Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the World Series recap?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring. You don't get bored by baseball. Okay, one thing the game needs is more people like you. You. You. You. You. You. You.
You.
You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.
And welcome to another edition of West Coast Bias here on Baseball Isn't Boring. If you don't know what Baseball Isn't Boring is, it's Joe Kelly and friends. We're all on a mission to show you why baseball isn't boring. And if there's one thing that we learned about the World Series during the World Series and now after the World Series, it wasn't boring.
And ironically enough, our boss, one of our bosses, because there's two of them, Joe Kelly, Rob Bradford, one of them joins me now.
The boss that does the work. The boss that does the work.
Well, I mean, listen, our other boss is elusive and no disrespect to him. That's why he's the boss, right?
Well, he's the big picture of, hey, if guys are going to get tattoos, they're going to get them at my house. I'll do that. But in terms of cranking out the podcast, only if I get in a fight at a little league game. So, but Alonzo, you're our family member in Texas. You just came off doing an awesome podcast with Eric Gagne, and you're just so, so valued and so good at what you do.
So it's an honor. And I'm actually – I was psyched that you reached out, man. I was psyched because – I've been talking a lot about the World Series, about the Dodgers and everything, but it's me yapping and asking questions, and I still have a lot to say. There's a lot to pick through.
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Chapter 2: How did the atmosphere in Toronto influence the games?
But I have to ask you, before we get into any of the things... How do you sum up that series? You were there, you felt the vibes, the energy of Rogers Center. It's like no other. The highs, the lows, the whole thing, you kind of got it all. What was it like for you?
Yeah, so I was there for all four of the games in Toronto. I've obviously been to L.A. last year during the World Series, so I got the vibe of what that's all about. But, you know, unless you're in 1993, you haven't experienced the Rogers Center with Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. And... When you're waiting that long for something, obviously everybody's going to be amped up.
And I think that that first game, I'm going to try to remember this right, Alonzo. That first game, I felt like everyone was excited, but they were a little bit nervous because there was still that narrative out there of the Dodgers are going to roll. What happens if we have this great story and it's a sad trombone and the Dodgers sweep us? Then they win.
And I think that game two, everyone was giddy in Toronto. Everyone was giddy. Maybe a little too giddy, to be honest with you. And that was a Saturday. Everyone had pre-gamed all day long. So you could tell right away that that crowd was even next level from game one. So they come back, and now it's game six. You're up 3-2.
You feel like everyone – I felt like we're ready to celebrate, but we don't have to do it now. We have two games to go. We're so resilient. We'll find a way to win one of these games. It would be great if it's game six, but if it's not, oh, well. And then you have that crazy game, which I think in baseball history –
the ball going underneath the mat, it's still one of the most, how the heck did that happen moment in the history of the game? Did you see, I don't know, as a quick aside, did you see DeRosa's breakdown of this?
Great breakdown. I think even yesterday, we're recording this the day after the parade, even yesterday when Snell went up to Dean and asked him, And they both, I mean, it's, yeah, it was great breakdown by D row though. Uh, and it's the rules, right? I mean, and it's the rules, it's the rules.
But when you have him out there and he's. with all his strength, trying to jam this ball, forget about throwing it in there, trying to jam this ball in and not be able to get under the mat. That's incredible.
And, you know, talking to Dean right after that game, it was, I think that look, and then looking back at it, we give, we're giving him a lot of credit for his instincts were keen and they were, but I think that initially what really saved him was Kike putting his hands up. Right. I mean, that was the thing. I mean, that's why he threw his hands up.
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Chapter 3: What were the key moments in Game 7 of the World Series?
They're going to get that guy home from third. And then it just ends, and I think that it happens to every team but one. But I don't know if I've ever felt that bad for a fan base. And then you get on the field, and that's a whole other conversation about running around talking to Tony Robbins and people like Magic Johnson and people like that. So there's a lot.
I said a lot, so I apologize, but there's a lot to say.
No need to apologize. The Tony Robbins post-game interview was something I did not expect. And if you haven't seen it, it's on Baseball Isn't Boring, so you'll find it.
Oh, so all I can think of, and by the way, it's another example how I've aged out because I tell my kids, I talk to them, they're like, who? What? Tony Robbins? What? But all I can think of when I was talking to him was that scene from Shallow Hal, where he's like, your hands, like I'm paraphrasing, but your hands are like, Mitch, they're huge, they're huge.
So when I'm shaking his hands, all I'm thinking of like, wow, they are huge hands. Anyway, go ahead.
Um, I, uh, no, you listen, the, that's a great summation without even talking about like the hardcore analysis aspect of it, because I think it's going to be hard to not. And this is, this is even kind of taking a step back and taking like the blue tinted lenses off a little bit. Right. If you followed any of our coverage throughout the world series, um,
I had Joe by Milan had the ladies from talk Dodgers to me. They were great.
