ALDS Game 3 - Toronto Blue Jays @ New York Yankees Tuesday October 7, 2025, 8:08PM

[Boogie!]

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On Varland: I don't care what you say, I don't know anybody on this earth including Vladdy that's hitting that pitch out of the park, that was simply ridiculous. I tip my cap to him.

On Bieber: yes it was disappointing but let's be real, only 7 starts coming off TJ, I won't fault him for that. I would still bring him back next season.

This game was lost in those unforced errors. They gave them life when they were almost down. Can't do this in the postseason.

Agreed that was a tough pitch I was arguing with everyone all night I have no idea why people think it was varlands fault. If he hung a curveball that judge mashed I would be the first one to **** on him, but 99% of players don’t do anything with that pitch, they break their bat at best. Just a miraculous swing.

The real blunder was the barger error the play before would’ve been 2 out no one on…

Oh well that’s baseball we still have 3 more games to win the series. Let’s get it tonight.

Judge is and always will be in the 1% of players who can do something with that pitch, which is exactly why any 0-2 pitch needs to be somewhere he can’t hit it

Not a “bad” pitch by any kind of traditional standard but not good enough in the situation and the result shows that

Dog what are you talking about man. It was 100 mph and it wasn’t even a strike. It was so far inside. It was even more inside than the one Guerrero hit for a grand slam.

Swinging at that pitch was a bad idea and again 99% of people miss that or do absolutely nothing with it. Even judge misses that. He literally just swung and missed at a 100 mph down the middle the pitch prior. It was pure baseball wizardry. That **** was like a Hail Mary full court heave.

[Randle McMurphy]

Agreed that was a tough pitch I was arguing with everyone all night I have no idea why people think it was varlands fault. If he hung a curveball that judge mashed I would be the first one to **** on him, but 99% of players don’t do anything with that pitch, they break their bat at best. Just a miraculous swing.

The real blunder was the barger error the play before would’ve been 2 out no one on…

Oh well that’s baseball we still have 3 more games to win the series. Let’s get it tonight.

Judge is and always will be in the 1% of players who can do something with that pitch, which is exactly why any 0-2 pitch needs to be somewhere he can’t hit it

Not a “bad” pitch by any kind of traditional standard but not good enough in the situation and the result shows that

Dog what are you talking about man. It was 100 mph and it wasn’t even a strike. It was so far inside. It was even more inside than the one Guerrero hit for a grand slam.

100 MPH is irrelevant, Judge destroys velocity and always has.

If you're going to throw Judge a fastball in that spot on an 0-2 pitch, it has to be where he can't get his hands around it (ideally way up at his neck level). It doesn't matter if 99% of players can't get around on that ball. He can.

[Randle McMurphy]

There should have only been a few options to Judge in that spot given the count advantage. The best bet would have been to spike a curveball/slider and hope for a bad swing. Given the ultimate outcome, it's pretty clear Judge was looking inside so this was likely the choice that would have ended best if executed properly. Judge is good enough that he still may not the bait but you have to at least try.

The other option would be to go way upstairs with a fastball and try to get a bad swing that way. You again probably aren't likely to get that swing but we saw Yesavage strike Judge on a high fastball on Sunday.

Varland/Kirk apparently chose neither of those options. They went inside to try to jam him after he just missed a previous fastball. This was a strategy used by Bieber/Kirk earlier in the game when Bieber didn't get the ball in enough and Judge clobbered him for a double. So while Varland can't be accused of missing his spot like Bieber did, Judge was expecting them to attack him exactly the same way again and was ready for it.

It was a mistake in both pitch choice and pitch sequencing and one that probably wouldn't have mattered against any other hitter in the world because of where Varland threw it. He's that one guy that it did matter against though and that AB is a huge reason why this series is now likely heading 5.

[Parataxis]

Judge is and always will be in the 1% of players who can do something with that pitch, which is exactly why any 0-2 pitch needs to be somewhere he can’t hit it

Not a “bad” pitch by any kind of traditional standard but not good enough in the situation and the result shows that

Dog what are you talking about man. It was 100 mph and it wasn’t even a strike. It was so far inside. It was even more inside than the one Guerrero hit for a grand slam.

100 MPH is irrelevant, Judge destroys velocity and always has.

If you're going to throw Judge a fastball in that spot on an 0-2 pitch, it has to be where he can't get his hands around it (ideally way up at his neck level). It doesn't matter if 99% of players can't get around on that ball. He can.

Did you want Varland to throw the pitch behind Judge?

[Parataxis]

Whomst is making the Game 4 thread?

I would, but when the Jays win tonight, I won't be around to make the ALCS game 1, so that doesn't work.

[Randle McMurphy]

Dog what are you talking about man. It was 100 mph and it wasn’t even a strike. It was so far inside. It was even more inside than the one Guerrero hit for a grand slam.

100 MPH is irrelevant, Judge destroys velocity and always has.

If you're going to throw Judge a fastball in that spot on an 0-2 pitch, it has to be where he can't get his hands around it (ideally way up at his neck level). It doesn't matter if 99% of players can't get around on that ball. He can.

Did you want Varland to throw the pitch behind Judge?

If he's going to throw a fastball on a 0-2 count to the best fastball hitter on the planet, I want it to be in a place where he can't hit it.

That would have been acceptable, sure.

[JCP11]

100 MPH is irrelevant, Judge destroys velocity and always has.

If you're going to throw Judge a fastball in that spot on an 0-2 pitch, it has to be where he can't get his hands around it (ideally way up at his neck level). It doesn't matter if 99% of players can't get around on that ball. He can.

Did you want Varland to throw the pitch behind Judge?

If he's going to throw a fastball on a 0-2 count to the best fastball hitter on the planet, I want it to be in a place where he can't hit it.

That would have been acceptable, sure.

There's no point arguing this one man, statcast mentionned it was never done before. No human being should be able to do this. Don't blame Varland just tip your cap to Judge. For me it's all about the errors, if they don't make them they win the game. That's where the focus should be.

[Randle McMurphy]

Did you want Varland to throw the pitch behind Judge?

If he's going to throw a fastball on a 0-2 count to the best fastball hitter on the planet, I want it to be in a place where he can't hit it.

That would have been acceptable, sure.

There's no point arguing this one man, statcast mentionned it was never done before. No human being should be able to do this. Don't blame Varland just tip your cap to Judge. For me it's all about the errors, if they don't make them they win the game. That's where the focus should be.

Judge does things that have never been done before quite often. That's why he's a top 5 hitter to ever play the game and that's why you don't give him the opportunity to do one of those things in a 0-2 count with a playoff series on the line.

The mistake was not one of execution, but of pitch choice and sequencing. He doubled up with a fastball in a location that Judge was looking for and that was the end.

[WuTang_CMB]

Tough call looking back on pulling bieber a little later in the game. I get it on both angles since he wasn't great. Yankees have eaten up our bullpen in back to back games. Tonight is going to be a VERY tough task. Our bats need to carry us more than ever tonight and facing Schittler, that will be even more difficult

Bieber was looking absolutely terrible and we had a 6-3 lead that could end up being the best chance we ultimately had to win the series.

Schneider had to play to win that series right there in that moment with our high leverage guys and not think about today. It just unfortunately didn't work out.

Didnt have an issue with it. It was prob the right call in moment. Just our bullpen stunk.