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The Blue Jays support the relievers who dropped it last night

Being a reliever in baseball is a thankless job. And it’s even truer in the playoffs.

For example? A starting pitcher who gives up three runs in the first inning, but makes up for it later, can get a quality start and get the flowers thrown at him. That’s what happened to Shohei Ohtani against the Phillies on October 4.

But a reliever is only there for a few minutes. Every mistake is therefore more significant.

We saw it yesterday, in the game between the Blue Jays and the Mariners: Brendon Little and Seranthony Dominguez collapsed in the eighth inning, sinking the Blue Jays. The guys feel bad and that’s normal.

The Blue Jays are now facing elimination, and it’s partly because of the eighth inning that the club is in such a position.

It’s also because the offense didn’t give enough (the word “opportunism” wasn’t at the heart of last night’s game plan)… but mostly because the manager tried to reinvent baseball by bringing out “a reliever the Mariners had seen less of” to face the heart of the opposing lineup.

Everyone knows that Schneider (and his band of little geniuses) made a mistake and that they needed to fight fire with fire by getting the best arms out early in the half. But the club can’t afford to be complacent.

That’s why the guys in the dressing room are backing the relievers who ruined yesterday’s game.

It reminds us of what happened in Philly after the club’s elimination against the Dodgers: Orion Kerkering made a crazy mistake and his teammates went to support him.

That’s what a club is all about.

Trey Yesavage will pitch tomorrow to save his club’s season, and he should face Logan Gilbert. And if it goes seven games, Shane Bieber should face George Kirby.

If need be, Kevin Gausman will be ready to pitch in relief in game #7. We can imagine the same for Bryan Woo, who pitched yesterday (in relief) for the first time in the series.

If the Mariners ever make it to the World Series, they should have the resources in the rotation to contend with the Dodgers – especially if they win tomorrow night. Seattle, with Woo back healthy, has more options.

Seeing the Dodgers’ rotation cross swords with the Mariners’ would be Pitching Ninja’s dream, in my opinion.

If the Blue Jays go through and use Yesavage, Bieber and Gausman, you’d think Gausman would be ready, regardless, to pitch Friday’s game. But the rotation wouldn’t be perfectly aligned, let’s say.

Note that Toronto is guaranteed home-field advantage if the club advances to the World Series, but the Mariners are not.

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Dave Roberts wants four more wins to “ruin baseball for real”

The Los Angeles Dodgers have just qualified for the World Series for the fifth time since 2017 and for the second campaign in a row. It was all thanks to a superb performance by Shohei Ohtani.

The club has spent quite a bit to get this far. And that’s always going to get people talking.

Just after the win, Evan Drellich, a columnist emeritus at The Athletic, ironically mentioned that baseball, which gives us such great moments, just happens to need a work stoppage due to monetary disputes.

His message got through.

He says this because watching a club with a deep-pocketed owner destroy a small market (Milwaukee scored just four runs in as many games against L.A.) accentuates some people’s desire to see MLB impose a salary cap.

The current employment contract will end before the 2027 season… and don’t get too attached to a 162-game season in 2027.

Why am I talking about this? Because the Dodgers know they’re the bad guys in baseball. And because Dave Roberts, in celebrating the Nationals’ championship tonight, added to it.

He said that only four wins were needed to “really ruin baseball” as many people think. The home crowd loved to see the manager say such things.

Let’s just say, under the circumstances, he could have just congratulated the Brewers and his players. But instead, he decided to get his message across and attack the system, so to speak.

It’s a bold choice, let’s face it.

Time will tell if he’s just made the traditional mistake he makes at least once every October. After all, a manager’s job is to take the target off his boys’ backs. And there he was, defending his bosses… but it wasn’t the time, in my opinion.

Note that the Dodgers will face either the Blue Jays, who spend quite a bit, or a budget team like the Mariners.

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Dodgers reach World Series thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s career-best game

For years now, when asked about the most impressive performance I’ve had the good fortune to see in the playoffs, I always say Madison Bumgarner’s ultimate game in the 2014 World Series.

