Chapter 1: What baseball news does Adnan Virk share?
It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adnan. Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 703 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.
Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands & Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands-trustee.com. We're now in Hour 2 of the program. Adnan Virk from MLB Network is going to join us in just a moment here.
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Chapter 2: How are the Sabres performing against the Habs in Game One?
Good morning, Adnan. How are you?
Good morning, Mike, Jason. Always a pleasure. Let me take you back to this past Monday. I was playing tennis and then I got the call in. I had to fill in on NHL Network. I said, no problem. What a great day to work hockey because I got to see the Steve Simmons exchange with Chica and Keith Kelly, which I'm still laughing about.
It made me think of, this is the most entertaining moment I've seen with a media member since my man Jason Brough went after Frank Cervelli. Let's continue.
Rarified air of back and forth right there. I take issue with the went after Frank Cervelli. went at. Took him to task, bruv. Yeah, took him to task. You know what?
I do want to go right to the baseball here because Dan Shulman had a tweet yesterday and it kind of kicked off a firestorm of analysis, which he pointed out astutely, I might add, that in the entire American League, there is a grand total of two teams playing above 500 and they're both in the same division. What is going on in the AL that there's this much mediocrity at, man?
Yeah, and mediocrity is a perfect word, Mike. You know, for years you've complained about hockey because it's a loser point. Now everyone is in the playoff race until the final week of the season. You go, well, who's actually good and who's actually bad? And you say, well, they love the parody. It's not parody, it's mediocrity. And that's exactly what's happening right now in the American League.
You're bang on.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the AL teams' performance this season?
There's two good teams. That's it. The Yankees look great, like a legit juggernaut. They are awesome. They score a ton of runs, and their pitching is outstanding. They have the most balanced attack. They're number one in terms of home run differential. This is what the sport is built on now, right? Home runs, don't give up home runs. Yankees are better at that than anybody else in baseball.
And the Rays are incredible. What a surprise. They're doing it with pitching. Again, 12 straight games, they've allowed three runs or less. It's a classic Rays approach. Don't give up too many runs. Scratch out some runs. Aranda's been great. Obviously, Yanni Diaz is a good hitter. They've still got Junior Kim and Aero Chandler Simpson. So those are the four guys really carrying that offense.
But you're right. After that, you go, are you kidding? It's your team, like the A's. They're battling for the top spot in the ALX. Are you kidding me? I was looking at Luis Severino's splits, by the way. Think of that when people say, oh, it's so nice to be at home right after a road trip. No way. Severino's like, I cannot wait to get out of Sacramento. On the road, he has a 3.2 ERA.
At home, 6.5 ERA. Six and a half is going to go, God, can we please get a 12-game road trip so I can pitch better? And yet the A's are there in the mix because they've got great hitters like Nick Hurts, Silverstone went deep yesterday, and we know how good their talent is like Jacob Wilson. So A's right now are in first place in the West, and they're a 500 team.
The Guardians are in first place in the Central, and they're a 500 team. All of what this means to the Blue Jays is, who cares you're five games under 500? I know it's way too early to start talking about playoffs, but the Blue Jays right now, as it stands, are one and a half games out of a wild card spot.
I enjoy how Houston is eight games below 500. They got a minus 37 run differential. And they're like, don't worry, we're only three games back.
We're right in this thing.
Have you ever seen a season like this?
Never. There's always been times in the past, Jay, like, And then, you know, you go over the season, okay, a couple good teams, a couple bad teams, but no, to have two division leaders at 500, it's ridiculous. And so you say to yourself, okay, what does this mean? Is the National League that much better? And you look over there, and it's not like there's 10 teams above 500 there, right?
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Chapter 4: How does mediocrity affect playoff races in the AL?
He's been one of the worst pitchers in baseball. No question about it. Him and Miles Michaelis. I watched him two nights ago, seven innings out of the bullpen. He was flawless. I couldn't believe it. I said, wow, this is what baseball is. This is why I don't gamble. You can't bet on these things. And what they did was they said, no longer let's use him as a starter. Let's give him an opener.
I didn't think this would make that big a difference, but okay, fine. One other guy will get the first three outs of the game. And then you come in the second and Bayo looked like Cy Young. So he was tremendous. And Sonny Gray last time was tremendous. Five innings did not give up a run. Offense scored enough. They win four, nothing. So it really begins and ends with a starting pitching, Jay.
