It gets no better than this. Game 7 of the World Series. Enjoy with your friends here at CtPG.
World Series Game 7 Gamethread
128 Comments
Legend
3 days ago
I read IKF’s explanation about why he didn’t have a bigger lead and it makes some sense. They were overly worried about the runners getting doubled off like the night before. The coach told him not to take too big a lead so there’s your blame
Legend
3 days ago
I thought it was an odd substitution, taking out Bichette. Schneider did this in that 18-inning game and gutted his offense (Kirk, Bichette, Springer…). And it is not like IKF is Billy Hamilton.
Legend
3 days ago
Bichette has a bum knee. There was no way he’d score from second on a solid single. That is why he pulled him. Of course it comes back to haunt you if the game goes extras like it did …
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Legend
3 days ago
I understand it, but he was not at second
Legend
3 days ago
Well, but he was the potential winning run to win you the World Series.. It was the bottom of the 9th in a tie game and he was at 1st with one out. I think putting in the pinch runner was the right move. You have to go for the win right there….Unfortunately it did not work out for Schneider. …
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Super Member
3 days ago
I was so upset about the Dodgers winning that I kicked over my own empty trash can in my backyard.
That’ll teach the Blew Crew!!
Legend
3 days ago
I spent all day today screaming at clouds!
Legend
4 days ago
It is shocking to me that Vlad Jr. is after all these years and all this time STILL speaking Spanish in interviews and using an interpreter! He has been in the Major Leagues for 6 seasons, travelling to and from English speaking cities throughout the United States, while also living in the English speaking city of Toronto…
All this and also the fact that he grew up in Anaheim being exposed to the language for YEARS. How can he not know how to speak English fluently at this point ??? This is a key point and a huge difference between he and Shohei for instance… Shohei did not grow up in an English speking country, which is a huge deal.
His interview is in the middle of the clip below …
Clement, Springer and Guerrero Jr. react to World Series loss
Last edited 4 days ago by JackFrost
Legend
4 days ago
From AI:
“Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grew up in the Dominican Republic. He was born on March 16, 1999, in Montreal, Canada, while his father, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., played for the Montreal Expos, which makes him a Canadian citizen by birth. However, after his parents separated when he was very young, he moved with his mother, Riquelma Ramos, to Santiago in the Dominican Republic during his early childhood, where he spent most of his formative years and developed his baseball skills in a family steeped in the sport. He has often referred to the Dominican Republic as his home, including in recent interviews about his career with the Toronto Blue Jays, and his hometown is specifically noted as Don Gregorio there.”
Legend
4 days ago
Well, this may be true, however Vlad Jr. DID begin to spend significant time in Southern California when his dad Vlad signed with the Angels in 2004. So, he would have still only been 5 yrs old… not sure when he moved there permanently, but suffice to say he spent alot of time in the Anaheim area growing up.
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
Unless you’re a real wizard with languages, most folks are not going to become fluent on summer vacations to another country, especially in the company of an exclusively Spanish speaking father and grandmother. (And I’m speaking as a former linguistics student who studied nine languages, including Spanish and French.)
There’s no indication he ever went to school in the US, and his familial context was monolingual, so I don’t think it’s shocking that he prefers to speak in Spanish in interviews.
Legend
3 days ago
Kike Hernandez is astounding, to me, in that he speaks English and Spanish so easily. Gotta look up his background
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
Hernandez is from Puerto Rico and went to an American Academy in HS, the son of a bilingual baseball scout, so English immersion was part of his upbringing.
As someone who was a student of languages, and sent my own kids to language immersion schools, I know how difficult multilingual fluency is, especially if you weren’t consistently immersed as a child or early teen.
To JackFrost’s initial point (Shohei vs Vlad Jr), I’ve heard them both speak English, and Jr’s English seems much stronger to me. Shohei isn’t remotely fluent, and I’d question if he even has professional working proficiency at this point, though his comprehension seems to be increasingly improving.
Last edited 3 days ago by Turk's Teeth
Legend
3 days ago
Don’t know if it is true but I have heard that Shohei actually can speak English decently but chooses not to. Not sure why, maybe a way of honoring his very strong ties to Japan and perhaps an awareness of how important a figurehead he is to that country now? …. this would make sense to me.
In any case, it is fair to say that Vlad Jr. had a much earlier and more consistent exposure to English than Shohei did. This was just because he spent time here as a KID. Shohei did not. And to your point TT, you know that it is much easier for a kid to learn a foreign or second language by exposure and assimilation that a late teen or adult. Of course if Vlad Sr. and his son’s mother kept him (Junior) surrounded by Spanish speakers that would have impeded his developing the language naturally… that is likely what happened.
Young kids learn almost automatically and by osmosis… their nervous systems are wired this way…. it happens without effort. Just ask Chomsky about language acquisition in young children. He’ll back me up on that.
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
Unless you’re making an allusion to universal grammar (long out of fashion and on increasingly shaky ground as the field of neurolinguistics has expanded), you’ve lost me on the Chomsky reference.
