Episode 383 - Imagine Not Loving Baseball

Ben and Darius hop on the microphones to talk through one of the most incredible games in baseball history, as the Dodgers closed out their second consecutive World Series title with an insane game seven victory in Toronto.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello, and welcome to bat Flips and Nerds, the Baseball
Podcast with a British twist. I am your host this evening,
Ben Carter. I am joined by Darius Austin. Darius, imagine
not loving baseball couldn't be me. What did we see last.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Night couldn't be me.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
It might be the best baseball game I've ever waved.
I think it was. It was extraordinary from start to
finish pretty much. There wasn't a moment that you felt
like the tension and had dropped. I think the closest
we got was maybe when the Chet hit the home
run and it felt like, oh, maybe the boys are
going to pull away here. But we can get into
all of that. Yeah, it was. It was a tremendous game.

(01:00):
Everybody watching it live was kind of losing their minds
and they just sort of kept stacking things up on
top of it as well. It was when you're like,
already like that, this is ridiculous, and there did another
six things after that that were also ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
It was an insane game.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
It feels like we could do a five parta just
on last night's game, and at some point I imagine
there will be oral histories and stuff to talk through
this whole series. But we thought, yeah, what an insane game.
Let's jump on very quickly talk about some of the
crazy things that happened. I cannot imagine being a fan
of either at those two teams.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
I was. I didn't stay up late for it, Darius.
I know that you did.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'll let you talk about what it was like to
experience it life. I just watched the highlights this morning,
made sure to get no spoilers, pulled them up on YouTube.
I think it was a good forty minute package that
m'll be blessed us with, and my heart was racing
for about thirty eight of those forty minutes, just watching
the highlights with absolutely no skin in the game.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Blue Jays fans who obviously are waking up devastated this morning.
Dodgers fans who must be on cloud nine. I cannot
imagine the rollercoaster of emotions. What was it like for you, Darius?
I know you stayed up and watched it all.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
What was your your heart rate like as that game
went on, especially as the later when He's unfolded.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, it was pretty high. I was thinking while I
was watching it that I have been in this position.
I've watched the Giants in Game seven against the Royals
in twenty fourteen, and that didn't really feel like this.
This was almost more nerve wrecking. It felt like, if
people remember, I think it was Alex Gordon maybe hit
the triple in the ninth after Bumgarner had gone in

(02:31):
his heroic bullpen stint, and it sort of seemed like
he was cruising and then suddenly this triple came out
of nowhere. It sort of felt like that, but for
about three hours instead of you know, five minutes. It
was ridiculous. I was like, I don't actually, like, you know,
obviously I'd prefer the Blue Jays one, but like, I
don't have a personal stake in this. I'm not a

(02:52):
fan of his teams. And I was dying. Yeah, the
poor fans of the actual teams must have been absolutely
hearts jumping out of their chests because there were so
many moments as well. It wasn't like a bunch of
scoreless innings. It wasn't like the the epic Game three
were actually mostly you know, we're setting down the lineups
and the pitchen's doing it stuff. I think there was

(03:14):
traffic on the bases pretty much every inning, a lot
of hits, a lot of close plays, a lot of
you know, bang bang defensive stuff that you just think
for actually a second, either way, this game could have
been totally different. So yeah, but I felt emotionally drained
by the It was a fantastic watch. Couldn't really believe

(03:34):
that it went on as long as it did either.
And obviously we had some incredibly unlikely heroes as well,
which was pretty cool. And I think maybe the most
remarkable thing about about last night was just who ended
up saving that game for the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah. I think we're going to get into all of that.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I mean, it's rare that a game lives up to
the hype, especially a World Series Game seven at the
end of a US series, that it has been as
good as this one.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
But yeah, I think it truly did deliver.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think we're going to try and just focus really
on some of the things that happened in that game
in this series as a whole. There will be plenty
of time maybe for more of a reflection on you know,
where this ranks among World Series games or among World
series generally boring? Is this good for baseball chat? About
whether the Dodgers are ruining the sport.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
They're not.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I'm sure we have plenty of time for that in
the off season, but I think right now it all
feels very visceral and real, and maybe we'll just reflect
on some of the stuff that happened. I know our
podding colleague, Rachel was at both Game six and Game seven,
obviously a huge Blue Jays fan who has supported the team. Yeah,
since she was a little girl. I know she went
with her dad. I think to both games must have
been just an unbelievable experience. She might be able to

(04:46):
jump in here and chat with us for five minutes
about what it was like to be in the ballpark.
If not, we'll try and make sure we can pin
her down another times talk about that, because like, yeah,
I can only imagine the level of emotion and feelings
and things happening if you're actually in the ballpark. But
maybe we can go back and forth a little bit
at the start here, just talking and throwing out some
of the most insane moments from last night. We don't

(05:08):
necessarily have to stick to a certain order. It's almost
hard to remember what order some of these things happened. In,
but I think it's worth calling out some of the
insane stuff that happened. Maybe we start, maybe we start
at the end. Honestly, it almost gets forgotten that it
was well to me, even though it was twelve hours
ago or whatever, that Will Smith hit the game winning

(05:28):
home run for a guy who had basically the biggest
hit of the game, the go ahead home run that
ended up being the difference. It almost feels like that
will end up being like the fifth or sixth best
remembered moment from this game. But wow, what an unbelievable
moment for Will Smith. I guess we can combine that,
maybe with just with that final inning and the game
ending double play, and that in itself, like everything that

(05:49):
went into it, the fact that Betts was the one
to do it, having struggled all series, the fact that
Bets and Smith swap spots in the lineup right before
was at Game six, and that happened to you know,
he was the guy gaming up the unbelievably clutch home
run at the end. Almost the personification really of why
this Dodgers team is so hard to take down, right
because they have quality players up and down the lineup
who can hit a home run at any time will

(06:10):
get onto a less likely home run that was hit
another time in this game, and who played really really
good fundamental defense and that was on display, i think,
especially throughout the final few unings of this game. But
an underratedly difficult double play to end it by Betts,
I think, going to his left having to then throw
back across his body. Kaik obviously not a fast runner,
but it was not routine. Yeah, what are your thoughts

(06:32):
on Smith's home run and then the Dodgers managing to
close it out when it looked like it could get
away from again in the bottom of the eleventh.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, Smith is I think, yeah hit. It might get
a little bit lost in all of it, especially because
obviously there was maybe an even bigger home run to
tie the game a couple of innings before, which we
can talk about any minute. But yeah, it was kind
of a surreal experience to watch it because that ballpark
was so loud and everybody was so hypes, and it
felt like even when the Dodgers had scored most of

(07:03):
the evening, you know, they got back up quickly, and
this was the real sort of deflating you know, you
could just hear the pin drop, suddenly the air went
out of the room. Yeah, Smith definitely got all of it.
Shane Bieber kind of looked like he was cruising that
inning and then suddenly the ball was out of the
park and the ballpark was silent. I think Rachel Thomas

(07:23):
it was one hundred and twelve decibels in the earlier
in the evening they flashed up something on there. So
if you're thinking to watching on TV, was it really
loud and there, Yeah it was. It was really loud,
fantastic atmosphere, So yeah, it did. It kind of felt
like the Dodgers were just going to find a way
even though the offense didn't really click ever in this series.