You know which one I mean.

But now, because of what Shohei Ohtani did tonight, to qualify his team for the World Series, my answer may well change for the future.

It started with a three-strikeout performance in the first inning as a pitcher before hitting a home run as his team’s leadoff hitter.

It was the first time in history (season or playoffs) that a pitcher hit a home run as the first batter of the game. It was also the first time a Dodgers pitcher hit a home run in the playoffs.

And he didn’t choose to stop there.

In a game that sent the Dodgers to the World Series for the second year in a row, Ohtani ended up pitching six innings. He came back in the seventh, but with no outs.

He collected no fewer than 10 strikeouts without giving up a run.

Are we going to see his home runs? Because yes, he hit three… something only 10 players had done before him.

His second home run was spectacular. It was hit so far that as soon as he touched the ball, everyone knew it was a bomb. The Brewers pitcher knew it too.

His third circuit was also far away. But what made a lasting impression on the imagination was that the Japanese had finished pitching and we knew he had a quality start behind the tie.

It was the final nail in the coffin of the Brewers, who weren’t brewing much tonight.

This game is reminiscent of his crazy game in Miami in 2024, when he founded the 50/50 club while qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in his Major League career. Once again, it was at an important moment that he had chosen to stand up.

But to do it in the playoffs, when he was building a reputation as a guy who doesn’t perform in the playoffs, is intense.

The Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games with a 5-1 victory. They’ll have a week off before the World Series, which starts next Friday.

The Brewers scored four runs in four games, by the way. This was a one-way series, even though the Brewers had 97 regular-season wins.

PMLB
  • Three championship series wins for the Mariners: it’s never happened before.

  • Wow.

  • It’s off tomorrow in baseball. On Sunday, at 8pm, the Blue Jays will try to avoid elimination.

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Blue Jays face elimination (and George Springer injured)

Tonight, the Blue Jays and Mariners crossed swords in Seattle in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. At stake? A 3-2 series lead.

The Mariners quickly took the lead. Eugenio Suarez hit a solo home run in the second inning.

After that, the Blue Jays’ lack of opportunism was glaring. In particular, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hurt his club in the third by getting pinch-hit at second base on a double play (on an Andres Gimenez dart) that hurt.

What a play by Josh Naylor.

In the fourth, with the bases loaded, the visiting club failed to score. But in the fifth, George Springer found a way to score Addison Barger via a double… when the reliever had already arrived.

And in the sixth, Ernie Clement drove in Alejandro Kirk to make it 2-1 in favor of the Blue Jays. That was against Bryan Woo, who pitched (in relief) for the first time in the 2025 series.

After that, the game took a disastrous turn. George Springer was forced to leave the game because he was shot in the knee. He really looked like he was in pain.

Joey Loperfido took his place, making his playoff debut.

Then, in the eighth, John Schneider tried to reinvent baseball by bringing his left-hander into the game (Brendon Little) only for Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco to strike out on the wrong side.

He should have concentrated on Jeff Hoffman and Seranthony Dominguez as Raleigh hit a home run… the next three batters reached base… and Eugenio Suarez made it 6-2 – even before the first out in the eighth – via a grand slam against Seranthony Dominguez.

We don’t know how the manager can justify this, but it had the effect of seeing the Blue Jays lose 6-2 without the club’s closer being able to make a difference.

The Blue Jays now face elimination for the first time this season. To advance to the World Series, they will have to beat the Mariners twice in Toronto: on Sunday with Trey Yesavage on the mound and on Monday, in a possible Game #7.

PMLB
  • Ark.

  • Joe Torre helps the Brewers.

  • Elly De La Cruz at shortstop to stay?

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Albert Pujols no longer the only candidate for Angels manager

Albert Pujols’ name is all the rage these days.

The former Major League Baseball great, as we all know, has a good chance of taking over as Angels manager down the road. That said, the more time passes, the more we realize that nothing is done.

In the past, we knew that Pujols had been interviewed and was even talking about a contract with the Angels. But there seems to have been a change in the situation.

