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Why Flames Prospect Jacob Battaglia Looks Like What Calgary is Looking For
Calgary prospect Jacob Battaglia had a career-best junior season this past year in the OHL, scoring 40 goals and 90 points in 68 games games with a rating of plus-13. His points total was tied for the highest on the Kingston Frontenacs team and 11th-highest in the league.
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Blue Jays Reporter Opens Up About Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani in New Book
Blue Jays Reporter Opens Up About Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani in New Book originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Toronto Blue Jays aren't the MLB's most successful franchise, but there have been plenty of highlights in their 49-year history. The 1992 and '93 World Series wins, Joe Carter and José Bautista's bat flips, and the current era with superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have all entrenched the organization in the baseball pantheon. Advertisement However, the team has also partially been defined by failure, such as when it missed the playoffs in Guerrero's near-MVP season in 2021 and striking out in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes two years later. Toronto fans have experienced their fair share of pain, but Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson wrote a book that will take the old ones down memory lane and give the young ones perspective. The book, titled "The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays," and releasing on Tuesday, covers everything from the franchise's inception to the current decade. It's branded as "A Curated History of the Jays," reading less like a history textbook and more like a mixture of the most iconic and never-before-told stories from different periods. Matheson, who has covered the team since 2017, spoke to Athlon Sports about the book, his thoughts on the 2025 Blue Jays, and more. Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr (27)Brad Penner-Imagn Images Josh Valdez: Why should Blue Jays fans be excited about your book, and what makes it different? Advertisement Keegan Matheson: I think this book, and I only really came to understand this as I wrote it, but it's a book about why people give a damn about this team. Whether it's growing up with a team or coming back from that for a lot of years, it's a book about the people and the moments that make this team matter to people. You know, whether you love them on any given night or you're angry that they lost 1-0, people deep down still love this team, and this team still matters to people in a really intimate and meaningful way. And it's even the same for me. Even though this job has made them mean something different to me, the Blue Jays have been a huge part of my life. So I hope that it connects with people in that regard and really gets the moments they care about. But the other thing I tried to do with this book was to not bore people. I think the keyword in the title is "Curated." It's the curated history of the Blue Jays. If this were just a history book, it would be 20 books long, and it would read like a school textbook, and it would be boring, because there are 50 years of history, and you can get into a million different things over 50 years of a Major League Baseball team. But I was able to be picky and be selective with the stories I wanted to tell. And the stories I included are ones that I was interested in, that I wanted to write about, that I wanted to talk to people about. So I hope that keeps people interested in where the team has I hope some of them are more fun than what I write on most nights. There are a lot of nights during the season when I'm writing that the Blue Jays lost 2-1, and the starting pitcher had a bad fastball, and that story is interesting for about 10 minutes. I told a few stories that are a little more engaging for people, they can last a little longer. It was really, really fun to write, but also part of writing this was recognizing that it's not every single story ever told. This book is part of, you know, all of the stories that have been told, but if I try to tell every single story, I don't think anyone would like this book. So I was able to be selective and try to get to what people would be really interested in. Advertisement Josh Valdez: What was the criterion for what made them good stories for you to include? Keegan Matheson: In one regard, I wanted some of these stories to be fresh. Now, there's always going to have to be a chapter for Joe Carter's home run. There will always have to be a chapter about Bautista's bat flip and those great teams of the mid-80s. And I've written those a hundred times, and I wrote it for a 101st time in this book, I hope more interesting than before, but those stories always matter. They're always going to matter. But I wanted to include some new stories as well, because, again, I really