(07:45):
You know that the most they scored was six runs.
This is a team that averaged more than five runs
a game in the regular season. So the bnja's did
a fantastic job to limit them the way they did.
And there was definitely, as I said that that point
when home earlier in the game, he thought three nil
already that this could be it. You know, just really
struggled to score runs and you didn't think that they

(08:08):
were necessarily gonna be able to do it. That evening
and they you know, exit out in dribs and drabs
and solo homers and sacrifice flyers, and yeah, it was
it was not a Dodger's like offensive performance. But the
thing about this lineup is they've got so much quality
up and down it. And yeah, a guy like Bets
is struggling, a guy like Freheim of struggling. It's okay,
we've got tiny, We've got Will Smith. Yeah there's there's

(08:30):
guys everywhere who can hurt you on this team. And yeah,
an unreal moment for Smith to just hit that home runner.
Guess he'll be a Dodger's legend forever now. But then
the bottom of the inning up, he doesn't get more
tense than having the tying run on third base, as
in the bottom of the eleventh inning and games set

(08:51):
the World Series.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Hats off.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I'm sure we want to talk about Yamamoto because the guy,
the guy pitched the night before this. It wasn't like
he's on the short rest. You know, he's said a
day or two off. It's came out. He pitched in
those six fantastic innings that I before, after throwing a
complete game earlier in the week and he's just back
on the bound and not not for like a couple
of pitches. Is this was the third inning he was

(09:14):
out there, and it looked like, you know, they weren't
going to get the ball off him. Yeah, Flad coming
up the first guy in that inning was not the
guy he wanted to see. I don't think he hit
a pretty authorestive double to set that up. But then, yeah,
that double play, I think people I saw it live,
I was like, oh my god, like, I think that

(09:35):
they're going to tie this game up when the ball
got hit, because I didn't think there was going to
be time. And people have made a lot about Bets
and his unreal transformation into one of the best defensive
short sobs in baseball in his mid thirties. Pretty crazy
thing to do. And yeah, I think that just typified
what he'd done because he did make it look pretty easy,

(09:56):
even though the amount of tension there was. That ball
was not you know, a week out in the middle,
and he just scooped it up and stepped on second
and made a pretty clean throw to first. It was
kind of seamless. So yeah, hands off to Mooki Betts,
who's really struggled at the plate and just, yeah, a
Moto World Series MVP. What more can you say about
a performance like that? The dude don't like, Yeah, you'd

(10:18):
probably have to tear him off the mound if they
were going to get him out of that game because
he wanted to be the guy who was closing that out.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
That was the best individual pitching formats across the world too,
as I can remember since Bunar, and arguably even better
given he went out in Game seven on zero days rest.
Like you say, I don't know if that's happened before.
I think probably last time it did would have been
like the nineteen twenties or something. It just isn't something
that has been done, never mind in modern baseball, but
just since starting pitchers were, you know, given days between starts.

(10:49):
It's absolutely unbelievable what he was able to do. And
like you say it, it almost felt like if that
game went thirteen, fourteen, fifty innings, he was just going
to be like, I'm good, leave it to me, I've
got this. We saw him in god, what would have
been Game three that went eighteen innings? Right, he was
warming up to come in to pitch, right, And that
was again on maybe one day's rest because he pitched

(11:11):
Game two, didn't he? So I mean, this guy clearly
just wants the ball in his hands in the biggest
spots and could care less about, you know, whether they
will have his best stuff, just wants to be out
there doing it. And an unbelievable tip of the cap
for his World Series performance. I was among many who
didn't necessarily think he was the picture that maybe we

(11:32):
all expected when he first signed that contract. And this
whole season he's been unbelievable. But this postseason has just
got to a whole new level. And yeah, they will
tell stories and write books and make films about some
of his feats in this series. And look shoheo. Tani
is special and always will be and had a massive
role to play in this game and in this series.

(11:52):
But really fitting that the Amamoto got World Series MVP. I
just am out of words to describe what he was
able to do in this series. You know, finding that
groundball when you did it the most, just just summed
it up. What an unbelievable athlete. Yeah, what an amazing
performance in this series. Let's get back I guess a bit.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Sorry go on that did also remind me there was
the moment it didn't really come to pass. There wasn't
enough time to dwell on it, but there was a
moment during that inning where they cut to the ballpen
and Clayton Kersher was warming up in the ballpen. Yes,
and I thought back to our conversation about what are
we going to get Clayton Kershew blows save in the
World Series. It did career. Fortunately it was taken out

(12:34):
of Dave Robertson's hands, but there was there was definitely
a moment there where I thought they're going to tie
this up and they're going to have to bring Cursher
in because nobody else is left.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
It did feel for a moment that we were getting
to that inevitable moment where Kershel comes in with option
A and the save in Game seven of the World Series,
in the final game of your Hall of Fame career,
be blow it final time in the playoffs to endjo
illustrious Hall of Fame career. So I'm quite glad that
didn't come to pass, but it did feel that was
really going to be on the cards for a moment there.

