blue Jays
ninety four and sixty eight. They they split their last
ten too. They could have been better. They split their
last ten, but they won their last four in a row,
so they were really struggling. And then they pumped it
up the last four games and won four in a row,
two to barely eke out. You know that. You know
(16:46):
that that advantage over the Dodgers in postseason. I don't
like that because now the Dodgers got open the first
two there, then they go you know, three, four, five
in Los Angeles. Then they gotta go back again. Hope,
I hope the Dodgers shut them out before they have
to go. They're gonna make one trip there for sure.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Yeah, you got to get one of the first two games,
because I don't think you want to go back to
Toronto for Game six or possibly Game seven. How about this,
if if it was still meaningful, the All Star Game
and who won deciding home field advantage. Remember that whole
experiment with baseball saying this time it counts. Yeah in
the All Star Game, American League versus National League, whoever
(17:24):
won that, that team in the World Series would have
home field advantage. Well, the Dodgers would have had home
field advantage if they were still doing that, because remember
the National League beat the American League seven to six
in that game. So, I mean, now it counts right.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
They should do that for the NFL so they wouldn't
have to wear a skirt when they're playing with their
little flags on their hips. That's That's the most deplorable
thing I've ever seen what the All Star Game decided.
No flag football in the NFL. Oh, yes, that is
absolutely scary, sick that they do that. Yeah, flag football
(17:59):
with these big monsters. What would Dick Bucker say.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Uh, he wouldn't approve, he wouldn't show up.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Uh yeah, What would Jack Lambert.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Say, wouldn't even bother being there?
Speaker 6 (18:07):
No? No, they know, they wouldn't say they wouldn't even
be there.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
No, I mean, I I don't. I'm so wrapped up
with the Dodgers postseason. I totally forgot the All Star Game.
You know what happened. Remember it was the swing off
with the home runs. Yeah, and it was decided by
like a home run derby style.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I like, one swing could decide it, right, right.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Imagine if they were still playing for home field in
the World Series, the dramatics of that World Series swing
off in a un you know, precedented home run derby
style finish to the All Star Game. Because they didn't
have any more pitching, the Dodgers could have had home
field advantage based on that home run derby swing off
in the All Star Game.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
Yes, everything, let's go back to that. Yeah, go back
to everything is based on the long ball, right, even
even deciding you know, home field advantage.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
That would have been awesome to have that decided that way.
I think we'd go back to that. I think they
won't because I don't think the I think the experiment
in their eyes didn't work, or else they would not
have changed it back. But I liked it. You know.
It brought a little meaning to the Midsummer Classic again
for the American League and National League. And now with
the wild card, Steve, now that you've got more teams
(19:18):
that are you know it contenders, the second half basketball,
like everybody gets in, right, I mean, now it's more competitive.
So the thinking was back then, well, you know, you
don't have the wild card or you don't have these
many teams that are fighting. They're all gonna be sellers
at the deadline. They have nothing to play for. You're
letting the All Star Game be decided about, you know,
by guys who have no shot in making October. Now
(19:39):
that you've made it so like half the teams in
the final month of the season, even more than that,
we're still in contention for at least for a wild
card spot. You do make the Midsummer Classic worse something
because these guys now do have something to play for
because they could actually make the postseason.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, but they changed the rules so often. I mean
the Midsommer Classic, it's not again what you you see
in nineteen seventy where Pete Rose is running over Ray Fosse, right, right,
it's not that way. I think if the powers that
be had their way, you know, like they have done
in the NFL where they wear the skirt flags, I
think what they do in baseball is it would go
(20:15):
to more of the you know, like the Hollywood Stars
softball game and oh, I hope not, and play a
softball game with the guys where they can turn their
hats around backwards and have their sunglasses on the back
of their head. Why that guy was wearing his sunglasses
at night in a dome stadium with his glasses on
(20:36):
the back of his head. I can't figure that out. Well, really,
you got glasses on your head, dude.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Yeah, it's a night game, You're in a dome. You
got glasses on your head?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
What is this a fashion joke?
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Unbelievable all show, It's unbelievable, by the way. Major League
Baseball part of the new collective bargaining agreement signed in
December twenty sixteen. Part of it was to get rid
of the home field advantage decided by the All Star
Game and so beginning in the twenty seventeen season and
moving forward, that is when they stopped that. The first
(21:12):
rule to create this whole this time it counts in
the All Star Game was started in two thousand and
three and lasted all the way through two thousand and sixteen.
