Big Game George Springer, Drake Maye's MVP candidacy, Marchand's return

Tuesday 10/21/25

I stayed up to watch all of the Blue Jays-Mariners Game 7 ALCS game last night (then was back at it by four), which the Jays took 3-1 thanks to a three-run seventh inning homer by George Springer. He's always been excellent in the postseason and is still delivering the biggest of hits like that in his age thirty-five season. Impressive.

I wouldn't say that the Mariners choked in this series despite losing after taking the first two games on the road in Toronto. Then they had the next three at home, and the Jays would have to win four out of five overall to advance. That's a tall order, and often you'll need the team with that early lead to mess up somewhere, but I think these were just two very evenly matched teams and it was going to shake out along these lines ultimately, however it got there.

The Mariners seemed like they were in command for most of last night's game. I figured the Jays were either going to get the big blast or they weren't, and if they didn't they'd lose, but then Springer did his thing. The Mariners still had two cracks at it, but I didn't feel like their at-bats were all that competitive. In the ninth, for instance, their three batters punched out, and the last two batters did so by swinging at what would have been ball four. The pitcher wasn't that sharp, and they made it easier for him.

Interesting that Cal Raleigh's last at-bat of the 20025 season resulted in a home run. He would have batted in that final frame if anyone had reached base. Having hit so many home runs seemingly on demand this year, he might have dialed up one of those historic moments.

Credit where credit is due: Drake Maye is the frontrunner for NFL MVP at present. He's been the most impactful player for his team. His thing of late has been efficiency--super high completion rate over not that many passes thrown. What you want to see at some point is the 34-48 for 360 yards stat line where he leads his team back from double digits late. He's the main reason the Patriots are 5-2 and single-handedly won them a couple of those games.

You see some passes from him that most quarterbacks can't do or would only hit rarely. There was one on Sunday against the Titans where the Patriots were backed up on their side of the field, and Maye dropped the ball over the receiver's shoulder right in front of the sideline in this tight window with tight courage. And it wasn't some huge gain, either. It was in his intermediate arsenal, a play you could call as if that was someone else's regular type of throw.

He's having games where he picks up fifty or sixty yards on the ground, too, and that's a big number from a quarterback, especially a quarterback whose primary thing is throwing. Mahomes and Allen are the two best examples of this style; they make the running feel incidental, which I think is the best way for a quarterback to run, and not the Lamar Jackson way where you're looking to.

Jackson's game breaks down too easily and becomes playground ball, and I think it's very hard to win the biggest games playing quarterback that way. I don't expect Jackson to ever lead a team to a championship. Then again, Allen may need to get this done sooner. One day you're in your age-thirty four season and you still haven't won a Super Bowl. It happens fast and he's getting there. Connor McDavid is getting there in the NHL. I view his case in particular as a developing story.

But back to Maye. I worry about him getting hurt. He hasn't figured out running like Mahomes and Allen did. He may soon. He's definitely figuring out important things fast. But you break something, you start with the concussions, and before you know it, you're having Joe Burrows' career where sometimes you're there, but just as it often, it seems, you're not. Or more often. It feels that way either way because your health isn't reliable. You don't want a quarterback to run, so much as scamper. That is, a play breaks down, and he scampers towards the sidelines on an angle, and with his foot speed and the defense in disarray, he picks up eight, ten, eleven yards and pops out of bounds without being popped.

The other big factor is Mike Vrabel, and Josh McDaniels, too, one supposes. I think Vrabel is a limited coach. He's going to do whatever the analytics people tell him to do--their numbers form the basis for his decisions--and I don't see him masterminding an ingenious game plan, but he can help put a train on the tracks with his program or whatever you want to call it. A plan, some organization.

Jerod Mayo couldn't last year--the train was on its side in a gully. And in today's NFL, I think if you put the train on the tracks and you have the quarterback, everyone else is so bad or mediocre and poorly run, that you can win games even if your roster isn't anything special or blah. A few guys will step up as the team gets going and belief sets in, or have rebirths to a degree if their career had stalled or dipped.

McDaniels won't mess up a quarterback and I think the Patriots had people in that role who did. Including Bill O'Brien, who I don't think is competent or knowledgeable. I never did, and after seeing him at Boston College, it's hard for me not to think he's a charlatan who's been undeservedly elevated in rank and reputation for many years.

I'm a little off-topic here, but BC is crushed in the second half of every game. They'll have the lead or be in at the end of the first half, but then they won't even score in the second. I don't believe O'Brien has the coaching ability to make the necessary adjustments. You wouldn't want him working with Drake Maye because O'Brien makes things worse. McDaniel, though, won't get in a developing quarterback's way, and he can help him. I'm sure some require more than others, and it's a matter of guidance with Maye rather than hardcore molding.

Having started 3-0, the Bruins are now 3-4. Going to be a long year. Saw someone post on a Bruins discussion board yesterday that Charlie McAvoy is a top 15-20 defenseman in the league. Then dozens of other people agreed. Sure he is. You keep telling yourself that.

Brad Marchand makes his return to Boston tonight. He was a bad captain, he shouldn't have been the Bruins' captain, he shouldn't be any team's captain, but at least he got it right about Jeremy Swayman.