(13:04):
And I will say one of the very cool things
I think about a game seven, and this one in particular,
given the just ability of the teams on displayers, it
becomes like this crazy Avengers. You know, all stars, guys
just coming out of the bullpen, no matter what, to
pitch where you get, you know. I think glass Now
came in, Blake Snell came in for the night, obviously,
had the Ammamoto on the Blue Jay side, We had

(13:25):
Bassett came into the game, obviously, had Beaver come into
the game. Like all arms, whoever we need, you have
to be ready to go, which is just yeah, unbelievable.
Yay Savage, he came in, didn't he? I mean I
love that about that, Like there is no tomorrow. You
just got to throw everyone out there. We're going to
see all of your best players, all the stars of
this series out there one more time. So that I
think is a really cool element of these, Like when

(13:47):
I'll go home games, it's like you just got to
you got to throw it all out there.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah. I don't remember one call at this, probably because
we've never seen a team with talent call at this,
but just show here. Tony tier, glass Now, Blake's and
Mooto pitched in the same game and then the blue
Jay's three shares and Beaver and your savage like this is, yeah,
don't you just don't see this even in the World Series,

(14:12):
it like it hardly ever happens that you get quite
this volume of it. But it was remarkable to see, unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
We should probably talk about the ninth inning, and yeah,
I'll be interested to hear what what it felt like
for you watching live. When I was watching the highlights,
they were kind of making this big point in the
top of the ninth about blue Jay's up by one.
O'tarani has to bat this inning. You know, it was
kind of like, we've got eight nine to one, no
matter what, Otny will come up with a chance to
tire the game. If someone gets on bass a chance

(14:42):
to win it. And even during the the at bat
that ended up tying the game from Meggy Rojas, they
were talking about like, you cannot let rohats get on
base here, you cannot walk here, but you do not
want to have o'tony come up with a chance to
give the Dodgers the lead. And I'm sure it felt
like that a little bit watching it was like a
just skip to the bit where Atani comes up and
its game on the line, and he has to hit

(15:03):
a home run to tie it, and almost people forgot
that there were two batters to come before them, and
especially Mickey Row who hadn't had a hit in a
month before this game. He did get one a bit
earlier in the game, didn't he but hadn't had a
hit in this game and is never really has never
really been a home run threat in his career. No
offense to Mickey Row, who we've all come come to love,

(15:23):
but certainly a sup utility at best. And it just
felt like, so that's baseball, that he would be the
one to turn on the pitch after a really good
at bat and stick it effectively, no doubt, over the
left field fence to tie it off. Jeff Hoffman, who
to that point Colorado Rockies legend, by the way, to
that point, had been lights out in the series and
in the entire postseason for the Jays. Yeah, could you

(15:46):
believe what your eyes were seeing? What was going through
your mind?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Is that night?

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Thenning unfolded and Rojas came to the plate, and it
Twani stood watching him in the on deck circle.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, I think I think you're right. Nobody was even
really looking at rows, they were thinking about O'tarani. I
think somebody in one of the baseball chats said, who
writes so tany scripts? It felt like this was going
to be another WBC moment. You know, Otani comes up
two out s bottom of the ninth to save the
Dodger season. And even looking at the other guys, you know,

(16:16):
and Rica Hernandez, you know, he's always had this postseason magic,
he thought, or maybe he's going to do it again.
And then Will Smith he was up after Tarni. Rowhaus
was the guy nobody was looking at, certainly not to
tie the game. He thought, oh yeah, maybe if they
let one of these guys get on, then then Ty's
got a better chance to drive somebody in. But nobody

(16:37):
was thinking he's going to take Jeff Offman deep, I
mean Rowhouse h one home run off a right handed
starting picture, right handed picture full stop. I think this
this season just unreal that it was sehim. He stepped
up of ninety four ops he had against writes this season.

(16:58):
If you were making the list of like who would
you want in baseball, not just on these teams, who
would you want in baseball to come up in the
bottom of the ninth of the team down by one.
Micguil Rohas would be very very far down that list
against especially against the writing this is not a thing
that should happen. But this is what makes baseball great, right,
and this is what makes it so hard to predict.

(17:19):
Anybody can be a star at any point. And I
don't don't know if there's ever been a better personification
of that than Rohas being the one to tie it,
and to tie it on a home run with just yeah,
really really shocking, not a wall scraper, as you say,
just yeah, definitely got all of it. And I could
not believe it. You know, I was just waiting for

(17:40):
the Iffman could get him out. I did not think
this was going to be the moment.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, it took me back. I actually it took me
back a bit to the would I Davis home run
off Chapman for the Guardians back in that series against
the Cubs in twenty sixteen, but in terms of like
unexpected source of power. But I almost think like in
that moment, we all knew that, like Davis was a
tying run and this was you know, he just had
to get hold of one.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
It would tire the game.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
It almost felt like we forgot here that Rojas was
able to swing the bat and could do something with it.
Just yeah, folklore instant for Dodgers fans obviously, who I'm
sure couldn't believe their rise. Broadcast, couldn't believe their Ryes Stadium,
couldn't believe their rise. It felt like an absolute pin
could drop. But yeah, what a moment for Rojas. And yeah,
like you say, what an insane display of what makes

(18:30):
baseball so great in that moment. And then the bottom
of the inning, I'm gonna mess up the sequencing of
exactly what happened in what order here. I think Vladdy
doubled to lead off right and got himself in scoring
position with no outs. Then there was the bunt over
to get into third, which is a pretty good bunt
and actually very well fielded, but it was that smell

(18:51):
at that point. Who or am I confusing this with
the eleventh thing? Now?

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Sorry, I confusing this to the eleven So I think
I think Vladdy bloody looked like he got one. That's right, Yeah,
deep fly pinch run. Of course, the I KF which
is why he was in the game. And then I
think Barja walked and then there was a little bit
of bench clearing action, just just a little cherry on top.

(19:17):
Why not having the benches clear as well? World Series
Game seven when well, I think it was not remotely intentional,
but yeah, it was still quite quite intense.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
That in the ninth inning.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
I can't believe that. I thought that was earlier in
the game. Maybe, yeah, you might be right.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
I'm trying to think now, maybe I'm thinking of a
different thing. So this is what this is what last
night was like. There was so much going on.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
I knew this was going to happen. I think the
bench clan was a bit earlier in the game.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
But there was a hit in the ninth it was
it was Young Motor hit Kirk. Yeah that the hit
by pitch roblet Ski, wasn't it. Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking
of that one. Yeah, So Yamo Motor hits Kirk and
loads one out and then one out, which I think, yeah, yeah,

(20:10):
I get And again then you thought the Blue Jays
are going to are going to win this again. And
Andy Paes comes into the game, and first there's this
ground out, which is they get they get the force
at home barely, and there's a replay moment where Will
Smith's foot he reaches for the football ball and it

(20:33):
lifts up and it comes off the plate and just
in time, just before Isaiah kind of flaffer can get home.
His foot comes back onto the plate. But we are
talking fractions of a second here, so so easily could
have been different timing and ike to a dreadful lead
off the third base.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
I was going to say, I think screenshots came out,
didn't they if he was like a couple of feet
off the bag at third, maybe out of fear of
having another game set ending and being doubled up getting
too far off the bags.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Obviously the inn field was all drawn in.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah, I don't know if he was just a moment
where his mind went blank and he kind of forgot
that it would be helpful to be a bit further
down the line when a ground ball wins the game.
But he wasn't far enough off the bag. And then
I think as well, he chose to slid into home,
and I think, actually, if he sprints through home rather
than sliding again, it was so close, maybe that's enough
to beat it out. And then there was the awful