I didn't realize it lasted that long thirteen plus season,
but they finally got rid of it as part of
the new collective bargain agreement.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
So I wonder why that was.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
I'm not sure. Maybe I don't know why the players
wouldn't want it or the owners wouldn't want it.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I don't remember that argument back in twenty six.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I think it's probably they put too much emphasis on
the importance of the pitcher where they might try too
hard and hurt their elbow. Yeah, that could make sense,
you know, instead of it, you know, being just a
sliver of a difference between a team. Well, if you
push them one more inning, then you then you're gonna
have home field advantage. I mean, you can do this right,
(22:02):
and then the guy gets hurt and they say, well,
see what happened. It's too much pressure. I think that's
what happened.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
By the way, when they enacted this time it counts
for the All Star Game to decide home field advantage
for the World Series. Ten of the thirteen teams with
home field advantage went on to win the World Series.
That stat alone helped convince Baseball's decision makers that if
it was it was time for a change. Under the
revised format, the team at the best regular season record
(22:32):
will again have home field advantage in this Series. So
I guess homefield advantage really means something in the World Series.
And because of that, they didn't think it was fair
that neutral players in an All Star Game in July,
who gets home field advantage? And ye, I guess it
took him thirteen years to figure that out.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
By the way, Well, Tim, like you said, I was
all set to bring in the culture of Seattle. I
had Jimmy Hendricks, you know, uh, you know top songs,
I had you know, all those down. We could play
some of those in the breaks. You could have it
as a jingle at the beginning. But there's no uh,
We're not gonna hear about Jimmy Hendricks or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
No Nirvana talk, no Pearl Jam talk, no grunge music
from the nineties, talk from the Pacific Northwest, no Pikes plays,
no uh Starbucks talk, nothing.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
No Petch coffee. Nope, that's out.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I mean, gosh, but what is Toronto good for?
Speaker 6 (23:29):
We're not going to talk about the beauty of snow
Qualmi Falls. You've been, I've never been.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
I don't even know what that is good.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
You had to go there. It's unbelievable, is that? Yeah? Well, anyway,
that's all gone, so we can talk about you know,
Toronto now.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
So I mean, I guess I'm gonna have to google
what Toronto's good for.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
I guess. I mean, well, I mean they got that
big space needle. Oh, yeah, they've got that thing. So
I will tell you there it is a beautiful city.
I mean clean, very very clean. As they say in
New York. It's very clean. Okay, I like that part
of it. People are really nice and uh, that's about
all I know in Toronto. A few times I was there,
(24:04):
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Uh, they got that big space needle. As you said,
that's that's sort of it.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
And in Toronto Center has definitely advantaged to play there
for the Blue Jays.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Oh, they got that hotel and right yeah, what's that?
They got that hotel and right field you can stay yet.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Oh they had to close up the windows on that
thing though. Do you heard about that? Right?
Speaker 5 (24:22):
I can only imagine what was happening.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Yeah, they had to darken the windows. They had to
do it. You know, they got a car dealership in
that in that thing in the in the stadium.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
It's huge.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
You have a car dealership in there. It's like they
got everything.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
There I guess the hotel and Ride of Field gave
a new meeting to seventh any stretch and things that
were up there, Tim he and Steve Sacks, I am
Tim Kates were off and running on this Tuesday morning.
Thanks for being with us. Is the World Series is
said Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, Kejula Lamar against
(24:55):
Drake show Hey against Vlad Guerrero, Good versus Evil, US
versus Canada. Game one is Friday night for the Rogers Sentator.
We'll have it for you right here at five oh eight,
first pitch on your home of the Dodgers MFI seventy
LA Sports coming up. We'll hear from Mookie Betts. We'll
hear from Andrew Freeman. We'll here for the manager Dave Roberts,
(25:15):
and a certain Dodger closer could be coming back in
the World Series, but I don't think it's a good thing.