do see this book as just adding to the stories that have been told about the Blue Jays. This is not the first book written about this team, and it won't be the last. But I hope to add some things that haven't been written about before. That can be in terms of players' lives around this city, the experience of playing in Toronto, and playing in Canada. Some of these chapters focus on the COVID years. When I was on the road with the team, some of what they went through and some of my experience being on the road and what I had to do to cover the team in the U.S. and Dunedin and Buffalo, the chapters on Shohei Ohtani and that pursuit that I was there for and had some stories I've been saving about. So some of these stories are old stories from a new angle, but some of them, I hope, are brand new stories for people, and I wanted to balance that out, because there is such a rich history with this team, but it's still being created, too. There's still new stuff to add, and I think that's what makes a team like the Blue Jays exciting. They're no longer the new kids, we're coming up on half a century here. They're no longer the new team up in Canada, but I still think that new interesting things are happening, even if they aren't playoff wins, as much as people would love for me to have a chapter there about a new World Series, maybe one day. But I still think a lot of great stories are happening around this team, so I wanted to include some new stuff as well. Advertisement Josh Valdez: Can you get more specific on what about this organization merits writing this kind of book about? What gives the Blue Jays a unique edge in comparison to some other teams? Keegan Matheson: I think a fun part of the book for me was going back to a lot of years before I was covering the team, and even before I was alive. Going back to how this team was formed, playing at Exhibition Stadium. "The X" is...a lot of people remember it as a bit of a dump, and a lot of the players would agree with that, but there is this sense of pride where it's just like kind of their beat up first apartment, like that apartment you have in college that you still kind of love because it was yours. But moving from there to the Skydome to being that team in Canada, along with the [Montreal] Expos back then. And the idea of going from the new kid on the block to a team that actually belonged, I think, really interests me. Part of that was infrastructure. It was moving from a pretty terrible stadium. You know, [former Blue Jays president] Paul Beeston always says it wasn't just the worst stadium of baseball, it was the worst stadium in all of sports, and he was probably right. But moving into Skydome, which was like playing in space at the time. I don't appreciate it as much now as I should, but at the time, it was just an unbelievable marvel. And then winning the World Series and becoming a legitimate team. We still see that in other sports, I guess like the NHL is a better example, of expansion teams lately. Getting into the league is one part, but you need to win to be a legitimate team. Like that's how you get established. So that's fascinated me, but also the experience of players coming up to this team and coming up to play in Canada. I really loved talking to Buck Martinez about that. And the day that he first got traded to the Blue Jays in 1981, and his quotes are in the book, and they're probably a little more colorful than mine, but his reaction was just like "The Blue Jays are the best you can do? You're trading me to Toronto. Really?" And that was a lot of players' reactions. Like, "Are you kidding that you're sending me to Canada to play for that crappy Blue Jays team?" But then they got good, and everything changed. And how everything changed really fascinated me. Advertisement Those great teams of the 80s, Dave Steve, those great lineups, George Bell, kind of changed the perception around the team. I think they made people take the team seriously, because they were not taken seriously whatsoever when you're playing at a football stadium that's crowned in the middle, it was a bit of a mess early on. So I think that was a really fun part for me. Josh Valdez: Do you think learning about the history will help younger fans realize that it used to be a lot worse than it is right now? Keegan Matheson: Yeah, I think it matters in both directions, honestly. Like I was alive for '92 and '93, but I wasn't old enough to remember, and I won't pretend that I was. So a lot of this book for me was talking to players in that era, coaches, broadcasters, to understand it. And I think that's really important for younger fans, too, because there are a lot of fans, younger generation, if you're 25 and under, maybe 30 and under, where Bautista's bat flip was your moment. And that's really cool, but there have been a lot of other cool moments with this team. And in baseball, in particular, I think the history of a franchise really matters because you understand where they've come