(21:25):
moment where there's instant replay has his foot lifted off.
As you said, it's like, oh my god, the World
Shows is about to end on instant replay.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
In New York.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Fortunately, they decide that Will Smith kept just enough toe
on the base right before kind of for Leffer's. Yeah,
foot crossed over. So that was insane, Yeah, to get
us to two outs. And then as you say, Andy
Parters comes into the game, and I.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Mean watching this live, you could see that Hernander's just
had the terrible ball. So any Clement, which you know, again,
any Clement I think set the record for hits in
a postseason, which is just ridiculous sentence to say. I
know the postseasons longer now, but still only Clement come on.
So only Clement hits this deep flyball to left field,
and you can see that key K is just not

(22:11):
he's not under it, he's got it wrong. He's kind
of scrambling, he's looking over his shoulder, he's running towards
the wall. It's like, I don't think he's going to
make this catch. And out of nowhere, Andy Pye's he
comes barreling into the frame. He reaches up, he gloves
the ball, and obviously he runs directly into Hernandez and
somehow still holds onto the catch to save the game.

(22:31):
I was I think I actually shouted out loud at
that point because I couldn't believe that Pie hasn't made
that play and he literally choose to come into the
game for Tommy Edmund to play center field, and immediately
the ball finds him and he saves the Dodger season. Unreal.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
See, I think, like you say, Nana's completely misulger saying
it off the bat. I you know, it kind of
look like a fairly routine flaball. And I know everything
Clement has hit this playoffs has just found grass, and
so wouldn't have been a shock if he just hit
one that found the gap. And like you say, the
minute the camera pans you see Hernandez first tracking towards
left center, then effectively running at a dead sprint backwards.

(23:11):
You're like, he's not got this. He would have had
to have performed an unbelievable basket catch or bring that in.
I look like he wasn't even going to get a
chance to do that. And then Pahez and smartly, I
guess maybe Paez goes high to catch it up in
front of the wall. Thereby at least there wasn't the
awful you know, like clash of arms, is that both
gloves go for the ball. He was well above Key
k Hernandez as he made the catch, and then how

(23:32):
he managed to hold on. I do not know one
batter into the gay having just been brought in in
case they need a stronger rhyme in the outfield. I
don't think Tommy Edmand makes that play. I'll say that.
And then there's this again, the shock silence of oh
my god, did he catch that?

Speaker 3 (23:45):
He did?

Speaker 1 (23:46):
We're going to the tenth and at that point, yeah,
Blue Jays fans must have been wondering which which god
out there had it out for them, because it just
felt like whatever they did, I just found a way
absolute and sanity.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, that was That was really the way it felt.
It didn't feel that the Dodgers had controlled the game,
but it just seemed like every time there was a
moment that the Blue Jays could have taken it away,
they just sort of clung in there and and things
broke their way.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
It was I mean, yeah, there were other moments too
that we could talk about. I think a few unbelievable
defensive plays that force out a home I guess to
start with that was Rohas as well, right where he
kind of stumbled and then through the I kf probably
should have beat it out, but still to kind of
make that play stumble, get the throw home strong enough
and accurate enough to get the out I thought was unbelievable.

(24:40):
There were two amazing defensive players of the Blue Jays
that come to mind. I think varshow and center field
had a diving catch that if he had misjudged, would
have scored at least one run, possibly two when they
were runners on base. I think that was the sack
fly the first that's right, bases were loaded.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
It was one of those where Vartio is running in
and if he dives and if he misses it, it's
going to go, you know, right past him to the wall.
The bases are going to clear. Might want have been
a triple as well if he'd missed it. So yeah,
it was absolutely crucial that he caught that ball. And
Varsio has been like that all postseason. He's made some
remarkable players for the Blue Jays. Really saved a lot

(25:23):
of runs, I think, and a lot of them he's
done where you don't really realize. I can't remember which
game it was earlier in the week, but he sort
of got one, I think the Freeman hit and when
it came off the bat, you were like, well that's double.
Vartio sort of caught it like it was quite a
routine play, but I think he covered the colossal amount
of ground to get there. And it's one of those
where if you have a bad sent fielder out there,

(25:44):
they're not getting it close to the ball, and if
they are, they're making some sort of spectacular diving attempt
and he just got it on the run. So yeah,
really underrated how Goodton Vartio is out there, and he
really showed up this season. And then we have the
flat first base, which was extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Such a good play, and that that was Edmond right,
and again they were runners on base at that point, right,
and it's scolded down the line and Vlad lays out
makes the catch and he had an unbelievable defensive series,
didn't he. I'm thinking back, there was a double player
in this game where he made a great throat of
second and they doubled up Freeman at first when Ottani

(26:26):
was running and he wouldn't have had time to go
to the bag and throw. He had a not double
player in this series, but the play where he came
off first base, picked the ball and then made a
perfect strike throw to third for an out. I think
it's easy for us to, well, I don't want to
speak for you, for me to look at Laddie and go,
that's a guy he's only ever going to give you
value with his bat because he is a larger human
being who is not the most flexible guy in the world,

(26:47):
but he has turned himself into an asset of first
base right and he I think save the Blue Jays
runs multiple times this series with his glove and deserves
a ton of respect and credit for that. Yeah, he's
you know, not going to win a goal glove anytimes,
you know, I don't think. But he is so consistent,
so solid over there, and made massive plays when the
boodieth needed him too. So yeah, again, another one of
those guys who just when the lights shine brightest, he

(27:10):
he has missed a dependable Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
What I hear from from Blue Jays fans who've been
watching them a lot is that he has really played
well at first base all the season. This isn't just
a you know, Nick Cassius in the playoffs thing this
is this is a trend that's he's shown all year,
so I think he has worked really hard at it.
And yeah he made some yeah just visually very impressive players,
arm strength, the dive, he just you know, he look

(27:34):
he looks pretty athletic out there now.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
He does.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, trying to think of what else I guess the yeah,
the bench is emptying was insane where it was for
a Blessie pitching, wasn't it? And and and just him
and as batting and he did he went up and in?
Was it? Three pitches in a royal certainly three times
in the at bat with fastballs, which I kind of
get if you're you're him, and edge would probably be
a bit annoyed when that first third one by you
up in and actually catches you where it's like he

