Matheson on the Blue Jays' playoff potential, Guerrero Jr.'s impact and the Orioles' series

0:00Hi, this is Dave Roberts. Heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, that's a risk. Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes Dr. prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses. So if you wake up sick, at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue urgent care kit.com slash blue. Here's a keegan math is enjoying it. It's your the maple Toyota hotline. What's happening? Kigs. Good to see you fellas. I've been dying at the idea of the LA Rams Australian Sherpa. What a dream job boys. Great gig. You know what I'm worried about guys is the the tight flight. Like noodles you were talking about taking the sleepers for the overnight flight. I'm picturing one of these like offensive linemen who took too large of a gummy for the overnight flight to help them sleep.

1:00And we're just going to see them getting blown past in the first quarter today. They're going to be moving in slow motion out there. Let's see big time. Well, those Aussies man, you like football players as we know are a different beast. Like they I know rugby is big over there and all that. I don't know if you see suit too many guys who were like 68 320 walking down the streets of Melbourne. You know that airport they better be prepared with those birds land. But yeah, it's going to be fun to watch tonight. Football is back. I know you're a big fan of it. And you've been wondering like what's going to happen here in October? You're watching football. You're covering baseball. And like yesterday that one hurt. You know Oakland is not a good team. Their pitching staff is not a quality staff. It's a hitters park and they get skunked yesterday. We were on the air. How bad was it through the eyes of Keegan Matheson? That's terrible. It's a bad team without their good players. There's levels to this man.

2:01It's a poorly timed performance against really bad pitching. And I'm way past caring guys that you know everyone else lost too. It's the bar needs to be raised. This has been just a season of I think a lot of people moving the goal posts covering this team. Which I can't stand. Like this was supposed to be a world series team. Let's not forget that. Like they came into this season as a world series contender. Because they went one out away from the world series and they had a fine off season. Like this was not supposed to be hovering around 500. And this repetitive annoying brand of baseball. And to drop one like that against the A's man like coming up. When you look at the schedule, what is it? The trials, tigers, Rangers, Orioles, Reds. They look winnable. But I struggle to believe that stuff anymore at this point of the season. Because the Blue Jays lineup can disappear against just about anybody. Keegan, if we were going to ask you the two questions.

3:03And the is the answer basically Vladie for both like for the Jays to get in. You know what has to happen? Is it like Vladie good? And is it they're not going to get in if Vladie continues on the way he's been going? Like is he basically the X factor here? Or I know the injuries to the pitching staff are key. But like how do you handicap this guy somehow heating up with 15 or 17 games left? It's all about him. Oh dog. Like I agree with what you said coming in. No other team has a sleeping giant like Vladie. Like other teams have struggling players that got injuries. Every team's got their stuff going on. Nobody has a $500 million guy who just looked like the best hitter on the planet in the World Series. Putting up a six something OPS with eight home runs. And every time guys it's tempting to believe isn't it even that home run in Cleveland. I mean he stops. He pimps the home run. He jogs around the bases. People are chanting Vladie, Vladie, Vladie.

4:03It looks like it's there. And it's just not over and over again. It's just not there. And no matter how much I want to believe in these moments, you keep getting proven wrong. And that's so hard because I know that baseball player is still in there. That's not the conversation. I think some people are disingenuous when they talk about Vladie. It's disappeared. He took the money and ran. No. He's just having a god awful year. Like historically awful year in this market. But when you see these moments, it's so tempting to believe. Man, here he comes. Final 10 games. The year he's going to hit 500 and drag this team to the postseason. But I really do think it comes down to him. Oh, it's just no one with more power on this team to change their trajectory. And it's going to come down to one game. Somehow or another. It'll come down to one game. And if Vladie can hit three home runs down the stretch instead of one, you probably win that one game. And it's so easily done. He's their shortcut.

5:03That's the way I keep branding, Vladie. He's the shortcut to the postseason. If he decides he wants to go there, they go there. So, Kagan, we've talked about kind of the negative. There's been some great storylines this year on some individual play. I mean, you know, notwithstanding ceases last start was not great. But he's had an unbelievable season. Okamoto, you know, Bateman looks like he's a player. Like you look at all of this type of stuff. Is there been some positive things that he's going to do? Is there been some positives that you've been able to focus on in this kind of like up and down season? That's what blows me away noodles. Their offseason was dynamite, man. Like adding Dylan Seas, who if you did that deal again, you'd pay him more. My God. Kazo Kamoto for four years and 60. Tyler Rogers, like I have not talked about Tyler Rogers all year, which is good. Like his job, it's like a punter. If you're talking about him, something's gone wrong. I'm not talking about Tyler Rogers. He's been great and Spencer Miles, like that's like winning the lottery in the rule five.

6:05They nailed all these offseason editions who've been great. Bread Bateman. I didn't see that coming. You don't want to lose those in the fire of this season. You know, Dylan Seas is going to be first or second for the Saiyung award. But you look back through Jay's history going back to Doc Alliday, Roger Clemens twice, Pat Hankin, Robbie Ray. All of them one Sai Young's, I believe in years where the Jay's didn't make the playoffs. And you cannot bet on this happening again, because we'll get into next year. And guys will be sitting here in March or April saying, yeah, Vlad, he might bounce back. But what if Dylan Seas looks a little more human next year? These things don't last. They don't stick around to you. You got to capitalize on them. But that's what blows my mind, guys, because if you told me this April, hey, all of these signings are going to work out this way. I would say cool. I'm covering the World Series again. And the below 500 blows me away. As for Okamoto, he hits, you know, 30 homeruns is a rookie. Fit deceiving, because he's not 20 years old. He's a veteran guy that played professionally in Japan for a long time.