from. You understand the history and the lore that goes behind these players, uniforms, and these stadiums. I think that's what makes it so cool. It's what makes the Blue Jays matter, because they have one. They did go back to back. Joe Carter did hit that home run. They did have that incredible era where they were the hottest ticket in the country, and the entire baseball world was chasing the Blue Jays, and they couldn't catch them. And that's what makes it important right now, both the Blue Jays are losing because they need to get back to that, or even when the Blue Jays were winning in 2015 and 2016, they were still chasing that. And for younger fans who really got into the Blue Jays in '15 and '16 with Bautista, [Edwin] Encarnacion, [Josh] Donaldson, and all of those guys. Advertisement However fun that was for you, multiply that by 10,000. That's what it would have been in the early 90s for people, and there's an entire generation now of fans who don't remember that. Even if you're 40 years old, you would have been, what, nine, 10 years old around then, your memory's probably not the clearest. So a lot of Blue Jays fans, probably half of Blue Jays fans, don't really remember the World Series years. But I think learning about them and knowing about where the teams come from, back through Roy Halladay, back through Joe Carter, back through Dave Steve. It helps frame everything that happens today. Because when we talk about Vladdy being a great Blue Jay, well, who's he up against? Who does he need to be better than? I think stuff like that makes everybody a baseball fan, and it's something that I nerd out about anyway. I'm really interested in the history of the team, where they've come from. I'm happy to be covering the Blue Jays from the fancy Rogers Centre press box and not the Exhibition Stadium press box. It's probably a bit better spread in the one I cover them in. It's been fun to learn about that. Josh Valdez: You mentioned Vlad just now. Do you cover him and this era a decent amount in the book? Or is it more focused on past years? Keegan Matheson: Yeah, it's pretty evenly balanced in terms of time. Now, I start at Exhibition Stadium and how Skydome was built, which I really love writing, but I also include two chapters on Vladdy. The first chapter on Vladdy is about his prospect years, and it's just about his prospect years, because I think that's a big example of something that I had on my mind throughout this whole book. And it's the reason that I included the Shohei Ohtani chapter as well, because, yeah, it's over. He plays for the [Los Angeles] Dodgers, sorry. But I think that was an interesting enough story that I wanted to kind of cut it out and have it exist all by itself just to document it. So like that exists, and I can look back on it. Advertisement Vladdy's prospect years were the same. I don't think I'll ever see anything like Vladdy as a prospect. I really, I don't know if I covered this game 40 more years, I might not see another prospect like Vladdy. And it's one of the only times I can remember where the hitter was controlling what was happening in it at bat. It was unbelievable. So to talk to people, and even talking to John Schneider, who was his manager back then, he just sits and shakes his head. He's like, "Man, I'll never see anything like that. It only comes around every 20, 30 years." So I wanted there to be a Vladdy chapter that was just about that, so that I can kind of frame that in history, and it's always there. The next Vladdy chapter was about his 2021 season, in which he nearly won the MVP, and when that team almost made the playoffs I think that's a great tragedy of the era, that that team did not make the playoffs with Marcus Semiem and Teoscar Hernandez in that lineup. But that frames kind of the best of Vladdy at this point. And that was really fun to write and document. Charlie Montoyo, his teammates speaking about what a superstar looks like. Like one of the best seasons we've ever seen in Toronto. Now, going into present day, the book was obviously written well ahead of Vlady's extension, maybe that's a chapter we can add if we go to paperback eventually. But my big fear was that he would get traded or something and blow the whole book up. I keep thinking of Tim McMahon, the NBA reporter, whom I really respect. He wrote the Luka [Doncic] book, and boom, Luka gets traded. I lost sleep over something major happening like that, thankfully not. But yeah, two Vlad chapters that were really fun to write, and hopefully it gives me reason to write a third or a fourth or another book someday. Josh Valdez: Has the book changed your perspective on this season or just the present day? Do you feel like you're not as stressed anymore about stuff that could change or outdate the book now that Vlad's contract is locked in? Advertisement Keegan Matheson: Yeah, I do, and that was a big anxiety point for me because things can change very quickly. You know, one swing, one game, one parade