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What lies in wait for the Blue Jays in Game 6 against the Dodgers · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Well, our next guest knows what it's like to cover
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  Speaker 1: a team that wins the World Series. He has been
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  Speaker 1: watching the La Dodgers for twelve years. Michael Duarte is
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  Speaker 1: a sports reporter for NBC Los Angeles. He is in
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  Speaker 1: Toronto to get ready for Game six and Michael, what
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  Speaker 1: are you expecting in tomorrow's game?
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  Speaker 2: And Well, the first thing I'm expecting is similar to
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  Speaker 2: a pressure cooker with the lid on top. This is
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  Speaker 2: thirty two years in the making for Blue Jays fans,
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  Speaker 2: and now they have a chance, going back to Rogers Center,
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  Speaker 2: where the atmosphere is absolutely electric, to just win one
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  Speaker 2: game out of two and win their first championship in
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  Speaker 2: thirty two years.
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  Speaker 3: Now, it's not going to be an easy feat.
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  Speaker 2: As your last guest just mentioned, Yoshinob Yamamoto, as you said,
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  Speaker 2: arguably the best starting pitcher in the entire postseason back
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  Speaker 2: to back complete game something that hasn't happened in Dodgers
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  Speaker 2: franchise history since nineteen eighty eight when Oral Herscheizer did it.
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  Speaker 2: And a quick fun fact for you, ian it two
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  Speaker 2: years ago in twenty twenty three, when Yamamoto was in Japan,
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  Speaker 2: he was facing a very similar situation his ORX Buffaloes
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  Speaker 2: were in the Japanese World Series. They were down three
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  Speaker 2: to two on the road. He pitched a complete game,
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty eight pitch shutout, fourteen strikeouts, a
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  Speaker 2: record to send his team to Game seven.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, he is a machine.
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  Speaker 1: And he was so fantastic in his previous start in
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  Speaker 1: the World Series and the start before then. And so
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  Speaker 1: I ask you this question, not as a fan, you're
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  Speaker 1: a journalist to sports journalists who's based in Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 1: Are you expecting him to have that kind of dominant
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  Speaker 1: performance again tomorrow?
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  Speaker 3: I am?
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  Speaker 2: I am, And that's just because he's one of the
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  Speaker 2: best pitchers I've seen as far as his preparation, his
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  Speaker 2: work ethic. He has a six pitch mix, so he
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  Speaker 2: can keep you off balance. It's not just the splitter,
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  Speaker 2: as someone mentioned, which is one of his best pitches.
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  Speaker 2: He can he can manipulate the ball and have it
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  Speaker 2: move to wrightys inside at you, he can move it
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  Speaker 2: away from you, and he can do that with both
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  Speaker 2: hitters and work both sides of the plate. He's been
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  Speaker 2: nothing but masterful when his team needs him the most.
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  Speaker 2: So if you're the Dodgers, who've just absolutely been struggling
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  Speaker 2: on offense since that Eighteenning Marathon game. In Game three
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  Speaker 2: which depleted everybody, even me, I'll admit ian, it was
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  Speaker 2: exhausting after that.
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  Speaker 3: It was a doubleheader in one game.
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  Speaker 2: But if they can have any confidence going into Game
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  Speaker 2: six tomorrow, it's that the best pitcher they could possibly
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  Speaker 2: have is on the mound for them. And once you
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  Speaker 2: get to a game seven, you know, anything can happen.
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  Speaker 2: It's all hands on deck.
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  Speaker 1: This was supposed to be and I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: this was the narrative in La. It certainly was in
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  Speaker 1: Canada a David and Goliath World Series with La as
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  Speaker 1: the goliath, all the future Hall of famers on that team,
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  Speaker 1: arguably the best player in all of baseball, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: starting pitching, which was amazing, hitting that was amazing. It
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  Speaker 1: hasn't turned into a and Goliath battle. Why is that?
