Dave Stewart warns Dodgers fans on betting against relentless Toronto Blue Jays
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com/
Dave Stewart is the pitcher who worked a World Series for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
More importantly, the Oakland A's great has lived on both sides of a World Series mood swings.
If you're already penciling in an easy World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Stewart has a stern warning.
His rule hasn't changed. He shared it Wednesday morning on MLB Network's MLB Now.
"It's one of the best kept secrets..."
Dave Stewart reflects on his time with the Blue Jays and love for Toronto.
Dave Stewart reflects on his time with the Blue Jays and love for Toronto.
Stewart doesn't buy into the 'super team' concept in October
«I don't buy into the super team it only takes one or two guys a pitcher that gets hot, [and] hitters that get hot. That's the team that's going to win this thing.»
Why Dave Stewart chose the Toronto Blue Jays
Stewart didn't leave Oakland lightly. «I wanted to be an A for the rest of my life I grew up in Oakland,» he said.
Free agency pulled him into a real choice: «It was going to come down to the Yankees or the Blue Jays.»
Toronto won on relationships and fit. «Pat Gillick said, 'If we don't bring Jimmy Key back, you're going to be the first call.' Paul Molitor had already signed Joe Carter was a person that I had always wanted to play with and you had Jack Morris in that rotation.»
The sell wasn't just the roster; it was the manager.
«Cito Gaston is the ultimate player manager,» Stewart said. And the clubhouse ran like a traveling masterclass. «Paul and Oly and Joe and Robbie [would] sit at the front of the dugout and watch pitchers in their warm-ups and just really focus little things that they could pick up These guys were the ultimate teammates it was a learning experience every game.»
He still stumps for the city that adopted him. «Toronto is one of the best kept secrets Beautiful people, great restaurants, clean city and now they're a great baseball town.»
Stewarts warning to Dodgers fans has a lot of merit, history tends to repeat itself
Stewart's Oakland years are the caution sign for anybody throwing around «wipe them out» talk. «Quite frankly 88, 89 and 90, I believe we were favorites in all of them,» he said.
The lesson: the favorites don't always cash. «In '88 it was [Orel] Hershiser [and] a guy on one leg hits a walk-off.
In 1990 we came up against the Nasty Boys and there was a young man named Hatcher there that was hot seemed like he came up in the right situation at the right time.» Result: «They beat us four games to none.»
Strip the posters and the odds. «I throw all of the super team stuff out of the window when we get to the World Series,» Stewart said.
What wins is boring and repeatable: «Pitching and defense the team that makes the fewest mistakes executes the best on the mound.»
He also flagged one modern wrinkle that always sneaks up on favorites: «You got to be cautious right now.
The Dodgers have been off for a long time Position players hate long periods of time away from live at-bats I think that may play a factor.»
Translation for the next 48 hours: if one side gets a starter on a heater, a role player cashing traffic, and clean 27-out baseball-twice before the series flips-the «on paper» winner doesn't matter.
The resume backs the warning. Stewart worked 133 postseason innings across 18 starts with a 2.84 ERA, and stacked classic duels (Roger Clemens, Jack Morris, Bruce Hurst) without blinking.
He broke in with the Dodgers as a reliever on the 1981 title team, carried ace weight in three straight World Series with the Oakland Athletics, and started Games 2 and 6 for the Blue Jays in 1993 before Joe Carter ended it.
That's a man who knows how quickly October flips.
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