Ultimately, that's what Boston was built on. That's what they thought their strength would be. And the last few days they've had two great performances and they're right back in it.
Can you walk me through, I've been trying to pay attention to everything that's been going on, but can you walk me through exactly what happened in that, you know, the series that Bruff was just talking about between Detroit and Boston with Frambois Valdez and the tipping of pitches and A.J. Hinch got involved and he got in hot water for it. And I know, you know, Trevor's story.
And as I understand, it was just classified to me as a 24 hours of chaos in Detroit. What exactly went down?
Yeah, my favorite part of it was that Frambois Valdez, who as soon as Tarek Skubal has been out with loose bodies, by the way, it's always, we gotta get a better term than that. As soon as they hear loose bodies, it's like, oh God, that sounds like loose bowels. That doesn't sound good to me. So he's out for two to three months. You go, well, don't worry, they got an ace.
Frambois Valdez, they signed, he's making $40 million a year, he can be the ace. And then he goes out there and gets absolutely shelled. Aside from one start, he had one bad start. He had a 1.74 ERA, so he's been nails. And then all of a sudden in that start against the Red Sox, he threw a high 10 runs he allows. And this is classic Faber-Valdez.
Once the game has gotten away from him, and I'm shocked he's still in the game, by the way, James, just letting him wear it. He just throws at Trevor Story. Both benches empty, no punches thrown. Also, Matt's career reversed by a lot of three home runs. But after all, the ball got away. Are you kidding? You're the same guy that threw at your catcher on purpose.
Like, there's one guy that you would never believe. Like... who was the kind of guy that would throw at somebody if he was having a bad day? Absolutely. And once you throw at a guy intentionally automatic suspension. So not only these stories, stories that come on, dude, that's five games. He's gone now. Maybe that gets reduced, but probably not. You want to at least miss one start.
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Chapter 5: What are the challenges facing the Blue Jays this season?
It's just the back-to-ball skills, right? Last year, the whole story was nobody strikes out fewer times than the Blue Jays, and they're the best at putting the ball in play, and they're particularly good with two strikes on them. And this year, you go, no, they're not doing any of that. Like, these guys don't get hits, period.
And you go up and down that offense, and there's concerns all over the place. Now, Okamoto... who the first literally few games of the year in March, like, Oh my God, it's because of stud. Then he couldn't hit not speed pitch. He was like Serrano and major league. Then he went on this home run explosion. Oh my God, he's their best hitter. So that's what it's become.
So Okamoto right now is a four 93 slug. They don't have one guy slugging more than him. I did not think he would be their slugger. He was in, Anticipated to be 18 to 25 home runs. Instead, he's leading the team with power. Vlad right now, 403 on base, which is tremendous. A 415 slug. He is not doing anything in terms of hitting the ball with authority. Dalton Varsity, you think of as a slugger?
Again, a 400 slugging percentage. Freddie Clement, you're not counting on for power. He's a 390 slug. And that is 405. So the biggest thing is these guys don't have any pop right now in their lineup. And catching-wise, it's Valenzuelan and Heinemann. Obviously, those guys are there for their defense. I don't expect them to do anything major. So they need to get going.
One of those guys, of course, who's back now is George Springer. He went 0-4, struck out. He's hitting 189, 324 slots. He's really been disappointing. So I know it's hold the fort, wait till Kirk comes back, wait till Barger comes back. But Springer and Varsha, I'm looking at specifically, need to get going. And I'd love to see Vladi start hitting some home runs.
Springer's the one, too, because last year, so much of the regular season success was predicated on the year that he had, where you could have made the argument that he was their MVP during the regular season. And I knew that a fall-off was going to be inevitable at his age. But yeah, you mentioned like... All of the numbers are so far down.
You hope that he'll rebound and give you something, but you also kind of have to wonder if this is starting the beginning of the inevitable decline because he is up there in age.
No question, Mike. When you're 35, 36 in the final year of your contract, you can say, okay, maybe he has one last push to go get that contract or with last year, that true last gasp, last the Mohicans. Hey, I can still be a great player, but I'm probably not going to be for much longer. So you're right. The regression to me was expected, but not this drastic.
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What happened in the series between Detroit and Boston?