(28:02):
doesn't really crowd the plate. Fine, if your skyling report
says go up and it and go up and in,
but to miss three times or not far away from
his chest neck head, I can see why you'd be
a bit annoyed. I do think at some point you
have to think, I don't think they're thurring at me
as a number nine hitter in the World Series Game seven,
in like the sixth thinning of a one run game

(28:23):
seems unlikely and maybe calm ahead should have prevailed at
that point, but look, emotions are running higher in this game, right,
and so I get why people were ready to go,
and that just happened to be the sort of spark
that did it. But that was a sort of bizarre
moment of oh oh, the bench said, oh oh, the
ballpens are clearing to Okay, sure, why not? This is
one thing this game's been missing. So again, that must

(28:45):
have been bizarre to watch live. And you know, give
five minute respite from the tenth baseball to have a
few men stand around and hug each other in a
big circle on the infield.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, the pitch before he did, he kind of looked
like he moved his hand towards it him and as
it was as wasn't really an avoidance of the pitch.
But then, yeah, I think I don't know if anyone's
had the lip reader treatment on Robleski, but I think
he was saying something to the effect of, why the
f would I be trying to hit you at this point?

(29:17):
But yeah, that was that was I think what most
of us were asking, why why would you plug Andreez?
But yeah, and entertaining to still say that that was
the opinion that him had of the event. Even if
I'm watching anybody else really believe that.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
I guess, yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, maybe to speak a bit more generally about the series,
then the that bottom of the Blue Jays lineup, it
felt like constantly you were just a menace, weren't they,
And you know, him and Az didn't have a great
season for the Blue Jays, and even in this World Series,
it felt like he may be one of the weak
links in this lineup, but you also had guys on
there who were just contributing time and time again. Alison

(29:58):
Barger ended up getting moved up the line for this game,
didn't he I think he was in the five hole,
But he hit something like five hundred in the World Series,
which is just insane. They could not figure out a
way to get him out, even when it seemed like
when he got beat by pitches, he was finding ways
to line them.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
Into left field and get the barrel there. He was outrageous.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Only Clement, like you said, Anie Barry Bonds, Clement setting
the postseason record for hits he was just a total machine. Again,
they could not figure out a way to get him out.
So it did feel like they're the Blue Jays line up,
you know, perhaps less heralded than the Dodgers, it felt
like they had the edge there where it was like
they're just seemed at times like there were no weak

(30:33):
spots here, and that for all the amazing talent the
Dodgers had in their rotation especially and in their football
pen at times that you just.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
If you made a mistake to anyone, it was going
to get punished, you know.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
And the Blue Jays we was so so good at
just consistently getting traffic on base, making them pitch on
the duress, forcing them to, yeah, to make great pitches,
and oftentimes as well having his runs on base, then
taking a base when a world pitch happens, and just constant,
constant pressure and stress that Dodgers have to deal with.
So I think that to me, it was the kind
of constant through the series was just the Blue Jays

(31:06):
lineup being unrelenting. Shout out I guess to George Springer too,
who clearly very injured in both Game six and Game seven,
not just playing through it, but playing really well through
it and managing to get you know, key hits at
key times.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
You know, what a warrior.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
I know that the Blue Jays fans love him, but
he definitely cemented his legacy with them in this series.
But yeah, that stood up to me. He was just
how good this lineup was top to bottom in the
whole series.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yeah, they really, They all played well. Springer when you
sort of hear in the regular season, well he'd play
if it was I think that was that was definitely
Springer this week. You know, you obviously sort of could play,
but I don't think he ought to have been out
there from like a medical stuff point. It's just this
is the last game of the season and I am

(31:55):
going to be out there if I can possibly move.
So here we go. Same with him, and is the
obviously is not right and you can still hit, but
you can't run. And so I think he was just
gutting through it. Yeah, they were. Some of them were
on their last legs, I think, but they all played
fantastically well. Very interested to see.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Sorry with the knee.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah yeah, I mean that home run if we didn't
even talk about it, but like Holly, like what a
moment where who was it in front of him they
intentionally walked.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Was it Flad?

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yeah, I believe it was.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
He must have been right.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
And then it was first pitch to him, right Toney
threw and he just I mean and talk about a
no doubt home run to the deepest part of the ballpark,
the backdrop, the sort of slow limp around the basis
that in itself just felt like, oh my god, what
like that? At the time, felt like we've just had
our World Series moment before there were fifteen more of
them to come. But playing on one leg, as you say,

(32:54):
to have a.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Moment like that is was just insane. And he ended
up being the.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
I mean, was causing all sorts of controls anyway, because
they were giving him a lot. Also, you could tell
that the control was just not there. You know, he
threw a lot of pretty uncompetitive pitios. He was throwing
them hard, but a lot of them were not going
anywhere near the strike zone. So I think it was
a little bit of a bridge too far for him,
and he kind of got away with it through the

(33:23):
first couple, but you could tell he didn't have stuff,
and obviously Roberts immediately pulled him after he gave up
that home run for Robleskus, So yeah, it didn't didn't
get to see the best of Otani, but obviously he
was on short rest and this was the best way
to get him in the game because obviously they were
allowed to keep the d H if he started it.

(33:44):
So yeah, I think they maybe got a little bit
lucky to only get away with three runs in some
respects the way that he started watching it with the
sequence of events. But yeah, not Otany's finest game in
this post season, which obviously the bar has been set
very high. So I mean he's still he still had

(34:04):
a couple of hits, right, h Yeah, he didn't, didn't
pitch great, but he's still I mean, and he's at
the plate, he is he is terrifying. But yeah, it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
It wasn't necessarily going to be the the Atari game,
and that much was quite clear quite early when when
he didn't quite have it on the mound. And I
have some sympathy for Snyder when it comes to those
millening breaks because I generally think we should make special
exceptions for players as special as Otani, and that because
no one else does what he does. Having the special
DH rule in place and other things that just allow

(34:32):
him to do what he does without the rules being
a hindrance is a good thing. But I also think
if you're going to have those rules in place and
allow him to hit and pitch and stay in the game,
he then should be when he's done hitting, rushing back
out to the mount and getting ready to pitch again.
He shouldn't be given the benefit of an extra five
minutes to very slowly take off his batting gear and
very slowly come back out to the mound and very

(34:54):
slowly warm up. So yeah, while I understand that we
want to see him as best, we don't want to
have an injury because he rushing from the plate to
get back on the mound. I also think, like, hey,
this is a massive competitive advantage if he's allowed to
catch his breath after every app bat he has and
get back on the mound and do things in his
own time. So I have some sympathy for Snyder on that.
I don't know if that's something that he'd kind of