We'll get into that next hour. Jerry Royce will join
us in the eight o'clock hour. So much to get
to your phone calls as well. Eight six, six, nine
eighty seven, two five seventy. It's Sax and Kate's and
the am right here on AFI seventy LA Sports. Uh
(25:41):
Ken Jluck Lamar against Drake, Dodgers versus Blue Jays, Good
versus Evil, US versus Canada. Let's go Gay. One of
the World Series is Friday right here on am FI
seventy LA Sports and we'll have first pitch for you
at five oh eight for pitch. Do not know who
(26:01):
will be the opening starter for the Dodgers. I will
imagine those Steve based on what the Dodgers have done
so far in this postseason. In the wild Card round
the DS and the CS, Dave Roberts would probably be
leaning towards Blake Snell in a game one starts.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
I would think, so, I mean, go with what works right,
and that's been a very healthy combination for the Dodgers.
What did Milwaukee get one run a game? I mean
that's what they kind of were able to muster up.
You know this is remember these are two different types
of teams. Toronto's more of a slugging team. Milwaukee's was
more of a team that old school strings hits together
(26:41):
and runs the bases differently. So you're gonna have more
swing and miss, I think with the Toronto club, so
more chance to pitch. I think the pitchability part of
this team on the Dodgers is gonna come through more.
So this might be a team that you can actually
strategize better as far as leverage situations and kind of
(27:03):
mitigate those because you're able to pitch to them better.
As far as striking them out, You're looking for more
big time strikeouts, I think here than you would have
with Milwaukee.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Game one is Friday night at the Rogers Center in
Toronto as the Blue Jays beat the Mariners last night
four to three. George Springer at three run home run
at seventh inning to propel the Blue Jays to a win,
their first time back in the World Series since nineteen
ninety three, when Joe Carter and that group John Olerude
won back to back World Series titles for the Toronto
(27:36):
Blue Jays. Yesterday, the Dodgers had a workout at Dodgers Stadium,
had the game on the jumbotrons and left center and
right center field as they went through a workout, some
batting practice, a little bit of a sim game as well.
Mookie Betts, who is really quietly Steve, had himself a
nice postseason, hitting near three hundred in October four doubles.
(27:57):
He's got himself a triple six. Yes for walks, he's
got an ops over eight hundred in this postseason and
no home runs. How about that, Mookie Betts, who had
a lot of power during the regular season, zero home
runs for this Dodgers team. Again, that just shows you
how they've scored without having to use slug in the
home runs, despite the three home runs from Shoe Otani
(28:20):
of course on Friday night. But here's Rookie Betts after
the workout last night with David Vasse and some of
the media around the Dodger Batty Cage.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
How do you rest, how you prepare, what you guys
do for your bodies, and you know, how you guys
stayed together as a group, as a family.
Speaker 6 (28:33):
What does that look like just here?
Speaker 8 (28:35):
I mean practicing. I mean we've been together so much
throughout the year, so that plays a little part. And
you know, guys kind of want to enjoy a little
family time before we get back rolling again. So it's
kind of a balance. You know, when you're here, you
need to be present, hang out with the boys, and
then when you go home, turn your brain off.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So it's a balance of both. But that's why you
just got to be wherever you are.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
Are you obviously being no Tiny's historic night the other
night as a teammate and also as a fan of
the game, can you reflect on how historic that night
was for you?
Speaker 8 (29:09):
I mean, I mean, it's no more historic than you
guys have already all already said. I mean, it's amazing,
you know. And I don't want to rain on in
the parade or anything, but we is down and over it.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
We got to.
Speaker 8 (29:25):
Focus on Friday and hopefully can do it and do
it this series too.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Ki hella gratifying? Is it the first one hundred games
of your season obviously wasn't what you thought it would be.
But since then, I mean, you've been one of the
best players, hitters, your total game has really rosen to
the top. It gets lost once we're in October, but
do you have time to reflect that you came out
(29:50):
on the other end of it and here you are
in the World Series again and a big part of.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
It, I mean a little bit.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
You know, I do feel like I have contributed to
the wins, especially here late that necessarily that necessarily had
to be offensively, but defensively or both, you know, and whatever.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
So that does.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
It does feel pretty good to know that I at
least helped. But you know, where we started versus where
we finished. I mean, I think it's just uh, shows
me and kind of reassures me to to just stay
in the moment, just help the team, help the boys
win in this inning, in this moment, and now that's
how you can control.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have you felt the excitement of the city this time around.
