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It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. On the Infiniti Sports Network, we got game seven of the American League Championship Series is already underway. The Mariners not wasting any time. Julio Rodriguez, he doubles. He gets singled in, RBI singled by Naylor.
And so Seattle already has a 1-0 lead here against Toronto. In this game number seven, we know the victor of this game is going to move forward to take on the Dodgers in game one of the World Series starting this Friday. We know the Dodgers, they're just waiting. Just resting and joining us right now to talk about these Dodgers who are trying to go ahead and get this repeat is someone who covers all things sports in LA, including the Dodgers. You can catch them on NBC.
It is Michael Duarte. Michael, how are you? I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm good. I'm about ten feet off third base here at Dodger Stadium as they are all watching on the video boards here at the stadium.
Game seven of the Blue Jays and Mariners and that throw that just ran off Naylor's helmet. Yeah, well we know that uh yeah The Dodgers are lucky enough to sit around and watch Right now, and I know you're there at Dodger Stadium for the workout. What could you glean from today? All the conversations, everyone that you spoke with, obviously there's anxiousness, there's waiting, they're trying to repeat something we haven't seen since the Yankees. What did you learn from today?
Yeah, what I learned, especially talking to Mookie Bats and Freddie Freeman, some of the veterans and obviously superstars on this team, is. I guess there's a song, right? The waiting is the hardest part. That's what they have to do right now. And for the hitters, especially, they're worried about their rhythm at the plate.
They were in such a good rhythm over the course of these playoffs. Keep in mind, they didn't have the traditional five, six days off before the NLDS like they've had the last several years. They went straight into the wild card game, only two days off from the regular season before that series with the Reds, and then just kept playing every single day essentially since.
So now you're going to have six days off. between Game One of the World Series on Friday, and they're just worried about getting their rhythm.
So right now, they're hitting in the case, they're taking BP. They're going to do a some sort of simulated game here in about an hour or so face live pitching. And this is right now, no one knows the formula on how you stay ready for these things because game action, obviously, JR, is a lot different than simulated action like we're seeing today. Absolutely.
Well, Michael, knowing that they don't even know where they're going to play at on Friday, it depends on who wins this game. They can play a simulated game today. What else are the Dodgers doing over the next several days? Are they playing more simulated games or how are they gonna kind of stay sharp? Yeah, they're going to be playing more simulated games.
Today was a pre-planned activity to watch. This game seven to see who their opponent will be. Obviously, I think the Dodgers, they're not going to say that they prefer any team. And as far as matchup, they don't care which team they play. But if it is the Mariners, they do hold the better record over the Seattle Mariners, which means game one would be here at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
So I think these players would love to stay with their families. sleep in their own bed. not have to get on a plane and travel and pack their bags.
So that might be who they're rooting for as far as being able to stay home. But as far as what you just asked, that's what the players told me is they get these few days to rest their bodies and minds.
Some of these guys have some ailing injuries that they can rest up and heal up. And they get to spend a few more days with their family because about five, six weeks ago after that series, In Baltimore, a road trip that was Pittsburgh in Baltimore, they lost Will Smith on that trip, and obviously the famous game was. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a no-hitter through eight and two-thirds and lost it to a home run on the final out. Since then on, they made a pact to stay together as a team, as a unit, to keep that edge, to do everything together, to get to the stadium early. to hang out together, to go to dinners together on the road.
And make their family for the next six weeks or so be their teammates. And so they're going to get a few days to actually spend with their real families here as they await their opponent. That's a good thing. Michael Duarte is here with us, covers all things. Dodgers for NBC, Los Angeles.
I mean, we all saw the country saw the performance from Shaw Hail Tani. on Friday. It's one for the ages. God only knows if he'll top that. He will have other opportunities in the postseason and moving forward.
What has the reaction been from his teammates? Because watching on television, even his teammates were in awe about what he was doing. Absolutely.
I'm glad you asked and brought that up. One insight behind the scenes Tid, that I'd like to share with you is: I walked into the Dodgers Clubhouse this afternoon. It was open from about 3 to 4 p.m. Pacific time here, and sitting on a table in the Dodgers Clubhouse. was Johe Otani's NLCS MVP trophy that he won just a couple nights ago on Friday night.