Yeah. That seems unlikely to me. I mean, I'd love it if you were correct. I just don't think anyone would do that. For a fourth. I don't know. I don't think that's... I'd rather take Mason McTavish back and see what he can do. Yeah. I mean, I'm not bullish, but like I... You understand what I'm saying, though, conceptually. What are you saying? About bringing in someone else's failed prospect.
I do understand, but I also feel like... This wrinkle with Pettersson. I feel like if it gets rid of Pettersson, then I'm on board with it. I don't want... I don't want Pettersson around. He's rebuilt. He's played 300 games. I would rather Mason McTavish be on the team. I mean, just as a fan, I can't do, I can't, I can't. The big three right now. I can't do it anymore.
The big three that are scaring me that might end up as Canucks are McTavish, Lafreniere and Shane Wright. Those are the big... Shane Wright is probably the least intriguing. Those are the big three that scare me. I'm still intrigued. Shane Wright can at least... I'm still intrigued a little bit by Lafreniere just because of his... Lafreniere. Lafreniere. Lafreniere. Lafreniere. Lafreniere.
There you go. Lafreniere. I'm still intrigued a little bit by Lafreniere just because of his projected skill set that's just never been established for some reason.
That's how they get you, though.
They get you with the intrigue. I know. I realize there's obviously that huge possibility that he's a complete bust. I'm just saying there's something tantalizing there. I'm going to call them the hidden fee three. That's where they get you. It's with the hidden fees. You never know until you get them in your plan. They go, oh, he can't skate. But would you be okay if...
The Canucks got one of these guys for a song. It was almost like a contract dump. I mean, Lafreniere, he got paid like Mason McTavish got paid. Long-term deal. They made a bet. The bet hasn't worked out. None of it comes for free, though, right? You have to take on their contract and what it means and all that.
And I know next year, maybe the year after, the money's not going to matter for the Canucks. But eventually, the dollars matter. Are you so sure that those guys are just not going to be players? They're done. I'm not so sure, but I'm 100% sure I don't want to see them go down this road again.
For example, I would prefer that those opportunities for minutes and everything on a team that's going to stink anyway goes towards a younger player who's on an entry level. They're going to have enough young players. They're going to have enough young players. Then bring in some cheaper, older veterans.
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Chapter 7: How is Cole Caulfield performing in the playoffs?
and still get the opportunities that were there for him. And, you know, he was so used to being as marked against Tampa that a couple of times when he was in space, he gave up the puck yesterday. I think you look at Suzuki, Caulfield, Sokoski all together, they had the puck on their sticks a lot more in game one than they probably had throughout the entire seven-game series against the Lightning.
Now, I think that's a big reason why they didn't connect as much as they wanted to. But to get those feels and those touches, I think that'll help them from game two onwards. So, look, I expect the Sabres to play better and not give them as much time and space. But it's clear to me they're going to have some opportunities here that they didn't have against Tampa.
And I think with players that good, especially Caulfield, you expect they're going to break through eventually.
You know, the old adage, styles make series. And we saw two particular styles going up in the first round. I mean, it was an amazing series. Easily the best series I thought of the first round, Tampa Bay and Montreal. And then you get to this one, and you're right, it was a totally different feel. You know, Nick Suzuki, the quote was, I felt like we had the puck the whole time. I think Marty St.
Louis said... that our top line hasn't had this kind of space in two weeks, alluding to how tight things were in the Tampa Bay series. Did you notice that as well, that in terms of the styles, there was just a lot more time and space for the Habs out there than they got at any point during the Tampa Bay series?
Yes, but I would also caution people that even the Sabres thought that the Canadians would open things up and give them a lot more chances to rush and do the things they like to do. And while that was true early on, it became far less true as they adjusted. And I just don't see the Canadians opening it up the way the Sabres want.
And I think the Sabres themselves will do a much better job of taking some time and space away from Suzuki, Caulfield, and Klaskovsky. The one area where, because of their style, I'm not sure they will do that as much is on Suzuki carrying the puck through the neutral zone. Like against Tampa, against O'Reilly and Hazel, he just wasn't given any time to carry the puck and create offense that way.
And Buffalo's not built that way. They're built with four unbelievable defensemen in their top four that, you know, later off the ice, you're seeing more of a hard kind of style to play against. But I think those guys, I think the foundation of Caulfield Suzuki and Slavkovsky is Suzuki's ability to carry the puck.
And I think he's going to have more opportunity to do that in this series than the last one.
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