I know you go from the house to the stadium,
but can you feel the excitement that the city has
for this team?
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Yeah? Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
I mean I think, uh, you know, whether it's Friday
or Monday or whatever, everybody's gonna be here, and I
think everybody's locked and lowly ready to go, ready to
see some history, and we're ready to make it.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Anybody honking their horns at you on the freeway.
Speaker 8 (30:49):
No, not yet, but hopefully hopefully here soon.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
All Right. There's Mookie Bets with David Vasse in the
media last night at the team workouts. Yeah, the Dodgers
are putting Friday Night behind them, and I like that, Steve.
I like the fact that Mookie Bets isn't just sitting
reflecting on what show Hay did in Game five or
game four, excuse me, of that NLCS and the win
over the Brewers. You got to turn the page. That
was Friday Night. That was historic. That was a great moment.
(31:14):
Certainly what he did historic. But the Dodgers got a
mission of now winning the World Series and they got
to win four more. They can't sit there and glean
off of what show hey did in Game four of
the NLCS and ride that momentum. They've got to turn
the page. And I love that this is a new series.
We're on to the next one. That was great. We
reflect on on it, and I don't want to sit
here and harp on it. I love that for Mookie Bets.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Take you know, what you had from you know, being
able to go out there and just dominate those guys
in the in the NLCS and all before that as well.
So you take all this and you got four more
games to win. I mean, it's the same situation for Toronto.
But I think if you look at the the just
to you know, if you parse out position for position,
you know, you'd have to say that the Dodgers have
(31:56):
quite an advantage as far as who's the better players.
Does that mean the Dodgers are going to win. Heck, no,
does not mean that at all. Been on teams before,
as I said yesterday that you know, not as much talent,
but you know you still win because it's a team
that plays to bet, plays the best together. You know,
it's a collective coming together that's going to make the difference.
(32:17):
And it all starts with your pitching staff. And you know,
Dodgers are pretty good in that regard.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
We talked about the connections between these two teams, these
two cities, and it even goes deeper to them. We
mentioned Max Scherzer versus Clayton Kershaw, two guys who scored
off against each other with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks way
back in two thousand and eight. And here they are.
For Clayton Kershaw his final season. Is it the final
season for Max Scherzer is forty plus years old. We'll
(32:44):
find out. But both guys now playing in this World
Series here in twenty twenty five. I mean Don Mattingly,
let's not forget, was the manager of the Dodgers. He
is now the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He'll be squaring off against his team. He let the
Dodgers to three NL West titles while serving as their
manager from twenty eleven to twenty fifteen. Chris Woodward the
(33:05):
Dodger first base coach. He was drafted by the Blue
Jays and played seven of his twelve MLB seasons with
the Toronto Blue Jays. He is now a Dodger, so
there's a lot of crossover, And think the biggest one
on the field right now is Taoscar Hernandez. He spent
time in both teams. He won two Silver Slug Awards
(33:27):
in six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was
there from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty two, ended up
going to Seattle and then came to the Dodgers last
year and then signed the offseason deal to stay in
La but Ta. Oscar Hernandez knows Toronto very well. Spent
time there, won a couple of awards there, never won
a World Series there. But I love the storylines going
(33:50):
into this series on and off the field. This is
good for baseball to have the connections, to be able
to connect the dots between the Dodgers Blue Jays. This
is good, This is fun. Dodgers Yankees. Last year was
the two big bad teams from the East Coast and
West Coast squaring off to legendary organizations. But I like
(34:10):
this on and off the field.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Baseball ties, Yeah, there's a lot of them here, and
you can only imagine what's gonna happen before Friday kicks off.
There's gonna be a ton of those there. And you know,
for the the amount of time since ninety three that
this team has been to the World Series, you can
imagine what Canada. I mean, this is a whole country
that's gonna be behind the Blue Jays. And the blue
(34:32):
Jays are way way over there in the eastern part
of Canada, but you got everybody in the West obviously pulling,
you know, for the for the Blue Jays. So this
is gonna be a big, big, epic rival. This is
what I believe the networks wanted. They wanted to have
the East versus West type of thing. They wanted it
(34:53):
to cover way over across and expand as much as
you possibly could of land masks so there's more people involved,
and to have it one country against the other. Great.