Instead of his name and the NLCS MV2 trophy on the placard in front, It said team efforts. And according to my sources, Shohei Otani himself asked one of the clubhouse reps to put that on there and display it in the locker room. but he could let his teammates know that even though he was the winner of the MVP award for that last series against the Brewers, it was a team effort, whether it was Blake Snell's dominant outing facing the minimum through eight innings in game one or Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto's complete game in game two. Or the bullpins effort with Tyler Glass now in game three. He wanted to know it wasn't just his historic game four, a legendary performance, obviously.
He wanted to know it was a team effort. far as what his teammates have told me, uh Mo Mookie Bett said it best, I think he said The Dodgers are like the 90s Bulls. And he's Michael Jordan. Max Muncie told me it's like that little league game when we were all kids playing little league, and there was just one guy, bigger, stronger than everybody else, who could hit home runs, he could pitch from the mound. Only Shohei Zotani is doing it on the biggest, highest most difficult stage in the world, and that's Major League Baseball.
He's just like a little leaguer out there dominating the sport, but it's at the highest level. Listen up football fans, you won't want to miss this. Right now, new Bet365 customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets win or lose.
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That's what they told me. And most of them said at some point This was inevitable that Shohei Otani would inevitably would have a performance like this.
Well, we were kind of joking about it on Friday. How many more home runs can he hit? And he went out there and he cranked three of them and struck out ten. But we know that this team High priced. Big money, lots of personality, future Hall of Famers, arguably the greatest player of all time.
What is the locker room like? It seems like they actually get along. This is a lot of personalities, a lot of money in here. Yeah, and you know what? That's what goes unnoticed.
And I look, I know a lot of people say the Dodgers are ruining baseball. They had the highest payroll. They signed all these guys to deferred contracts. They don't have to pay them for. ten more years.
We hear all that. But look, the New York Mets had the second highest Payroll in all of baseball. They weren't too far behind the Dodgers. They didn't even make the postseason. The Yankees have a very high payroll.
The Red Sox have a high payroll. You don't see these teams right now playing in the World Series.
So I think what goes underrated in what Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes, the front office building this team, JR, is Is that they tried to find blue guys, guys that are good in the clubhouse, get rid of guys that maybe are all about them or about ego or selfishness. or don't want to spend time with their teammates. Remove those guys from the equation and find the guys in the clubhouse that care about each other, that embrace each other, that take their teammates. Put their arm around each other and carry them when things are not going straight, lift them up, and then also help them when things are going well and teach them and mentor them. And they've somehow assembled a Perfect mix of veterans who do that with young players who are hungry and ready to learn and want to learn.
And they all kind of take on the personality of Dave Roberts, who's Kind of like that uncle at the barbecue, right, that teaches you everything, that loves you and kind of is like a father figure to them, like a second father figure. That's Dave Roberts, and the team kind of takes on his identity. Michael Duarte is here with us from NBC Los Angeles. You know, we got the Dodgers, well, not the Dodgers, excuse me. We got Seattle.
And then we got Toronto trying to beat each other up for a chance to take on these Dodgers. Regardless of who advances, what are your thoughts on the Dodgers' chances of going out there and getting a repeat? I mean, I think everyone believes their chances are very high regardless of who their opponent is. As we just saw with the Brewers regular season doesn't necessarily matter so much. Milwaukee had beat them six straight, wept them in the regular season.
Obviously the Dodgers sweep them when it matters the most. Yeah. They swept Seattle at the end of the year, their final series of the regular season. Clayton Kershaw, who's walking right past me right now, it was his last regular season start of his historic career. In Seattle, they swept that series, but both teams weren't really weren't playing for anything at that point.
They had their position and seating locked up. And then earlier, the Dodgers were one bullpin blowout by Blake Trynan away from sweeping Toronto here at home in July.
So that's another series that you could say maybe favors the Dodgers. But I think ultimately, what it comes down to, JR, is The Dodgers have four aces on their starting pitching staff. You can go with any single one of them, they're all interchangeable, they've all been dominant, and now you just gave them six extra days to rest. Plan and strategize how they're going to attack either these Mariners or Blue Jays hitters. And I wouldn't want to face Blake Snow, who's Legacy hunting right now.