(35:14):
been doing throughout the season and we only noticed it
last night because of the stakes, but that does feel
like something where as they say, my head would have
been on Mars if I were a Blue Jay's fan
watching him get that extra special treatment there.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, I think the first inning it was maybe a
bit more understandable because I believe he ended the inning
on third base, so he spent the whole inning on
the base paths sort of moved up on a couple
of outs then, so then it was like, now he's
got to run back to dug out, get rid of
the pitch, and go out. But as she trying to
point out the second inning, you know that that was
not a problem that he had. So it was a

(35:49):
little bit of a yeah, why are we still doing
this the same thing that we did after the first
inning when yeah, he made an out. Yeah, I see
his perspective, and fortunately it didn't end up being like
a deciding factor in the game. I was kind of
a bit worried, you know, that he was going to
picture Jim after all this extra time, and then we

(36:11):
would have show hatty too much warm up time discourse.
But that quickly sort of became a non issue with
everything else progressing the game.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yeah, that became like the thirty fifth most interesting talking
point from the game, which which is a relief and
I guess number thirty six and very quickly forgotten, like
how good was mad Max in maybe his final starts,
possibly his final postseason start. I think we all assumed
he might be done after an inning or two and
it would kind of be let's see what he's got
in the tank, And he ended up pitching into the

(36:42):
fifth I think, and looking really really sharp.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
I obviously didn't see every pitch, but from what they showed,
he really had the Dodgers hit us off balance and
probably you know, if they didn't have all the quality
arms available to bring in, could have gone, could have
gone deeper. So I always hate to see a picture
as great as he has been put in a spot
like that where it's like, oh, are they just gonna
look a sad shot of their former self and be

(37:07):
the reason the Blue Jays lose this game? But no,
he stood up, was counted, had his awesome moment walking
off the mound and getting the edulation of the crowd,
So that again so quickly forgotten, but well worth a shout.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Out that he was was absolute nails for the Blue Jays.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yeah, it was very mad Max thing to do, after
having looked pretty being on the Alds roster, for him
to come out there and be like, don't you know
who I am? You know, I'm Max Siez And I
got this, and certainly through the first three innings he
looked pretty comfortable. Things got away from a little bit

(37:44):
in that that fourth obviously, but Vasha made that that
catch to kind of save the inning, and I did
wonder whether we were going to get, you know, more,
when he was being removed from the game, whether we
were going to get more of a Max objection because
he had he hadn't thrown that many pitches. But I
think even he knew that this did the time. I

(38:08):
think this is the fourth time now that he's started.
They had some graphic I think, you know, a World
Series elimination game. I think it might be the fourth
time he started on them, which not many people have
done obviously, because you don't get crazy unless you have
a very long career, and I think he's obviously done
it for several different teams at this point in time

(38:28):
as well. Yeah, quite an unusual start to have, but yeah,
I love Max. I don't know whether we'll see any
more of him, and if we do, I'm kind of
nervous that it's not going to go very well. But
it was really nice to see him have a pretty
good start in this massive game.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, he started twenty nineteen Mod Series Game seven, didn't
he for the Nationals? Obviously in a game that they
ended up winning. Was that the most recent Word series
games even tho if we've had one since then? But
I mean, yeah, still awesome for a guy to start
two separate World Series. Game seven's for two separate teams.
Would have been awesome if you could have ended up
on the winning side of both. But I think testament
to how good he's been for so long and how

(39:10):
he's the guy you won on the mound in those
big spots.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
So yeah, that was that was very cool.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah, I feel like we could talk more about this game.
I don't know if you want to talk about some
of the other games. Where do you stand on Game six?
Ball stuck in the bottom of the wall, called a
dead ball by the umpires? Runners stay on second and third.
I'll let you go first. I don't think it really
mattered in the end, right because the runner at second

(39:36):
gos strandy, which ultimately was a tying run. But did
you feel the Blue Jays were hard done by the
decision there to call time and put both runners on
second and third.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
I think it's pretty clear that that was the right
decision by the rules. I think it's emblematic of the
fact that the Blue Leay just did not really get
any of the luck going their way these last couple
of games, perhaps the most emblematic, just like, come on,
can we have one give us one break? Give us
that was kind of yeah. But yeah, I know that

(40:08):
lots of people are getting mad about it, But yeah,
that is the rule. You know, are pretty clear about this.
I don't think there's you know, if you ask anybody
who umpires, they're going to say the same thing. That
is the clear correct decision. So I don't think there's
a controversy in that regard. I think it was just
bad luck for Toronto, and we saw quite a lot
of that over the last couple of nights.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Yeah, I'm in agreement.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
I think people are getting stuck up on the fact
that the ball could have been easily taken away from
the bottom of the wall. Obviously, when the ball was removed,
it wasn't lodged in a way that it was impossible
to get out. But I think the rules, as you say,
are super clear on this like, when the ball is
stuck like that, the one thing you cannot do, as
the fielding player is try to remove it and then
decide that actually you can't because once you try to

(40:50):
play the ball, you are then stuck. So completely the
right decision from well just sent a fielder whose name
I'm blanking on, who came into the game for like
four total outs in the world, isn't managed to find
himself in the center of that controversy for pitting his
hands up immediately and noticing that the ball was lodged.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Insane luck that the ball.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
I've never ever seen a ball get stuck out the
roy just center before you see it sometimes like in
other stadiums where there are walls like at Wriglio as
the Ivy, I've never seen a ball mount of wedge
itself between the foam and field like that, which again
speaks to their bad luck. But I think the rules
are super clear in that that was the correct decision
and as I said, ultimately didn't really matter because yes,

(41:28):
maybe that run from third scores, but that run from
second wouldn't have. And then the double play to end
it another just insane moment, an insane series, but kik Hernandez,
as you say, always seems to find himself at the
center of something crazy when it comes to these big games,
this time getting a great jump on that the line,
driving line drive to left field, making the catch, throwing

(41:49):
to second base where Row has made an excellent pick
for the double play to end. It hard to pin
blame on whoever that was at second who's strayed a
little bit too far off the bats at Barger, But.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Another insane way for the game to end.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, Yet another insane way for the game to end. Yeah.
I think the sort of this, generally speaking, we have
seen maybe a bit more pretendency towards aggressive base running.
I think the numbers suggest that maybe base coaches are
a little bit too safe in the aggregate, and that