I mean, this is all great for the public to
get involved in this, but I think what they're going
to hammer on a lot. Is the power of each team,
Oh my god, the power and the middle of the
lineup for both teams are absolutely outstanding. But if you
(35:16):
look at this, the Dodgers were second and all of
baseball and home runs too. Of the New York Yankees
they had yank Yankees were first with two seventy four.
The Dodgers were second with two forty four. If you
look way down the list there, Toronto not as much
not as prolific as a home run team as you
might think with vlade in there and Springer, they were
like tied for eleventh with which if you really go
(35:39):
down the line, it's like fourteenth, you know, with a
couple of other clubs, so, you know, but a well
stacked team and they can go deep. But one thing
I'll tell you about their team that people aren't going
to really really realize about them, is they're going to
think that Toronto is you know, team is going to
tarry out by the home run. This team was the
second hardest team in all of baseball to strike out.
(36:00):
And I mentioned the strikeouts earlier because they have the
top guys on their team that are home run hitters.
When you talk about Springer and Guerrero. These guys strike out,
do strike out the most on their team. These are
the guys that are gonna have to be neutralized. All
those guys that I mentioned struck out over or right
around one hundred times a year, So that part of
(36:22):
the team does strike out. But the rest of the guys,
guys like Ernie Clement, who is a really good player.
I mean he's like a Tommy Edmond type of player.
These guys don't strike out very much at all. They
do have a mix of old school and home run power.
But the guys that I mentioned before, the guys you
got neutralized, they can be pitched to and they do
strike out a lot.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Coming up a little bit, we're going to get into
the economics of baseball and do fans really care about
what potentially could be looming in a lockout and why
there's gonna be a lockout, and this whole narrative about
the Dodgers ruining baseball. We'll get into it. I just
want to quickly point out the Toronto Blue Jays are
top five in salaries in baseball, and also they have
(37:03):
the third highest paid player in all of baseball, making
five hundred million dollars in Vladiguerrero. So this isn't small market,
cute little Toronto team north of the border. They got
the maple leaf on their helmet. No, no, this is
a high pain Toronto Blue Jays team with a big
time owner with deep pockets up in Canada. That the
(37:26):
almost landed show Halo time. We're gonna get into that.
Let's get some phone calls in here. Eight sixty six,
nine eighty seven, two five seventy Edgar and Carson, thanks
for being patient, Edgar, good morning, how you doing, what's
on your mind?
Speaker 9 (37:37):
Good morning, guys, gonna be on with you. Scammed, just
feeling pumped up for this world series. Let's go big Blue.
I feel like going and starting in Toronto is gonna
continue this trend of going and starting in the visitors stadium.
Dodgers have a chance to again take two. It's really
(37:58):
gonna fire them up. And so let's at least get one,
if not two, over there and then come back for
three in La. So let's go Dodgers in five.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
All right, he call on your shot early Dodgers in five.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
It's how it's five, Okay, it's.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
Gonna be a good series. It's not gonna be a
four game sweep like the Milwaukee Brewers. I don't even
think it's gonna be a five game series. I think
it's gonna be a little bit longer than that. And
that's why I'm a little nervous. That's why I wanted
the Seattle Mariners to make it to the World Series
on the matchup with the Dodgers, just to me, on
paper felt a lot easier and looked better as far
as the matchups were concerned. But here we are, the
(38:35):
Toronto Blue Jays and George Springer with the three run
home run last night, propelling Toronto to their first World
Series appearance since nineteen ninety three. Veronica in La, You're
next up with Saxon Kates and the Amhi, Veronica, how
are you hi?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Good morning. Hey, I'm getting ready for work, so I'm
gonna make this quick. We just need to remember that
Springer was part of the twenty seventeen Astros team and
nobody's talking about that.
Speaker 6 (39:00):
Yeah, I talked about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
He is a cheater.
Speaker 5 (39:04):
He is a cheater. He was on the twenty seventeen team. Ronicky,
You're right, no doubt about that. Thank you for the
phone call. Enjoy your day of work, and thanks you're
keeping us with you as you get ready this morning.
He was on that twenty seventeen team, and he was
a big part, a big part of that twenty seventeen
Houston Astros team, which it turns out we're using signals
(39:24):
and bag on trash cans and cheated their way past
the Dodgers in seven games of that World Series, and
even cheat their way past the New York Yankees in
the ALCS that year to make it to the World Series.