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  Speaker 3: Do you think? That's a great question.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we were expecting almost a coronation of the
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  Speaker 2: Dodgers to be the next dynasty in baseball, the first
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  Speaker 2: team to go back to back since the New York
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  Speaker 2: Yankees from ninety eight to two thousand and it hasn't
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  Speaker 2: gone as smoothly yet the series is not over. It
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  Speaker 2: feels like a giant pendulum swinging back and forth. The
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  Speaker 2: Blue Jays win the first one in dominant fashion, the
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  Speaker 2: Dodgers take the next two, and now the Blue Jays
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  Speaker 2: have won the next two behind amazing starting pitching from
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  Speaker 2: Shane Bieber and trey Ya Savitch, as you mentioned, who
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  Speaker 2: just threw a masterpiece in Game five with twelve strikeouts,
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  Speaker 2: breaking an almost eighty year record held by former Dodger
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  Speaker 2: Don nukamb. I might add, so it's been the narrative
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  Speaker 2: that the starting pitching edge was supposed to go to
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  Speaker 2: Los Angeles, but it's been the Blue Jays starting pitching
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  Speaker 2: that has shined on the game's brightest stage right now. Ian,
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  Speaker 2: and I think the Dodgers' offense is a little lost.
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  Speaker 2: I think maybe getting away from home, where you have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of pressure on you to win and the
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  Speaker 2: fans are there and you can be a little bit
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  Speaker 2: more reactionary and relaxed at Rogers Center should help them.
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  Speaker 2: In Game six, and they're facing a familiar foe and
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  Speaker 2: Kevin Gosman, someone who they knew when he was with
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  Speaker 2: the Giants, but as you said this was billed as
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  Speaker 2: a David versus Goliath matchup. I like to think of
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  Speaker 2: it as reading an old book.
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  Speaker 3: Right. The first few pages are very familiar to you.
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  Speaker 2: You think you know the storyline, and then all of
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  Speaker 2: a sudden, the plot thickens, the plot deepens, and you
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  Speaker 2: get hooked into that book and you keep going. That's
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  Speaker 2: what we have as this world series continues to get
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  Speaker 2: deeper and deeper.
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  Speaker 1: One last question for you, and again really interested in
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  Speaker 1: hearing your perspective as an LA based sports reporter. You
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  Speaker 1: have on this Dodgers team not only a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people with collectively a lot of World Series rings, but
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  Speaker 1: also some true leaders, people who it looks to me
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  Speaker 1: watching on television that they are poised.
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  Speaker 3: They don't look lost up there.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there are a couple of exceptions, but for
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  Speaker 1: the most part, the superstars look poised up there. Is
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  Speaker 1: that the sense you get when you watch them a
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  Speaker 1: batting practice and when you walk into the news conferences,
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  Speaker 1: that this is a confident team that knows what it takes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what was interesting was in the locker
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  Speaker 2: room last night after that six to one loss in
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  Speaker 2: Game five. Now, not an ideal situation heading to hostile
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  Speaker 2: territory at the Rogers Center, down three to two, needing
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  Speaker 2: to win both games in order to go back to back.
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  Speaker 2: Mookie Betts told me they can draw upon the experience
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  Speaker 2: from last season, and they faced the same situation in
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  Speaker 2: the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, who, off the record,
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  Speaker 2: the entire team told me that was the best team
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  Speaker 2: they faced throughout the entirety of the playoffs.
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  Speaker 3: Last year.
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  Speaker 2: They were down two games to one in San Diego
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  Speaker 2: Petco Park, a hostile environment, they had no starting pitcher.
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  Speaker 2: They threw a bullpen game, no Freddie Freeman, no Miguil Rojas.
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  Speaker 2: They won that game big and blowout fashion, eight to nothing,
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  Speaker 2: and then they went on to win the do or
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  Speaker 2: Die elimination with Yamamoto on the mound. I might add,
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  Speaker 2: so they can draw upon that experience. This is a
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  Speaker 2: veteran team. They're not going to shy away from the
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  Speaker 2: moment or make this too big at the Rogers Center,
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  Speaker 2: no matter how rocking that place is going to get,
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  Speaker 2: how loud it gets, or how electric this team is poised.
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  Speaker 2: They're full of veterans. Maybe that's why they're so tired
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  Speaker 2: as this series went on, but I think they're going
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  Speaker 2: to be ready to go, and I think this day
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  Speaker 2: off of rest might help them offensively as well.
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  Speaker 1: This may be the slimmest of all three games to
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  Speaker 1: two margins in a series. Michael Artey, sports reporter for
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  Speaker 1: NBC Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I m