He's a two-time Cyng Award winner ever, but he's never won a World Series, so he's hungry. Yamamoto, who's you know, trying to go out there and be dominant and and refuses to lose. Tyler Glass now, another guy from the Rays in twenty twenty, like Blake Snell, who faced these Dodgers and lost to him, was trying to win a World Series, this time contributing like he was unable unable to do last year. And then obviously Otani, who has never pitched In the World Series. We're going to definitely see him on the mound and have to plate, and he wants to win one as a pitcher now on the mound.
Those guys are all hungry and those starting four, those four aces I just mentioned, they're nasty. And when you have them, I think you have to give the Dodgers a nod no matter who they play. Yes, I agree with you on that one, Michael. To kind of wrap things up here, just hitting the fast forward button a little bit, the Dodgers, yes, they're favored to repeat regardless whether it's Toronto or Seattle who's moving forward. Who and what?
Can stop this team moving forward.
Okay, you got Freddie Freeman getting older, you got Mookie Betts getting older, but still, who stops this team? Is it just a lockout in a few years? How does this team slow down? Yeah, you said it a lockout might be one way to stop them. But for me, I think this team, as we saw throughout the regular season, They're susceptible to beating themselves.
And I think that is the one opponent. that could beat this kind of Juggernaut Dodgers, and that is themselves. If they don't stay locked in, if they don't stay focused, if they get distracted, if they lose that edge that Dave Roberts has been talking about, right? They're playing the role of villains. They're now the heels of Major League Baseball, and they know it.
And so if they were to. Uh like I said not play up to their capabilities, to the talent level that they know this team has, That is how this seemed to be knocked off. Other than that, like you just said, and I don't think that's going to happen, but other than that, a lockout would be stopping playing the actual games. would be the only thing that stops them. And one question I ask these guys J.R., before they take the field, before every game, I try to find anyone who has come out of the dugout a couple hours before a first pitch, and I say, finish this sentence for me.
The Dodgers will win tonight if. And they all say if we take the field. And that just tells you what their confidence levels are right now. Yeah, that's one. That's a lot of confidence.
If we go on the field, we'll go out there and win. Hey, Michael, thank you so much for sharing your first-person perspective. You're there at Dodger Stadium, you've watched this team. And you know, uh well one last thing, not Dodgers related, for the Lakers. I know you cover all things LA sports.
What's the level of enthusiasm or or is there trepidation around the Lakers, this LeBron thing? How's that playing out right now in LA? Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow night, Tuesday night, for the home opener. It's on our network. NBA is back on NBC, so I'll plug that.
Uh but yes, the routing is like there's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm that they went out and got. a guy like DeAndre Ayton, because they that's where they were lacking, size on the front court after they traded away Anthony Davis once they ran into a bus on Anthony Edwards and the Timbles in the playoffs last year.
So being able to add Ayton, I think they're really excited about, especially when it comes to the postseason for them. They're also excited about Marcus Smart, another lockdown wing defender they think is going to make them better on the perimeter. But you're right, there is some trepidation around LeBron James. He's going to be out until my guess is around mid-November at the earliest before he gets reevaluated for what's going that sciatica going on right now in his right leg. He has not had an opportunity to share the court with Luca and Austin Reeves and their new players, Marcus Martin, DeAndre Ayton.
So, as you know as well, in basketball, you got to have some time to gel. You know, know where guys like the ball and where they want to be on the court. That's going to take some time.
So you're looking at maybe not until January. You know, if they can all play together with this starting unit and it's the unit that would essentially be closing games down the stretch. to get a chance to play together and work out. Those things you need to do to get that chemistry.
So that's what they're all talking about as far as trepidation, when LeBron can get back and they can start working on those things.
Well, at least for right now, everybody in LA can focus on the the Dodgers and we'll get to the Lakers when that the season starts tomorrow. Hey, Michael, thank you so much for the time. Tell everybody where they can follow you and all your work with NBC LA. Yeah, appreciate you, Joe. You guys can follow me at my socials, which are every single thing, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, TwitterX, at Michael J.
Duarte. Uh and then just Tune on NBCLA. Either turn on Channel four if you're here in Southern California and watch me there or go to the website, NBCLA, and follow our coverage, stories, videos, everything there. And we'll be at the stadium giving you guys behind the scenes access. Hey, thank you so much, Michael.
Enjoy the series. We'll catch you soon, okay? You too. Have a great show. Thanks, GR.
Appreciate it. Thank you so much. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle. Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on the team to win and they take a 17-point lead, you get paid no matter the final score.
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Mm-hmm.