(42:26):
they don't take risks quite as often as they should.
I think this Blue Jays seems been pretty good at
pushing the boundaries and sort of extracting some extra value
out of lots of bits of the game. But yeah,
it was another thing on a night of you know,
very small margins of Could the Blue Jays have easily
won this game? Yeah? They absolutely kids, just only what

(42:47):
scored three runs. So when you think about the ball
stuck in the wall and this. Yeah, it was kind
of just one of those nights where you felt that
nothing was going to quite pan their way.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah, the theme through the series.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
I guess we should talk as well of skipping around
a lot here, So feel free to take this somewhere else.
But trey Ya Savage and what he did through the
series and especially in Game five, a story that's been
talked about a lot in that he started the year
out in single A. Hia obviously, worked his way up
through the different rungs of minor league baseball, ended up

(43:22):
pitching in the World Series, which in itself is an
absurd story.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
But then that performance with.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Twelve strikeouts in six innings was it, I mean, just
an unbelievable pitching performance against one of the best lineups
in baseball, given the circumstances, given yeah, the opponent, given
his experience level. It was yeah, absolutely insane and would
have been one of the main storylines if the Blue
J's had managed to hold on, of course, overshadowed at

(43:47):
the end by Yamamoto who said, that's cute. I'll do
the same thing, just you know, without ever having to
rest or sleep. But I think worth a shout out
to Trey who. I mean, the Blue Jays could not
have asked for anymore, and when they probably needed a
dominant starting pitching performance, you know, ended up relying most
on the twenty one year old kid who'd you know,

(44:07):
never never played a Major League baseball game before about August.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, he's this was his eighth start in the majors.
You know, he's made three in the regular season and
five and seasons. We've alstill got any appearance out of
him last night as well, which is kind of nuts.
But yeah, most most strikeouts by a rookie in a
World Series game. First time anybody's ever struck out twelve
without walking the batter. I think he's going to be

(44:35):
fascinating to see what happens next season. And there's been
loads of speculation as well, you know, is it because
he's got the high arm slaugh of people just not
used to seeing him. But I think we saw his attitude.
I think before he came out for that first post
season start, he was just like, I'm built for this,
I'm ready, you know, let's let's go. It didn't seehim
phased by the pressure at all. He was really looked

(44:58):
like he was worn to be there pretty much, So
wonderful performance from your savage And yeah, the Jays and
we've seen lots of draft pics get to the majors
quite fast in recent years, but yeah, for him to
be drafted last year and then playing this role for
them this year is pretty nuts.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Same.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yeah, dominated the Yankees in the DS as well, didn't he?
And of course the league will with a Joss. He
always due to pitchers who could come in as rookies.
But seeing the way his stuff was working in Game
five and that splitter especially just looks like like when
that pitch is good, it kind of doesn't really matter
how many times you've seen him. I think he's going
to be very effective with that. So yeah, it almost

(45:40):
becomes yeah, interesting to see how that plays out in
future years.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
But what an unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
First go around for him in a way to embed
himself in the hearts and minds of Jays fans. We
could probably keep talking from the forty five minutes about this,
but is there anything in particular you want to call out,
whether it be that we've missed from Game seven or
just from the series in general, that we need to
note now knowing we can probably come back in a
week when our brains are less scrambled and talk about
it a bit more from a big picture perspective. But yeah,

(46:07):
any other standout moments for you that you think we
should call out before we call it a day.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Yeah, I'm sure we've missed loads of moments that people
are yelling at us. I guess, you know, Tony being
on base nine times in a world serious game and
also hitting three home runs is sort of the faintly
absurd thing that we've just come to expect from him doing.
You know, people start saying things like, this is the

(46:36):
show here, Tony game. You can't have the show. It's
just another show how Tarney game, isn't it? And there
are too many Atorney games at this point in time.
I think there are probably at least four or five
already you could call the Otorney game. He's just remarkable.
And I don't blame Schneider for just saying I'm done,
let's give him the Bonds treatment. We're not facing him anymore.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
Just take first.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Yeah, pretty incredible. I think I think Will Smith not
not just for the home run, but you know, he
caught every inning of this old series, including one game
that was two games and and still was there in
the eleventh inning of Game seven hitting a walk off
home run.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Real, just incredible stuff from Will Smith. He's had to
just carry a load. The Dodgers have just not had
a backup catch they can trust. They can't put Smith
at d H anyway, so he's in this situation where
he kind of has to go out there and be
the guy for them. And that's a really difficult thing
to do when you've already played a four season as
catch it and then playing another month, and and not

(47:39):
just in a role where you're sort of doing a timeshare,
but playing the amount that Smith does. It's pretty remarkable.
So yeah, out to Will Smith for a great postseason. Yeah,
and yeah, I think that's about it for me. If
the's anyone else that iarticularly one single out, I think

(48:01):
we've touched the main points. Just a tremendous world series
all around, really, and we thought that it was it
was shaping up to be a good matchup, but I
don't know that anybody could have expected it would be
quite this good.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
Yeah, I mean, maybe we'll finish with that.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
I'll throw it to you and we can maybe work
out just obviously while it's all very raw in our brains,
but we'll kind of wear this ranks in World Series
that you've watched in your lifetime, and same for me.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
It's higher up. I'll say that right now.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Last thing I'll say just on that eighteen inning game
that in itself obviously just absurd A Fernie Freeman.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Who else I was?

Speaker 1 (48:37):
You know, as quite a few of us were awake
in time to catch the final inning of that game
to finished.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
I think it was about quarter.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Past seven UK time or something like that in the morning,
So that was insane to wake up and start watching
a bit of breakfast baseball. And of course it was yeah,
Fredie who who ended things in the eighteenth shout out
in that game to a friend of the pod, Will Klein,
who I don't think many people.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Had heard off before the World Series started.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
May even have forgotten about now given everything else that happened,
but wow, what a nails performance in that game to go.
I think it was three innings in the end or
certainly two plus against has mentioned a very formidable lineup
and get key outs for the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
I mean, they don't win the World Series without without
that performance. So shout out Will Climb.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Yeah I knew, I forget someone Will clinb The people
who don't know. Will Cline is, you know, a middle reliever,
not a preferred middle reliever for the Dodgers. Just a guy,
you know, kicking around on waivers kind of guy. Definitely
not throw seventy plus pictures type of guy. I believe
he doubled his previous career high in pictures in this game.