changes everything. And I'm really happy with where it's landed, And because this window is still kind of open, I struggled with that a couple of times, like, should I write the story on this era of Blue Jays baseball, under Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins? We're still in it right now. And while it has not been good yet, they have not won a postseason game since 2016. I started covering the team in 2017. So, all I have covered are teams that don't show up in the postseason. But all they have to do is do that once. And whether I think that's going to happen or not, probably doesn't even matter at this point. The moment you break through, when the Blue Jays get hot and go on a run this year, next year, the year after, the last 10 years immediately don't matter anymore. Because when you have a moment like that, like '92 and '93, even like '15 and '16, those [latter two] teams didn't even go to the World Series, and I think they're forever going to be held up by a lot of people as a couple of the great Jays teams that really mean something to people, because they got them back into baseball, or they reminded them of how much they loved the team. All you've got to do is have a moment like that, and it can change everything. So I'm I'm happy with where it landed honestly, I don't even mean this as a marketing play. I genuinely mean that it changed this whole job for me, because it changed how I approached stories every day, it changed how I understand this team. It made me much happier doing this job. And it made me realize that, yeah, probably tomorrow or the next day, I might have to write a story about how somebody's curveball didn't work and it got hit a few times. That's fine, but that's factory work. By the next day, that story's not going to matter, but it made much more interested in the bigger stories around this team and the stories that have a little likes to them. And it reaffirmed for me, I guess, that those stories do matter, because when you have a moment like Joe Carter, that lasts forever. When you have a career like Dave Steve did, that lasts forever. Like Roy Halladay, like José Bautista with that one home run. I'll be 70 years old talking about the bat flip. It reminded me that those can come around anytime, even though it's been a rough decade for the Blue Jays, if just one of those moments come around, you forget about everything else. Advertisement Josh Valdez: And what do the Jays have to do, in your opinion, to finally get back to the mountaintop? Keegan Matheson: They need to develop some sort of identity. I keep going back to that 2021 team, which was one of the best lineups we will ever see in Toronto, period. They had Semien having an all-time season. Vladdy was playing MVP-caliber baseball. There's not always going to be Shohei Otani to win it in front of him. He was playing like an MVP, and you had a lineup that was threatening from top to bottom, because it had power. And the Blue Jays have gotten away from that. Right now, they're a team that is stuck in a lot of 2-1, 3-2 games. And when you're playing that type of baseball, you need to be perfect. because one mistake can send it sideways. When you're playing a game like they played in 2021, and I'd argue even like '15 or '16, you can make five mistakes. You can completely screw up, but if someone hits a three-run home run, guess what I'm writing about, the three run home run and a win. So I think they need to get back to more of an identity, and identity is usually based on offense, which hasn't been there lately. So you can not only get out to lead, but chase teams down if they get a lead on you, and I don't see that lately. That's why we've seen three trips to the postseason go 0-2, 0-2, and 0-2. And each one has come with an extra layer of heartbreak. There was the José Berrios decisoin in Minnesota. There was the meltdown against the [Seattle] Mariners at home. Like they haven't just been losses, they've been tough losses. Those stick with you. But in order for them to shake that off, I think they need more life offensively. And since 2021, the reason I bring that up is that it seems like they've pivoted away from that. Like, it kind of spooked them a little bit, but I think that's the way. Because the 2021 team, I really believe this, and I'll tell you a lot of players and coaches really believe this, that if they had have gotten into the postseason that year, they were going on a run. Like, I think they could have been a World Series team, period. And they just, just missed. Advertisement Josh Valdez: Lastly, who's a Blue Jays player, either that's in the book or not, that you feel like is underappreciated in the fan base? Keegan Matheson: Oh, great question. I think of a couple of answers here, but I don't think that Dave Steve gets enough attention or respect from newer Blue Jays fans. And Blue Jays fans who were around in the 70s, 80s, 90s, they will talk your ear off about Dave Steve because they watched