Yeah. Yeah.
All, all blue tinted. Right. But the, the specific reason that I kind of went for kind of those folks is one, the talk Dodgers to me, gals, they're great, but they give you the fan perspective right there. They're giving it to you from, from the, from, from the trenches and then by mowing and game over, uh, they give you two different perspectives, right?
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Chapter 4: How did the Dodgers manage their pitching staff during the series?
And he was more equipped to do that than Edmund. And then, of course, the play that saved the season for them. Edmund doesn't make that play. I mean, it's just nothing against him. He just doesn't make it. No. So, yeah, it's that move. You're so spot on with that.
And then you talk about the pitching. I'll be honest. I did not expect to see Yoshi at all in Game 7. And for him to have gone out and did what he did, for him to do what he does, and you could tell that he was a little gassed, right? But everyone's gassed at this point, right? Like, Otani kind of even looked a little human, right? And so everyone at that point is huge.
Oh, Otani looked more human than Yamamoto did.
That's true. Right? That's true. No, that's true. I mean, Otani still had great stuff, right? I mean, I said this about Blake Snell. Blake Snell in game one got criticized for all this, that, or the other. Yo, he held him to two runs, and he did not have fastball control. There's not a lot of guys that that happens with, right? Yeah.
And so it's those sorts of things where at this point, everyone's tanks are just going to be empty or they're close to empty. And you're just trying to go out there and just keep it going and winning, right? And so for Yamamoto to have done what he did, you know, I mean, no disrespect to Mickey Rowe. Mickey Rowe is absolutely going to have a mural.
But if they're going to cover Joe's mural with anything, it's probably Yoshi at this point, right? But what Yoshi did in this postseason, wow. Like the redemption card. I mean, just the mental aspect of hearing him say, losing is not an option. Going out there with that sort of mindset, that's a guy you just want to face.
I don't care how, you know, even Vladimir Guerrero Jr., you know, he tips the cap, takes a big old deep breath, and it's like, we're going to go to work. We're going to do the thing, and you're going to sit down, have a nice life to your life.
So there's two things. off of what you said. Number one, with Roberts, another thing, and this is going to dovetail with Yamamoto, is that he could have easily taken Yamamoto out. The Dodgers had a lot of guys in that bullpen ready to go. The weird thing was for me, so like I said, I'm overlooking the bullpen, and Jack Dreyer was warming up. Jack Dreyer was warming up before they took the lead.
I'm sorry, yeah, when they took the lead. And then so like, okay, he's going to get the final out. And I asked Dreyer after the game about this, about what was the thought process, because... When Will Smith hits the home run, everyone's jumping up and down the bullpen. Jack Dreyer is standing on the mound, staring straight at home plate in the bullpen. Just staring at it.
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Chapter 5: What role did Yamamoto play in the World Series?
You mentioned Will Klein. How about Robleski? I mean, Robleski is a guy who almost nobody outside L.A. probably knew about, and he came in in the last two games of the season in the highest of high leverage spots. I'm not even going to factor in getting in on the brouhaha, the bench clear, whatever it is, but this lefty became, he figured out, he did basically what Vessia was doing for them.
which was so enormous, so enormous. So, yeah, all good points by you, and I think that... It's anybody who says about the Dodgers, hey, look at you, Freeman, Betts, Mookie, Otani, whatever it is. It's so much more. It's so much more. And that's the lesson. It is so much more. It is the Will Clines. It is the Robleskis. It is all these guys. It is the Miggy Rojas. It is, you know, all these guys.
It is Dean being able to put a Dean out there defensive. It is the Pius making that play. All of it. All of it. And that's what made this such an awesome World Series. Because I do think, to come back to the Blue Jays, I do think the Blue Jays were the same deal. You had your star players, but then you had a lot of these other guys who were up to the task as well.
No, and listen, I think these two teams, I said this there, Gagne, I said it to Bimal, I'll say it to you again. I think these two teams were more comparable than we realized, right? Like Eric, Gagne thought it was funny that it's like David versus Goliath. And it's like, well, it's little Goliath versus big Goliath.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it really is, right? Because, I mean, they, you know, just like Dontreau, I think about this all the time. Dontreau Willis once said, they also drive Mercedes over there too, right? And so, you know, they got, they have Lattie, right? They have Bichette, who obviously had that gigantic home run there in game seven. I mean, they have dudes. Huffman is not, that's not a pedestrian reliever.
For me, John Schneider should be the AL manager of the year. Even without the postseason stuff, for what they've done there, considering what the expectations were in that division with your Red Sox, the Yankees, the Orioles, who had all the expectations in the world on them too, for them to go out and what they did, hey.
