Bruising in the Bronx? Blue Jays in the Driver’s Seat Jetting Back to NYC
Posted on: October 6, 2025, 11:24h.
Last updated on: October 6, 2025, 11:28h.
- Blue Jays hit 5 home runs en route to a 13-7 win to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the ALDS versus the Yankees
- Rookie starting pitcher Trey Yesavage sets team record with 11 strikeouts in a playoff game
- Yankees narrow betting favourites for Game 3 in NYC tomorrow night
The Rogers Communications/Sportsnet hype machine in Canada is like no other: Take a young, idealistic, inexperienced uber-talented young baseball player, mix in a heavy dose of broadcasting and social media spotlight, toss them into the hype blender and wait for them to bloom.
New Shiny Toy
That’s the formula in Toronto. And that’s what came to mind watching the orgy of adulation last night at Rogers Centre in Toronto, following Game 2 of the American League Division Series, with the Blue Jays taking a 2-0 strange hold (best of five series) over the New York Yankees on the wings of an emphatic 13-7 win.
The story, besides a signature-moment Vlad Guerrero Jr. 415-foot grand slam into the second deck in the 4th inning, pushing another electric crowd of 44,000-plus out of their seats, was 22-year-old starting pitcher Trey Yesavage – 5.1 innings, 11 strikeouts, the punch outs being a Blue Jays record for a pitcher in the playoffs.
Sportsbooks Taking Note
Yesavage is the talk of baseball this morning, deservedly. Hall of Famer Derek Jeter on Fox post-game said he baffled by Yesavage’s splitter and was glad he was no longer playing. A superstar of the sport was born last night, kind of like rookie Cam Schlittler’s emergence for the Yankees last week in their wild card series win over the Red Sox.
Yesavage is also the new shiny toy in a billion-dollar entertainment behemoth in Canada called Roger Communications. Rogers owns everything on the sports front here – the teams, including the Jays, the NHL’s Leafs, the NBA’s Raptors, Major League Soccer’s TFC. They own the baseball stadium, and the national television broadcasting platform, while pushing narratives all over social media. The company just spent millions on stadium upgrades, in part turning into the downtown’s newest social bar hub.
The Rogers content brigade is under orders to push the rah-rah, and here’s Yesavage, gifted to them.
Yankees Beaten Down
Sports bettors, and sportsbook operators, see it too, on the betting end.
As Phill Gray, the former Head of Trading Operations at Sports Interaction, told Casino.org, Canadian bettors lead with an emotional attachment for the home teams. Sportsbooks up here are looking at a huge potential seven-figure liability with the Jays this season, going into Game 3 under the lights of Yankee Stadium in the Bronz tomorrow night, Gray told us.
“Canadian facing books face a steep challenge all season for NHL/NBA/MLB,” he said. “Leafs and Oilers/Raptors/Jays. The home betting public overwhelmingly back these teams’ night in and night out as well as in futures, doesn’t matter the pricing. So, it becomes a feast or famine for the most part in profit/loss.
Futures Now Come Into Play
“The Blue Jays consistent winning regular season hits hard on a game-by-game basis. Futures now come into play. With 94 wins the Jays went well over their opening projected total of 79.5, a big loss as the over was heavily backed. They opened at varying prices around +900 to take the AL East, again would have been a larger liability on them from the get-go and the payout at that price is substantial.”
Alek Manoah was in a similar spot as the emerging Yesavage is in now. In his first year with the Jays in 2021, Manoah went 9-2, then went 16-7 in 2022, was the young star on the rise, starting the AL All-Star game, finishing third in Cy Young voting.
Then came the Rogers Sportsnet hype machine – led by fawning feature stories and general rah-rahism. Pumping narratives to drive up the emotion dial to get asses into seats.
Yanks Betting Favourites in Game 3 Tomorrow
Manoah was the Jays’ opening day starter in 2023, then everything went off rails – by June a demotion to rookie-level ball to figure himself out, back to the big-league roster by July, then optioned to Triple A. And last season came to an abrupt end in June with season-ending elbow surgery.
I am not pointing to a hype machine swallowing up a young man as the reason for Manoah’s sudden dramatic decline. Manoah was released by the organization in September, surprising most people in the market, then picked up by the Braves. Something dramatic happened with Manoah in Toronto, for there to be that steep level of decline in such a short period of time.
Rodon Takes On Bieber in the Bronx
A hype machine like the one in Toronto, like we all saw last night, can’t be good for a young person, unless of course he is blessed with an inner circle that can keep him on the straight line.
Last night was about more than a win in an MLB baseball playoff series. There was jingoism at its most electric, a let’s-stick-it-to-a-U.S. under Trump, and the one pro sports organization that best represents America – the burly, big budget, brass balls New York Yankees.
Big liability for Canadian Sportsbooks
Seeing Yesavage, though, in the Jays’ dugout, surrounded by five PhDs in major league starting pitching, including one sure-fire Hall of Famer – Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman – gives me hope for him, that when the Rogers entertainment corporation beast comes calling, he’ll know how to manage it.
Fortunately for the Yankees, they won’t have to face the youngster again, but it doesn’t get any easier, either. The Blue Jays start Shane Bieber tomorrow night, up against the Yankees’ Carlos Rodon, is a former Cy Young Award winner, with the Guardians.
Still, this morning, money is going the Yankees’ way, according to ESPN BET, with the Yankees -150 on the moneyline, the Blue Jays +125. So far, 42.7% of bets and 55.3% of handle are on the Yankees ML, and 58.8% of bets and 54% of handle on Jays +1.5. The Jays now have the second-best World Series winner odds at ESPN BET, at +325, with the Dodgers at +250.
At DraftKings for Game 3 the Jays are at +122, the Yankees at -149.
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