Chapter 1: What are the slow starts affecting American League star players?
Welcome back to Blair and Barker, brought to you by Capital One. Capital One, giving Canadians credit for 30 years. Why are you applauding? You got it right. I normally do. You know me. I just don't like to raise the bar too much because then people expect it. Yeah. Okay. Makes sense. The Jays have today off before they open a three-game series in Milwaukee. Yes, sir.
You ever had an off day in Milwaukee? Before Chris comes on, I know he's waiting.
Maybe. Do you remember what you did? It involved beer. Well, actually, no, I did. This is a long story. I did see somebody, a serious motor vehicle accident right in front of me at an intersection. Yeah, a dude in a bicycle got...
Whose ball was it?
I didn't stick around. No? No. I do remember that. It was during the Blue Jays series there.
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Chapter 2: Who is the second best team in the American League right now?
I think Brunt was there. They were doing something. It was late at night. We were out walking. Okay.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of Shane Bieber returning to the Blue Jays?
Anyhow, let's bring in Chris Rose. That's my memory of Milwaukee. He's host of Baseball Today and dug out discussions. I mean, that's what happens when you spend a lot of time on the road. You collect odd people and you collect odd stories. Right, Chris?
Don't know what you're talking about, Jeff.
Chapter 4: How is Fernando Tatis Jr. adapting to playing second base?
All right.
Don't know a thing about it. I've never spent an off day in Milwaukee. I have spent several days in Green Bay. I called the Packers-Lions game to conclude the 2008 season. And why was that a big one? Because the Lions became the first team to ever go 0-16.
Wow.
Chapter 5: Why is Oneil Cruz crucial for the Pirates' offense this season?
That's pretty awesome. I have been to one Green Bay Packers game. I've never been. It was a hoot. It's pretty awesome? Yeah. No, it's... For even like a general... I'm not an NFL fan, but for a general sports fan, it's a bucket list thing. It was so cool.
Chris, you cover football. What's the best stadium to go to? If you were telling me... Have you been to all of them? First of all.
No, I haven't been to all of them. I've been to most. The thing is, is that... There's such a significant difference between making a journey to all the baseball stadiums and making it to all the football stadiums. A place like Lambeau, such great history. Yeah, it's cool.
But, you know, the thing about baseball is the different dimensions, everything about where they're placed in the city, encapsulating the area around it, everything about it is just fun. And by the way, there is only one major league stadium I have yet to visit.
Wow. Do we need to guess?
Rogers Center?
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Chapter 6: What challenges are the Blue Jays facing with injuries this season?
Hey. Shame on me. Yeah, shame on you. I mean, come on.
They were just in a World Series. Where were you?
Well, I was at home. Really? But closely watched. It's easier for me to do my work watching games on TV than actually going to them, to be honest with you. Yeah. When you have to react, you want to listen to how the broadcasts go, see all the replays and stuff like that. But shame on me. You know, growing up in Cleveland, it's a, what, five-hour drive?
Yeah, come on up sometime. Yeah, you can do a show with us. Absolutely. I would love that. That'd be wonderful. As long as you bring us a cool hat. That's it. You got a bazillion of them.
please okay i'm almost afraid now that you've you've teed him up yeah look at all that stuff he's got behind he does he uh it's crazy chris rose is the master of cool he is cool hats okay this thing this there we go all right hey that's better there you go yeah there you go there you go the blue jay spring training should have brought a red cross hat instead has anybody gotten hurt the last seven minutes uh since we've been on air we don't believe as far as we know
But I do believe that the Jays have locked all their players in their hotel room in Milwaukee, and they've hidden the keys. Nobody uses keys anymore. Extra bubble wrap for the trip. Yeah.
What's helping is the rest of the American League is not very good. Yeah. That's helping.
What the hell's going on? You know, we spent at least four months or four weeks, and we're not the only ones talking about, oh, the American League East, man, it's going to be a bear. And, you know, the American League Central, the Mariners are so good at it. Or the American League West, I should say. The Mariners are so good in the Central. Who cares?
And then I look at the Central and Minnesota, 9 and 7. We just saw them. Ho-hum. Cleveland. I mean, right where you expect him to be. I got a theory, and I admit that 15 years ago, I would have really dug into it, but I just don't have the time nor the inclination right now to do it. But I look at what Aaron Judge is going through. I look at what Vladdy's going through.
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Chapter 7: How does Buck Martinez view the World Series hangover effect?
So however that plays out, I had Toronto as the four seed and I had Detroit winning the central. That's how I had it. But I had to, I had Toronto being better than Detroit.
Yeah. I, I mean, I'm, I'm with you actually. I had the Mariners as well. And, and I still think I just, I like that lineup. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not going to, the only, I said to Kevin, I, The only thing that – the thing that bothers me about the Blue Jays compared to the other teams is those other teams are generally healthy. Like Aaron Judge is still playing. Julio Rodriguez is still playing.
And right now they're just – Vladdy's still here. Vladdy's still here, but, you know, Okamoto's going through it.
They're really – Kevin Gosman's here. Yeah. I mean, their team's – some guys are still – their bullpen's pretty good. The lineup is not – the lineup is just on fumes right now.
That's fair. Also, nobody expects to have nine players on the injured list two weeks into a year. That's fair. Now, some of that we knew going in, particularly – and also, nobody expected Lauer, maybe Scherzer, and then Patrick Corbin to be the back three of the rotation. No.
No.
in the middle before we get to tax day here in the U.S. It's just not, that's not what you expected.
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Chapter 8: What adjustments is Kazuma Okamoto making in the MLB?
Do you guys have tax day on April 5th? What do we do up there?
No, I think, what is the day where basically you stop paying income tax on your paycheck? I can't remember what it is, but no, we don't have tax day. We don't make that big a deal about it.
Yeah, we have tax day.
It's also my brother-in-law's birthday on April 15th. That's when we have to pay our federal income tax.
There you go. There you go.
It's a big deal. Yeah, listen, I feel for Toronto, like we said, the good thing is is that They're not going to get too far behind, even if they struggle. I mean, I saw them in Anaheim. I forget if it was early May last year. And they weren't playing great baseball.
No, they've had slow starts before. That's true. So was Vladdy.
Some of the stuff that is a concern. Obviously, you feel terribly for Ponce and what he went through to get back here, to get a big contract, to... you know, feel like he could jumpstart his career back in the States and to have a freak accident happen like that is just that is just horrific. The Bieber stuff is the thing that scared me.
You know, when he when he came back and accepted his option, There were a lot of Blue Jays fans that were in my mention because both Trevor Plouffe and I, he's my co-host on Baseball Today, we were sitting there saying, why in the world would he not at least test the free agent market? And every Blue Jays fan was hopping in my mentions going, well, he loves it here.
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