(49:41):
And yeah, for him to reel that off when they
just they had nobody else, he just had to keep
going out there. And I think that that care of
ball he snapped off to finish the appearance when clearly
he was done, you know, there was there was nothing left,
and he still somehow found it in himself to do that. Yeah,
that's an incredible performance and right up there with Rohaus

(50:05):
as unexpected heroic performances from guys who just didn't I
think we're even going to be in these situations.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Yeah, it felt like a series full of just those
moments as players have just Yeah, we'll look back and
be unable to believe how good it was. So yeah,
well I guess for me, and again it's very fresh
in the mind. So but it feels like one of
the best Worlds hears I've ever had the pleasure of watching.
Following I kind of wish I'd been able to watch
more of it live. I'd salute the Blue Jays fans
Dodgers fans who were able to stick it out for

(50:35):
all the games in the series of certainly majority of
the thing. I know there were some really great turnouts
that Patty Young avenue for watch parties to see it.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
I wish I was able to do that Game one.
I was actually in the US four, so I watched.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
It in the airport as we were flying out the
very start of game one, but the rest of it,
and unfortunately was unable to make the sleep sacrifice work.
But yeah, from what I did see, I think this
is up there with maybe that Cubs Guardians World series
back in twenty sixteen would stand out to me as
one of the greatest of all time. That Giants Royals
World series. I'm sure you'll mention where Matt bum did

(51:08):
his thing. Trying to think of other Cardinals Red Sox,
that was the Crazy World series with the freeze.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
Off the Wall.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Sorry, no, that was card That was Cardinals, who are
they playing in that World series? Tigers, Rangers, Rangers? That
World series was crazy. That was kind of right when
I started getting into the sport. So I think there
have been other World Series that have had insane moments,
games that have obviously gone six or seven games, but
this one feels like, for just how every game had

(51:40):
kind of insane storylines and moments that it might be
one of the best of the twenty first century. But yeah,
where does it rank for you among those that you
were able to follow and watch.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Yeah, it's right up there with the Cubs World Series,
I think obviously, I personally have watching watching Bumganner come
out of the ballpenders and then just finishing the game
for like, you know, after pitching five plus innings is
one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. I
don't think the rest of the series had the level

(52:12):
of ludicrous moments that this series did. And even that
Game seven was not like this Game seven. It was
not not the same back and forth. It had that
that thing, that thing that people are always going to
remember when you say, Madison Bumgarner, You're gonna be like
Game seven twenty fourteen. Yeah, remember that but it didn't
have all the moments that we just talked about. I
don't think we could have done a whole podcast of
here's the great moment in that game seven, it was

(52:34):
just oh, Madison Bumgamon came out, and then maybe the
worlds are going to turn it around the ninth They
didn't that. That's kind of what happened in that game. Yeah,
that Cubs World Series and the rag Davis moment and
the fact that you know, all the weight of history
on that game as well, I think sort of elevated
that that one. I guess the other one that comes
to mind, which maybe is tainted by history now, is

(52:57):
twenty seventeen with the asterism. Yeah, we'll obviously never know
to what extent, if any the Astros had any banging
schemes or otherwise going on, but that was a remarkable matchup.
They had some just absolutely thrilling, high scoring back and forth.
I think it was it was a game five back

(53:17):
then that was.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Like, yeah, but games brings home run in that game.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Yeah, Games even was not as good as the one,
and I think I think in terms of sheer, like
can you believe that happened? Moments, I don't remember a
world series like this ever happening. We can all remember
the one or two, you know that, the David Freeze
kind of moments, but you know the things. I'm sure

(53:46):
we have missed other things that we're not mentioned, But
there were so many ludicrous performances, Yeah, shocking turns and yeah,
entirely being ridiculous and Will Klein and Rojas and yeah,
all the things that we've said today and manymore. I
can't think of a world series that had all of
that and was as competitive as this on top, you know,

(54:08):
I think that really did have everything.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
Yeah, I agree, I like you say.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
I think when there's probably a fun discussion for another
time when we get into the dark days of winter
and no baseball. But for like historic importance, you know,
the Dodgers going back to back ho hum, maybe doesn't
have the same ring to it as the clubs snapping
their drought or like White some Red Sox or some
of those other unbelievable series that we've got the chance
to watch.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
But I think for just pure.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Moments intrigue, big players stepping up, drama and being honest,
just unbelievably good baseball, like amazing starting pitching, amazing relief pitching,
amazing hitting, some unbelievable fielding, Like the quality of baseball
under the highest, highest pressure was just a joy to watch.
So yeah, as I say, I know, it's all quite

(54:54):
emotional and raw right now. So we've just seen it.
But it's hard to think of a game that beats
last night's game, and a series of beats that one.
But I'm sure we can find time to try and
place it in its proper historical context at some point,
anything else before we call it a day. Hopefully we
back again. I mean, we have not podded in a while.
There's a bunch of other really cool stuff that happened
throughout the playoffs that it would be nice to maybe

(55:15):
talk about at some point, but I think we felt
like we needed to dedicate the best part of an
hour just to talking about last night and what happened
and yeah, and any final words before we recall it there.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah, I think we can get around to a post
season moratorium and a bit of a look ahead. Surely.
I'm always struck by how quickly we have to transition
from hey, it wasn't the World Series called to you know,
off season rumors and signings and you know, a lot,
a lot of action is going to happen in the
next few days now with guys getting released and you know,

(55:48):
those deals that were already agreed getting signed.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
There.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
I think eight managers have been fired this year, so
there's a lot of turnover in that side of the
game as well. So yeah, a lot to come. Where's
Carl Tuck are going to go? We're going to get
all that kind of stuff over the next few weeks
quickly following, and all the awards, of course, will be
what we're coming up too, so we can have the
cal rally Err and Judge debate at some point, I'm sure,

(56:13):
but I think that that wraps this World Series for now.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Yeah, that's enough World Series chat. Let's get back to
the important stuff like who should be winning Manager of
the Year. Yeah, No, plenty of time for us to
get into all that, and I'm sure we will. So yeah, thanks,
thanks everyone for listening, Thanks Darius for jumping on and
talking baseball with me, and we will be back soon
to talk about some of the other stuff going on
in the world of baseball. But yeah, what a night

(56:39):
for the sport, What a night to be a fan
of any team commiserations. Blue Jays fans. That is about
as bad as a loss can possibly get. But maybe
in time you'll look back and think about how awesome
this series was and how much of a joy it
was to watch that team and Dodgers fans conngratch, you
did it again. You've bought the World series. I hope
you're happy. What's a sad little I'm only joking, it was.

(57:02):
It was great fun to watch you, so yeah, thanks
for listening.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
Goodbye,