So Dodger fans won't let George Springer forget if you're
at a Dodger game the last few years, anytime a
former or current astro gets there, it doesn't even matter
(39:45):
if it's an astro player. Steve that wasn't even probably
in the major leagues. Heck, was probably in high school
back in twenty seventeen. Had nothing to do with the team.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
That you wanted to be with. The astrois go ahead.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Tim, Yeah, I mean, if you have an astro uniform on,
but you were in a high school in twenty seventeen,
you still get booed at Dodger standing. We saw that
this year out at the Ravine and certainly George Springer,
all two of a guys who are either still or
former Astros on that twenty seventeen team, they get booed mercifully.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Hey, they even remember that here in Sacramento when the
Astros came here to play the athletics. I'll tell you what.
Twov came to the plate and he was resoundingly booed.
I love it.
Speaker 5 (40:23):
I mean, the whole place was all over him, as
it should be. Make sure they recognize and remember for
what they did in twenty seventeen to So, if you
have a last.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
Name that starts with an A because of Astros, you
deserve to be booted. Yeah right, if you even think
about it when you're in kindergarten. If you want to
be a Houston Astro, if you traveled to the state
of Texas and you actually thought about Huston, you're guilty, right,
I agree with that. I mean, if you have any
(40:53):
friends that have ever said the word Houston or Astro,
if you have an astronaut that actually thought about being
any good astronaut and the word astro came into his
vernacular at any part of his life, he's guilty because
it's part of that. I could go on, but I mean,
(41:13):
I think this is true.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
It absolutely is true. If you even thought about it,
you wanted to be or you were an Astros fan,
you are guilty by association for those twenty seventeen cheating
Houston Astros and George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays
the game winning home run last night a part of that.
In twenty seventeen, we'll come back get more of your
phone calls. We'll hear from Andrew Freeman, who weighed in
(41:35):
on this whole Dodgers ruining baseball, and he had some
interesting things to talk about his superstars compared to other superstars.
We'll hear from Dave Roberts. Next hour, we'll hear from
a Dodger reliever who wants on this World Series roster,
but what he did in the regular season as Dodger
fans not really wanting him a part of the fall classical.
(41:56):
Here from Jerry Royce, former Dodger leftander, coming up in
the at o'clock hour, so much to get to thanks
you being with us. It's Sax and Kate's and am
right here at NFI seventy LA Sports. It's Sax and
Kates in the am Steve Sax Tim Kats on your
(42:17):
home of the Dodgers An five seventy LA Sports Live
at local during the month of October, as it should be,
during yet another Dodgers World Series run, as they get
ready to square off against the Toronto Blue Jays, Game
one right here on AM five seventy LA Sports coming
up on Friday night, five toh eight, first pitch from
the Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada. We got you cover
(42:38):
with all the Dodger action and of course leading up
to Game one, David Bats our Dodger Insider with the
team embedded with them as they make their way to Toronto,
probably tomorrow, I would assume, and then Thursday they have
like a little mini media day for all the international
and US media and then Game one of the World
(42:59):
Series will be on Friday night world of course right
here on I seventy la Sports. But we talked about
it yesterday. It's one of these narratives that the media
wants to spend about how the Dodgers are bad for
baseball and the Dodgers are ruining baseball and they just
buy their superstars and they just roll out the baseball
and because of their talent and because of the money
(43:21):
and their pockets and how much money they got in there,
that they just go and win baseball games and just
roll over teams. And Andrew Freeman was on with Petro
Some Money last Friday, and it was very candid about
how he does not like this narrative at all.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
It really is a lazy narrative. I get it at
surface level. It's easy to pull on that thread, but
it discounts these guys so much. Because you watch us
play other teams, and you watch our stars out here
early on their knees taking ground balls.
Speaker 5 (43:55):
Doing extra work. You see the other team stars.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
They're never out here about having the right people and
the way they prepare and how much they want to
win and give back to these incredible fans.