I think he went toe-to-toe with Roberts. I think he acquitted himself well. The only... And this is unfair, but this is what we do. He's like, okay, well, what could you have done different? And it's such a minor thing. Actually, it could have been a major thing. I think he missed the boat in not stealing Barger when it got to first and third. And you have Vlad at third.
Barger's walked kind of intentionally, you know, intentional, whatever. And so he's at first. You know that you have a double play candidate, the worst double play candidate, the slowest runner that you could ever imagine at the plate. The Dodgers aren't throwing through. They're not throwing through. So that, and I think Adovino said this to me.
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Chapter 6: How did celebrity stories impact the World Series narrative?
And like, that's harsh, but it's true. Like in a normal world, you would have him steal, but there's so much on the line if he gets thrown out. So anyway, that aside, I thought he was great.
No. And, and, and listen, it, it, again, it's, When you've seen kind of the experience that Dave has built up to this point, I mean, it's not his first rodeo, right? No. And so it's one of those where that's where you kind of learn on the job in those situations because it's all situational. I want to ask you this, though.
I thought about this, and this is why I hadn't texted you actually about any of this because on it I have a conversation with you face to face. When Yamamoto got up to warm up, Because I know that you were there above the bullpen and whatnot. What did you think to yourself when you saw that? Of all the guys that are there, that's the guy that's getting up.
Well, let's go back to before the game. I think I tweeted this out. He was throwing in the outfield. And normally, you know, okay, maybe... You throw a little bit after. But you certainly don't expect a guy who threw 96 pitches the day before to be throwing with any intent. And I tweeted, I said, oh, just saying. But, you know, I'm kind of just joking about it.
But the one thing that struck me was, and I don't know his routine like a lot of people know his routine. But the one thing that struck me was he was also like sort of going through the long toss stuff. It wasn't just, oh, here, I'm just throwing the ball a little bit just to loosen up. And so that was sort of in the back of my mind.
But at the same time, Alonzo is thinking, this has never been done before. How could this ever happen? It still can't happen. And then he walked out with Blake Snell at the same time. And he walks out like, okay, this is break glass in case of emergency like it was in the 18 inning game. But then to your point or your question, he starts warming up.
Really, this is another great moment in a great game. But I am thinking too many times we've seen guys where they fall off the cliff when you're expecting the best of them. And I think a lot of guys were sort of hitting the wall. I think Sasaki had hit the wall. Yeah. I think Otani hit the wall. So I'm wondering, sure, you can pitch Yamamoto, but is he going to be that good?
And ask those guys in the Dodgers front office. They said he was as good as he was the night before, like in terms of his stuff. So all of it, like I come back to it, I don't know if we'll ever see anything like this. This wasn't Baumgartner. It was better. Baumgartner was between, you know, was it five and seven or whatever it was?
Yeah, I believe he had a couple days between.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the World Series for the upcoming offseason?
Yeah. I mean, you just have to. That's one thing that you just can't get past, I think.
No, no, no. But listen, for any of you listening, I knew that Rob had a Cy Young vote. I just tried to sneak it in there a little bit.
I didn't even know. I know that before you're not really supposed to say anything. Now that I voted, I'm like, I don't really care. Who cares? But it's... Yeah. But that was... It's funny because with that one, you literally... It comes down to the end of the year. You have to get your vote in before the playoffs start. Right. And...
there was like these races that came down to the very last week. Like we were like, if, if Scooble had a bad outing, what was interesting that if Scooble pitched one more time in which he could have in Boston and had a bad outing, it would have turned things toward crochet. That's how close it was, but it was. Yeah. So anyway,
No, and listen, again, Crochet had an unbelievable year. Unbelievable year. But it's really hard to not sit here and say that, you know, when you kind of look at the landscape of everything, that it isn't Eric's school. There's just no... In my mind, there's no other guy in that league. But the National League right now, there's some dudes, right? There is some dudes. And...
And for you to kind of narrow it down to those three guys that are right now for the Cy Young League, that in itself is tough, right? But then those are two of the best, right? And then we're still leaving out a bunch of other really good starters. And I know the argument's going to be, oh, well, Yamamoto missed X amount of time and this, that, or the other.
And it's like, well, everyone gets hurt throughout the year. They miss a few starts. Well, you know what?
I think it worked out for him whatever time he missed. It saved just enough bullets at the end of the year. So there you go.
Yes. Well... We'll have to reconvene to have a Hall of Fame conversation because there's a contemporary ballot coming. And there's some friends of the show, i.e. Dale Murphy, who we're going to – that's called a tease, people. That we're going to have a conversation with to get the lobby going. Because in my mind, that dude belongs in the hall. But we'll save that conversation for another time.
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