Deep Left Field with Mike Wilner

Deep Left Field with Mike Wilner

Longtime Toronto Blue Jays radio voice Mike Wilner hosts Deep Left Field, a baseball podcast from the Toronto Star. With great baseball coverage, opinion and analysis, Deep Left Field has everything you need to know about the Jays, specifically, and baseball in general.

Episodes

December 18, 2025 58 mins

Guests: New Blue Jays pitcher Cody Ponce, former Blue Jays pitcher Jay Jackson    

This week in Deep Left Field, we meet Cody Ponce, the right-hander the Jays signed earlier this month who is coming off the greatest season ever pitched in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Ponce was introduced to the Toronto media this week, and we have highlights from that conversation, including what drew him to the Jays, his relationship with Hyun...

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Guest: Toronto Star Baseball Columnist Gregor Chisholm

This week in Deep Left Field, we wrap up the winter meetings with my partner on the Star's Blue Jays beat, Gregor Chisholm, who was in Orlando to watch the Jays introduce free-agent signee Dylan Cease and to talk to general manager Ross Atkins about the Jays' winter plans, Shane Bieber's forearm fatigue and Jose Berrios' state of mind, among other things.

We also hear from newl...

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Guests: Gord Ash, VP Baseball Projects, Milwaukee Brewers; Jee-ho Yoo, Yonhap News Agency

This week in Deep Left Field, we get you set for Major League Baseball's annual swap meet and free-agent signing session, the winter meetings, by giving you a look from the inside. Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Gord Ash joins us to talk about what the meetings are like from a general manager's perspective. Ash was the Blue Jays' GM from 1995...

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Guests: Toronto Star baseball columnist Gregor Chisholm, Canadian Baseball League commissioner Ted Kalnins    

The Blue Jays have made their first big move of the off-season, agreeing to a seven-year, $210 million (US) contract with starting pitcher Dylan Cease - the biggest contract they've given to a free agent in franchise history.

We're joined by Gregor Chisholm, my partner on the Star's baseball beat, to talk about the deal an...

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Guests: Ryan Bondy (Book of Mormon), Jeff Madden (Jersey Boys, Shrek The Musical), Paloma Nunez (Second City)

This week in Deep Left Field, we sit in the limbo between the end of the World Series and the beginning of the winter transaction season, so we took advantage and gathered some Canadian stars of stage and screen who also happen to be huge Blue Jays fans.

Ryan Bondy, Jeff Madden and Paloma Nunez join us to talk about their m...

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November 13, 2025 68 mins

Guest: Former Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly

After three years with the Jays, Don Mattingly feels that his work is done and he is moving on. But before the 64-year-old tackles the next challenge in a life that has seen him involved in Major League Baseball since the New York Yankees drafted him in 1979, he joins us in Deep Left Field to talk about his time in Toronto.

Mattingly went to the World Series for the first time this ...

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As they do at the end of every season, Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins meet the media to discuss the year just passed and to hint at their plans for the year to come.

This year, for the first time in a long time, it wasn't a disaster.

We take you through Shapiro and Atkins' availabilities and go through heir comments as they discuss, among other things, the impact that this World Series run ...

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Guest: Former Blue Jay Kevin Kiermaier    
 
The off-season is upon us but the sad ending to the Blue Jays' season still lingers.
 
We wanted to know what one of the greatest baserunners in baseball history thought about the ...
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Guest: Shane Bieber

It only took three days for the most shocking move of the off-season to happen. 

Against all odds, Shane Bieber exercised his $16 million (US) player option and is staying with the Blue Jays for the 2026 season. 

The 30-year-old, a two-time all-star who won the Cy Young award in 2020, loved his two months as a Blue Jay and has unfinished business here, so he's sticking around to try to run it back. 

We spoke to ...

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It's the day after the day after and the Blue Jays' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series is still a heartbreaking gut punch.

We throw open the Monday Mailbag at deepleftfield@thestar.ca to share your thoughts, feelings and questions about the game, the series and the season as a whole and hear from a wide range of listeners, from the zen-like appreciation of the Jays' magical year to the anger and frustrati...

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Guests: Chris Bassitt, Ernie Clement, Myles Straw, Daulton Varsho
 
The baseball season is over and the Blue Jays fell short by two outs or one run, however you want to slice it. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat them 5-4 in 11 innings to finish one of the greatest World Series ever played with one of...
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Guests: Ernie Clement, Trey Yesavage
 
The final day of the 2025 baseball season is upon us and for the first time in franchise history, the Blue Jays will be playing in Game 7 of the World Series.
 
Even though they never ha...
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No scary stuff on this Hallowe'en edition of Deep Left Field, just a trip into the mailbag at deepleftfield@thestar.ca as we get you set for Game 6 of the World Series a game that, if the Blue Jays should win, would get them their first championship since 1993 and only their third overall.

We hear from Jays fans from Toronto and all across Canada from BC to PEI, as well as all the way in Ireland and Belgium on topics ranging from w...

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Guests: Max Scherzer, Jeff Hoffman, Braydon Fisher, Joey Loperfido    

Trey Yesavage made history with his performance in Game 5 of the World Series, sending the Blue Jays home to Toronto with a chance to win the whole shebang on Friday night. The 22-year-old broke his own Jays post-season record with 12 strikeouts and set or tied at least four other post-season or World Series records.

We discuss it all with a quartet of Jays who ...

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The baseball season is going to end in Toronto this year.
 
The Blue Jays assured that there will be at least a Game 6 of the World Series, to be played at Rogers Centre Friday night, with their come-from-behind 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4, a game that started barely 17 hours a...
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Guests: Eric Lauer, Kevin Gausman    
 
The Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers played 18 innings of World Series baseball over more than six and a half hours Monday night (and Tuesday morning!), tying the longest game in Fall Classic history, and the Dodgers came out on top thanks to a Freddie Fre...
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Guest: Nathan Lukes
 
The Blue Jays were utterly dominated by Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of the World Series, losing 5-1 and having the last 20 hitters in a row retired.
 
Not only did Yamamoto t...
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Guests: Addison Barger, Bo Bichette, Ernie Clement

The Blue Jays not only won the opener of the MLB Fall Classic on Friday, they sent a firm message to the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers that Toronto is not going to be just another pit stop on their road to a repeat. The fans also sent a firm message to Shohei Ohtani when he came to bat in the ninth inning, chanting, "We don't need you!"

The Jays exploded for the biggest s...

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Guests: Blue Jays Shane Bieber, Ernie Clement, Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho and Mike Cieslinski of Dynasty League Baseball

With the Blue Jays about to begin their first World Series since 1993, we look back to their thrilling Game 7 of the American League championship series against the Seattle Mariners and ahead to the opener of the Fall Classic.

We hear from Shane Bieber, who started Game 7 and Kevin Gausman, who got the win in ...

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Guests: Clare Blackwood, Nick Dika, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee    
 
With the start of the World Series only one day away, we gather a panel of Canadian stars of stage and screen to look back at the Blue Jays win over the Seattle Mariners in the American League and look ahead at the Fall Classic against ...
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