him pitch. But I think that anyone around my age, even 40 and under, I don't hear enough about Dave Steve. There's a couple of reasons for that, and one is that Dave Steve has not kept himself present or public-facing, and I write about that in the chapter. That's okay, that's his choice. If I had to deal with reporters for 20 years, I would probably ride off into the sunset and hide in a log cabin myself. Totally his choice, and that's okay. But a lot of former players who we see them more on TV or doing radio appearances, they kind of stay in the public consciousness. But with Steve, talking to his catchers and other players, like I talked to Buck Martinez, talked to Ernie Witt about him, Pat Borders about him, the three men who caught him the most. And Buck Martinez, the first thing out of his mouth, he said "Best right-handed pitcher the Blue Jays ever had." And it's the team that had Roy Halliday for a decade. People talked about Dave Steve in ways that surprised me and ways that were really fascinating to hear. Now, yes, he would blame his infielers for every error, and he had evil eyes. He would stare two laser beams through your chest if he screwed up behind him, absolutely. But I think he was not just a dominant pitcher, but a fascinating character as well. Advertisement A lot of this book was around reading old archival newspaper coverage or archival magazines, Sports Illustrated, other weeklies and monthlies. And it was a big lesson for me that players were a lot more open back in the day. And I understand why, but some interviews and conversation with Steve I would read just really opened my eyes to a guy who was kind of battling with the spotlight, and he knew that spotlight was there because he was great. But greatness and the attention that comes with it is not always comfortable for people. I see someone on the other side of this, like Joe Carter, who is at events, and he has embraced it. He'll talk to every single person like it's the first time he's ever talked about that home run. Not everyone's that way. So hearing old teammates talk about Dave Steve, even old hitters who faced him, I think, made me appreciate just how great he was. He did deserve, and he still deserves a much larger conversation about the Hall of Fame. Whether he's worthy or not is still very much up for debate, but even if he's just closer than he's been, that's still something that deserves to be talked about, because he fell off that ballot, and I don't think that we have the proper conversation about him. Because Steve was a more modern pitcher than the 80s would suggest. Like, he's a guy who you could drop in today, and he'd have success. You know, Buck Martinez said he was throwing a sweeper before it was a sweeper. Like he had that incredible, incredible slider, and he represents the generational divide among Blue Jays fans for me, because fans who were around to watch him pitch will go on and on about Dave Steve, and they really should. But younger fans, I think they're just not exposed to as many Dave Steve highlights. They don't see him on TV, they don't hear as much about him. And that's something I hope can be a little more alive in the minds of the Blue Jays fans, because it's really too bad Steve pitched in the era that, you know, you didn't have three teams getting a free pass into the playoffs with the Wild Card. I wish there were more opportunities for him and those great 80s teams, that would have changed everything. But still, someone who I think deserves, even a guy who's considered one of the greatest Blue Jays of all time, I still think he deserves a much larger place in the Jays' history conversation. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jose Berrios Had 4 Words After Blue Jays' Win Over Cardinals
Jose Berrios Had 4 Words After Blue Jays' Win Over Cardinals originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Toronto Blue Jays fans finally have plenty to be excited about. After meandering around .500 for most of the season, the club is now 36-30 after their 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, tied for second place in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays. Advertisement Starting pitcher Jose Berrios tossed a four-hit shutout in 6.2 innings vs. St. Louis before the bullpen blew the lead in the eighth. However, center fielder Jonatan Clase hit a 415-foot solo homer to center to tie the game at 4-4 in the ninth, and catcher Alejandro Kirk hit a go-ahead RBI double in the 10th. Closer Jeff Hoffman then secured his 16th save of the season. Berrios sounded off about the win postgame, via Keegan Matheson. Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Jose Berrios (17)© Jeff Curry-Imagn Images "That's a playoff game," the 31-year-old said. He also mentioned that the win reveals the makeup of the clubhouse. Berrios is now 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 14 starts this season. The Minnesota Twins selected Berrios No. 32 overall in the 2012 MLB Draft. They promoted the right-hander to the big leagues in April 2016, and he made the All-Star team in 2018 and 2019. He pitched 12 total playoff innings with Minnesota, totaling five earned runs and 14 strikeouts. Advertisement The Twins then traded Berrios to the Blue Jays in July 2021, and he won the Gold Glove award in 2023. The 6-foot, 205-pounder made one playoff start for Toronto that season, totaling one earned run on three hits in three innings. The Blue Jays are now 8-2 in their last 10 games. Related: Phillies' Rob Thomson Announces J.T. Realmuto News After Blue Jays Game Related: Blue Jays Reporter Opens Up About Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani in New Book This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Florida Panthers dominate Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final as frustrations boil over for the Edmonton Oilers
Brad Marchand is making NHL history at the ripe old age of 37 in the Stanley Cup Final, and his Florida Panthers look well on their way to a second consecutive championship after a dominant 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers that was marred by a wild brawl late in the game. The Panthers now lead the best-of-seven series two games to one. Less than a minute into Game 3 Monday night, Marchand dented the scoreboard again to get the scoring started for the Panthers. The 16-year NHL veteran has scored four goals through three games so far in the series. Marchand also put his name in the record books by becoming the oldest player to score in each of the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final. Marchand has scored eight goals this postseason and has 17 total points. Carter Verhaeghe scored a power play goal for Florida late in the first period to double the Panthers' lead to 2-0 before the first intermission. Edmonton quickly cut into Florida's lead as Corey Perry scored just 1:40 after play restarted. But the Panthers answered with a pair of goals from Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett to extend their lead as the second period ended with Florida ahead 4-1. Bennett now has a league-leading 14 goals this postseason and equaled his teammate Marchand with his fourth goal of the finals and tallies in all three games. The Panthers kept piling on in the third period with another power play goal, this time from Aaron Ekblad. With the game out of reach, the Oilers' frustrations boiled over. Several Edmonton players took shots at Bennett before Edmonton's Trent Frederic was penalized for breaking his stick across the center's ribs. The gloves came off after that, with everyone except the goalies mixing it up in a brawl in the neutral zone that lasted several minutes. By the time all the players could be separated, the officials had handed out 80 minutes of penalty time for the melee. The chippy play from the Oilers continued as Evander Kane was issued a 10-minute misconduct a few minutes later for slashing Verhaeghe while he was down on the ice. In the ensuing Panthers' power play, the Canadian squad turned its attention to Matthew Tkachuk as a pair of Oilers ganged up on the winger behind the Edmonton net, touching off another round of pushing and shoving. On the ensuing Panthers power play, Florida added another goal, this time from Evan Rodrigues. The Panthers' power play has been exceptional this series, with the team scoring five times with an advantage so far in the finals. As the final horn sounded and plastic rats rained down from the crowd at Amerant Bank Arena, there was yet another skirmish between the two teams that have built up plenty of bad blood despite being separated by more than 2,500 miles. The two sides met in an epic seven-game championship series last year in which the Panthers emerged victorious. As Florida seizes a 2-1 lead in this year's series, it's déjà vu all over again for the Oilers, who have yet to find the formula for defeating the Panthers. Marchand, who was a trade deadline acquisition for Florida after spending his first 15-plus NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins, has been central to the Panthers' push for back-to-back championships. Although Marchand was injured at the time of the trade, the Panthers were still willing to send a future first-round draft pick to Boston in exchange for the prospect of having Marchand's veteran leadership coming off the bench in the playoffs. Florida's strategic patience appears to be paying off with Marchand's flurry of goals against the Oilers in the series. Marchand, whose contract expires at the end of this season, will hope to enter free agency with a second Stanley Cup in his trophy case to go along with the championship he won with the Bruins in the 2011. The Panthers, who are appearing in the Final for the third straight season, will have the chance to inch closer to lifting the Stanley Cup once again when they meet the Oilers for Game 4 on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida.