Why? Because Arte Moreno finally wants a real manager search process, which means that other men (Torii Hunter and Kurt Suzuki, among others) will be interviewed in Anaheim. This is what some journalists from The Athletic have reported.

Why has there been such a change? Did the negotiations go badly? Are there doubts about what Pujols can bring as a potential club manager? Who knows?

But what we do know is that speculation can continue.

Let’s not forget that the Baltimore Orioles are also said to be on his case. And if a club like Baltimore can be on Pujols’ case, one wonders if other teams want him.

Mike Rodriguez is talking about the Padres… but who knows how true that is.

In any case, whether it’s this year or not, we realize that the chances of Pujols managing in Major League Baseball are excellent in the short or even medium term.

It remains to be seen where and when this will happen – and if he will be successful.

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MLB in brief: John Schneider knows how to cringe Max Scherzer | Trey Yesavage on Sunday

John Schneider knows how to crank Max Scherzer

He explained in detail how he pressed the right buttons to get the best out of the pitcher yesterday.

By the way, here are the line-ups for tonight.

Trey Yesavage on Sunday

He will start Game #6.

A.J. Preller can do no wrong

The Padres’ baseball boss needs to win in the short term.

Brewers need to stand up

The bats aren’t doing the job against L.A.

Nate Pearson to Houston

The Astros want to make him a starter. He signed a Major League deal.

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Brian Cashman responds to criticism from Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter

When the New York Yankees suffered elimination at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Division Series, former club legends Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter weren’t kind to the New York staff.

A-Rod called the 2025 Bombers one of the worst lineup constructions he’d ever seen after the Bronx representatives won 94 regular-season games and beat the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series.

For his part, Jeter reiterated the fact that manager Aaron Boone is simply parroting the staff’s strategy and that in-game decisions are scripted in advance by the second floor.

And Yankees general manager and vice president Brian Cashman fired back at critics of his job as well as his manager’s management during an appearance on WFAN radio in the Big Apple.

Cashman didn’t pull any punches, as he also reportedly called the former Yankees captain to discuss the situation.

Obviously, they don’t know anything. I know Jeter said that, I don’t know what he meant by it, he said he had no inside knowledge when he said it, but he said it, for some reason. And I think that’s the kind of thing people get to throw around when they have nothing else to say.

Cashman also lamented the perception that the office of the little geniuses (read analytics department here) controls the organization, even though we know that’s been the case since Boone replaced Joe Girardi, who had just made it to the American League Championship Series in 2017.

When you always feel the need to justify yourself, there’s something fishy going on. While it won’t happen anytime soon, a change of air is needed in the Bronx.

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A big night for forty-somethings

Forty is the new twenty-five. Indeed, on a busy evening on the October sporting calendar, it was a line-up of athletes in their forties that shone brightest.

First, in baseball’s American League Championship Series, the Toronto Blue Jays put their lives (or almost their lives) in the hands of 41-year-old Max Scherzer for a crucial road game against the Seattle Mariners.

The veteran sailed beautifully through the waves of the first four innings, allowing just one run on Josh Naylor’s solo home run. When Jays manager John Schneider went to the mound in the fifth inning with a runner on base, Scherzer wouldn’t leave the mound, yelling at his skipper to return to the dugout.

Then, 3,700 kilometers from Seattle, it felt like 2012 all over again in the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, as 40-year-old Joe Flacco and 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers squared off in a tight game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

For the first time in five years, Flacco was the youngest quarterback on the field against Rodgers. Traded to Cincinnati just ten days ago, Flacco made his first home start and made Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin look like a genius for pulling off the deal.

For his part, Rodgers threw two interceptions that led to ten points for the Bengals. But other than that, he was fantastic, throwing four touchdown passes for the second time this season, while targeting nine different receivers through the air.

Watch out youngsters, the old fathers haven’t said their last word.

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A gap of over $200 million between Tarik Skubal and the Tigers

Tarik Skubal was the recipient of the American League’s Cy Young Trophy in 2024 while winning the Pitchers’ Triple Crown by leading the American League in wins, strikeouts and earned run average.