Speaker 5 (44:07):
So it is a disservice to them.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Because the way they play the game, how they prepare,
regardless of how much they make or don't make, these
guys are wired the right way.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
And they care. I love that. I love what he
had to say, and you can hear the frustration in
his voice. You certainly heard it in Dave Roberts's voice
when he said, let's go ruin baseball with four more wins,
and he said, of course sarcastically after the game on
Friday night. But they hear this, Steve, they hear this
narrative that's being spun about how they're just out there
rolling the baseball out to the mound and their talent
(44:39):
and money is just better than other teams.
Speaker 6 (44:41):
Yeah, that's that is just malarkey. I don't believe that whatsoever.
I'll give you a flat example when you're in Yankee Stadium.
When I went to the Yankees and played, you know,
I was a free agent and I signed a good contract,
and my relationship with the fans in the runs was
(45:01):
one that you know, I played hard and that's all
they want. Fans anywhere in the country, they don't care
what kind of money you made. And it was very
much on display with the Yankees. I was there with
a lot of guys that were huge contract guys those
fans want to see. And that's kind of like the
heartbeat of America. Old school fans, proximity to the field,
(45:24):
very close, they get it, very educated fans. What they
wanted to see was the effort. They wanted to see
you transparent. They wanted to just see you play hard.
They wanted to see your love for the game. They
wanted to see you do anything it took within the
guidelines of fairness to win the game. That's what they wanted.
They don't care how much money you make. And that's
(45:45):
the same thing with Andrew Friedman's talking about. They don't care.
He doesn't care what the money that the players makes.
Look at the effort, look at the early work, look
at the you know, whatever it takes to get better,
and that's what people respect. They want to see the effort.
They don't care what kind of money you're bringing in.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
No.
Speaker 5 (46:03):
I like how he pointed it out that their superstars
are out there working, and I think that's the shot
at other superstars. And maybe it wasn't necessarily a shot
at the Milwaukee Brewers directly, but he was referencing the
opposing teams and superstars who are getting paid and got
their contracts and are out there and aren't putting it
in the work and are out there grinding four hours
before a game, getting loose, making sure that ankle is good,
(46:25):
making sure they're working on their defensive drills. The Dodgers
put in the work. Yes, they get paid, they got superstars.
They got guys who are making tons of money, sure,
but they're out there still grinding. They're out there still working,
and that's the point that Andrew Freeman and Steve just
alluded to. They're out there still working hard and putting
in the work to make sure that pays off with
(46:46):
the World Series Championship. And I love that. I just
I love the fact that they emphasize that, and I
know they hear it. I know they hear this narrative.
And I was watching Andrew Freeman's face when he said
that on Friday, and he looked ticked. And to see
Dave Roberts make that kind of sarcastic comment about let's
go ruin baseball with four more wins. Not that they
(47:07):
need a rallying cry, but this could be something that
you know, they can go on the road with and uses.
You know, nobody thinks we should be here because we
bought our way here, nobody wants us to see us win.
It could be this US against the world mentality that
they take into Toronto on Friday night for Game one
against the Blue.
Speaker 6 (47:25):
Jays could be a great rallying cry. Tim I think
that's outstanding. In eighty eight. We used the David Cone
rallying cry, saying that, you know, one of our pitchers
had a lollipop curveball, And of course, one of the
announcers on the National Network, Bob Costas, said that we
had the worst looking talent as far as that goes
(47:46):
on a World Series team ever, and Tommy the sort
of promptly used those two examples to really give us
an edge. And I think that's what the Dodgers will do.
They'll they'll David Roberts will remind him of this probably
and it'll it'll be a good rallying cry.
Speaker 5 (48:03):
Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy is
the number one hour down, two to go, and we
want you to be a part of the show at
eight sixty six, nine eighty seven to two five seventy.
Coming up, a Dodger reliever wants to be a part
of this World Series roster. But should he be based
on what he did in the regular season. We'll hear
from the manager Dave Roberts. Jerry Royce will join us
in the eight o'clock hour. Also coming up, there's a
(48:25):
lingering lockout in baseball, and that seems to be talked
about a lot with a upcoming World Series to be played,
how much do you care about the economics of baseball?
With the Dodgers on the eve of trying to win
back to back World Series championships, and the question has
been brought up on Twitter. Steve, will the United States
be rooting for the Dodgers since this US versus Canada
(48:49):
or they still have a hatred towards the boys in Blue.
We'll talk about that when we come back. Steve Sacks,
Tim Katz and you on a FI seventy ice Sports
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