7:08He's got a lot of strikeouts. 171 strikeouts. He's for the fans. He does. But I know we're in the modern era, and you see some extremes like this. But how do you balance the good with the bad when it comes to Okamoto? You might take guys as whatever. Honestly, I think the Blue Jays need more of this. It's actually their club record. Like he's already set their club record for strikeouts. And it is September 10th. Now it's a low club record. Most organizations have a guy who's done 200 plus. But Bautista and Matt Chapman. Yeah, he did. Yeah, not the way you want to pass Bautista, I don't think. But listen, I think the Jays would take more of this. I'm tired of watching a team try to hit four singles to score a run. It's okay if you have some big swings and misses and some ugly at bats along the way. Now you don't want to strike out 250 times and you need the power. But if you could go up and down this lineup, guys, I'm thinking Vladie, George Springer,

8:12Kirk, maybe a few of the guys who have a bit of pop. If you could trade 10 or 20 strikeouts to add on two or three or four home runs in the right spots, you're doing it a lot. And if everyone else in this lineup was striking out, yeah, maybe Alchemot is a bit of a problem. But I think that his approach is what this team needs. It's chaotic. There's big outcomes. You know, there's going to be ugly days. Sure. But he's also going to change some games. I think he's been a hell of a signing. Ideally, next year you don't set the record again. I mean, you don't want to get in that business. But I look at that and I don't care as much as I thought I would really the powers there. They need more power. They can eat a few strikeouts along the way. So we got Baltimore Town tomorrow, Scherzer Bassett at the Ryder Center tomorrow. How do you how do you tee that game up with those two on the mound? What a light and fluffy game that is guys like the two most stubborn men in Major League Baseball.

9:12Like Max will be out there just yelling into his glove. Bass will be out there rolling his neck around. You don't know if he just got shot or not. It's going to be great. It will be a very cinematic baseball game. Bass, it's not been good this year. He dealt with some back stuff. He's trying to come back. His year has not gone well. Max Scherzer is coming off of a bit of a rough one in KC. This is not a big title card boat. But nothing in the air is right now. This is a wide open opportunity. For the Jays and the Orioles are sneaky guys. Not because they're good. They're not. None of these teams are good. Let's be very honest. None of them are good right now. But the Orioles have six games left against the Jays. If they take four of those six, five of those six, that flips this whole race very quickly. Otherwise, you're seeing teams that are just stuck in the mud. They're kind of one game up, one down, one up, one down. Having six games left against the Orioles. Yeah, you can just put them in a coffin over a couple days. Easily. But if the O's get hot, then we've seen stranger stuff.

10:12They could actually make this way more interesting than people realize. I think just by having six left and the Jays need Max Scherzer to pull a couple more of these out of himself, man, because pushing Dylan Seas and Jose Soriano. I like the aggression, but I think we're seeing that you've got to pay the tab eventually. Yeah, with Seas, I think in particular, sorry, I know it was really hard. But we mentioned priority having the on. We were talking about who they could face if you get in. The Yankees are going to play the Red Sox. Either Chicago or Houston, as it currently stands. There's a world where you could play Cleveland, because Cleveland could still win the Central. You could play Texas because they could still win the West. Let's pretend they get in here. They go 10 and 5 down the stretch. They're going to play the Red Sox. They go 10 and 5 down the stretch. They get in. They play one of those two teams, Chicago or Houston, in their parks on the road.

11:12Best two or three. How would you feel about those matchups considering what you know about those two teams? I'd rather go to Chicago for my own reasons, but if we, you know, I have to end up in Houston. Yeah, I think the Houston might be the tougher matchup for the Jays, just because I look guys, all of these teams are separated by two or three or four games. Over 162, that doesn't really mean anything to me. They're the same caliber of teams. So you need to look at their top end. I think the blue Jays have a clear advantage in pitching. If Dylan sees his hot and he's going, they're going to have the advantage over anybody in game one. Soriano probably gives them an advantage too. Like they're in a really good spot with that, especially against the White Sox, I think, especially the White Sox. But Houston has your down Alvarez, who is one of my favorite players in baseball to watch. He's got a really unreal player having an unreal season. He can just screw up your season because we learn guys back three, four years ago, and the Jays are going to the wild card round. It's not really about who's the best team over a big series.

12:12It's two or three. Like somebody's going to have a guy who launches on you or has a crappy day at work. And that's the season. And I think the actors have a couple more of those players who can just wreck your whole year in one go. The White Sox are fun as hell. They're young. They are on the come up. And they're going to be good for a long time. But I think you got to really like your chances in a pitching matchup. So if you're a Blue Jays fan or have any interest in my happiness, I think that Chicago is a better destination on the morning of September 21. I wouldn't disagree with that one. I totally agree with that. All right, but great seeing you as always. We'll do it again next week. You got a fellas take care. There he is, Keegan Mathis, and joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Hi, this is Dave Roberts. Heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, that's a risk. Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes Dr. prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses.

13:12So if you wake up sick, at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgentcarekit.com. Slashblue, urgentcarekit.com. Slashblue.