In 2025, he had an even better season statistically, lowering his earned-run average and WHIP and retiring even more batters on strikes than he did during the previous campaign.

So, if the Detroit Tigers experienced a historic collapse from July onwards, it certainly wasn’t because of the ace pitcher, who held down the fort in both the regular season and the playoffs.

However, it seems that the left-hander’s performances were not enough to prompt the Tigers to secure his long-term services, who had made Skubal an offer last season that was deemed non-competitive.

In fact, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the two sides are said to be about a quarter of a billion dollars apart in contract negotiations. That’s right, we’re talking about a difference of nearly $250 million.

Although the total sum and number of years are not disclosed, the baseline for Skubal’s (represented by Scott Boras) next pact is expected to be around $400 million. We can therefore assume that the Tigers’ offer didn’t even reach $200 million.

With only one year in control of the team, we can increasingly expect the 28-year-old to be sent elsewhere before or during the 2026 campaign.

For Skubal to rank among the five highest-paid pitchers in Major League Baseball, he would need more than $35 million a year, which is exactly what Corbin Burnes is getting from the Arizona Diamondbacks. And he’s not getting it in Detroit.

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John Schneider on Max Scherzer: “I thought he was going to kill me, that was good”

Everyone saw the sequence, during yesterday’s 8-2 win, when Max Scherzer refused to leave the game. It went viral on social networks.

The manager hadn’t decided anything yet. Otherwise, he probably would have already made his call to the bullpen.

Part of me believes that Schneider wanted to light a fire under his pitcher, who has a crazy temper when he pitches. And for the first time since he’s been in Toronto, it resulted in a Max Scherzer moment.

Here’s what the manager had to say after the game about his pitcher, who wanted the ball “and told him in a little different language” last night.

It was great. I thought he was going to kill me. It was great. He looked me in the eye, both colors, as I walked out. – John Schneider

This helped the pitcher perform well, after he came through a tougher first inning. Kudos, by the way, to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for mentioning that he was revealing his pitches (tipping pitches) to his opponents, by the way.

A great deal of teamwork has taken place, and the Blue Jays now have many positive elements to build on for the rest of the series, which is now tied 2-2.

1. I know home-court advantage isn’t a big positive in the series, but the Blue Jays have made sure to bring the series back to Toronto for at least one game. Game #5 will take place tonight in Seattle, but duels #6 and (if necessary) #7 will take place in Toronto.

2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (who will not be a free agent at the end of the season) hit another home run. He broke the franchise record (5) for most home runs in a playoff run. Jose Bautista hit four in 2015.

3. Andres Gimenez (four runs produced yesterday, two in the other win) has six runs produced and two home runs in Seattle this week. Why did Barry Bonds invite himself to the #9 spot in the offensive order?

4. Max Scherzer did well yesterday and Shane Bieber pitched six innings in game #3. That’s why they were acquired. And with George Kirby and Luis Castillo not pitching long, the Mariners’ bullpen isn’t as fresh as the Blue Jays’ for tonight.

5. The Blue Jays’ forward has been on his feet for the past two games. Will that continue tonight with Kevin Gausman on the mound? Has the momentum really shifted in the series?

It may be difficult for Bryce Miller to contain the opposing hitters tonight.

6. Addison Barger had a strong defensive game in right field. It wasn’t Anthony Santander (whose playoffs are over) who could have played like that.

He also got his bat out.

7. The Blue Jays look like a club that will be able to make it to the World Series. But on the other side of the ledger will be the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are simply unstoppable right now.

Let’s just say that the series in the American is more captivating than the one in the National…

PMLB
  • 41 hits over one goal in the playoffs: George Springer ranks fifth all-time.

  • 176 strikeouts in the playoffs: Max Scherzer ranks fifth all-time.

  • Jackson Chourio is expected to play tonight for the Brewers.

  • It looks like the end for Nick Castellanos in Philly.

  • Nestor Cortes Jr. undergoes surgery.

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