While children learn languages with greater facility than adults in their 20s and beyond, it requires consistent patterning and reinforcement, and doesn’t just happen by ‘osmosis’ and casual contact. That’s why there is such vigorous debate around 90/10 vs 50/50 DLI models, with the former showing much more consistent success.
There’s no evidence that I’m aware of that Guerrero formally studied English in the DR (not terribly common) where he went to school. Meanwhile English is compulsory in typical Japanese instruction from elementary school on. So I think your premise that Vlad Jr had more consistent contact with English than Ohtani isn’t really correct either.
Jose Mota even has anecdotes about acting as interpreter for the Guerreros, who carried quite a clan with them, and provided a home away from home for many of the Latin players. In what contexts was Vlad the child consistently immersed in English in a largely monolingual family unit? Even Vlad the adult says he’s largely learned English from his daughter.
I think you may be just indulging in a little “tall poppy syndrome” here, where it’s not sufficient that the man be one of the most elite athletes in the world, as a Canadian-Dominican born in Francophone Quebec, he should also be comfortably trilingual – “shocking” if he weren’t.
Given your state of surprise that Vlad Jr still occasionally uses an interpreter in media interviews (though less than Ohtani does), I assume that you’re comfortably multilingual. But the bigger question is, why weren’t you also a five time All Star at age 26? 🙂
Legend
3 days ago
Ha. I never questioned his baseball skills…. But nice Strawman there anyways… As far as him being “immersed in English,” I never said that either. I did imply that he was exposed to the language, which he certainly was. To what degree is another question. I thought your argument about his dad and grandmother only speaking Spanish around him made sense, so I pulled back a bit on my original comments about his youth, but added that he has also had ample opportunity to pick up the language as an adult ( 6 years in the Major’s etc.)
I was not aware that English is compulsory for children in Japan. Is that both in the North and South and for small towns as well as larger ones? I know that in places likes Germany and Austria it is and kids start learning it around age 8 yrs old, which puts them in a good position for potential academic careers when they get to Gymnasium and beyond…
As for Chomsky I was talking about universal grammar in so far as the concept of innate faculties for language is concerned and how children have huge jumps in their abilities to use a language and essentially wake up one day with a mastery of syntax and really able to speak and use their native tongue (or language they have been exposed to) without what would seem like the required time to learn these skills. Chomsky has elaborated on this, and this idea is what I meant by “osmosis”, because exposure is still required.
As for me personally, even though I would not describe myself as “multi-lingual” I do know what it is like to live in a foreign country surrounded by a different language and culture and then struggle to learn that language and culture. So, I HAVE done that myself. I do speak a language other than just English. It was not easy but I made the effort, which is what it takes for an adult to do so (not so much with a young child as I have pointed out).
It would be hypocritical to question Vlad Jr for not doing something I had failed to do myself. And I might be alot of things, but a hypocrite is not one of them.
So yeah, I do expect that when people go to live in another country that they at least make an effort to learn that language. That does not mean I think they should give up their own culture… they can keep those things that are dear to them while still assimilating and respecting others by making that effort to communicate in the language of the place they live.
🙂
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Super Member
3 days ago
And here we thought you were just a lowly software guy.
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
My entry into a quarter century of software development culture was as a computational linguist. Useful when the ‘semantic web’ was in vogue during the first tech bubble. 😉
Super Member
3 days ago
“…computational linguist” don’t we have a site rule about only using low intellectual terms and words?
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
No, we actually keep a secret quota on triple entendres and labored rhetorical devices, and if you’re not meeting your quota, we quietly shadow ban your comments over time. That’s why gitch receives such a disproportionate pixel share in the daily threads.
Word up, 4ever!
Super Member
3 days ago
Okay, one demerit for the silent H word and two for the five-syllable word.
Legend
3 days ago
Even if we accept that his dad and grandmother only spoke Spanish around him (which I can believe, because I remember Vlad Senior preferring Spanish well into his Angels career) this still does not explain why he has not picked up English from playing in the Major Leagues for almost 6 full seasons !!
He has been surrounded by the language with his teammates, managers, clubhouse staff, etc. Not to mention the announcers, local tv, movies etc as well as most of the people he meets at restaurants and out and around Toronto. Now, granted, if he made a conscious decision to only go to Dominican restaurants and shop at Dominican grocery stores and really wrap himself in a cocoon of Spanish he could avoid learning English by osmosis… But this would take a real effort, like actively trying to AVOID learning it.. which was sort of my original point.
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
Dude, Vlad Jr conducts interviews in English all the time. Here he is just five days ago:
https://youtu.be/314cA9rNSYk?si=1Ywh3ZfuYY2wGWDW
This insistance that he can’t and won’t is bizarre. Again, this is some pretty fierce tall poppy syndrome at play.
There are other reasons than a lack of ability as to why he might be more comfortable speaking his native language in some media contexts:
https://x.com/hgomez27/status/1442862580561633283?t=HQByNir8k6s4ZS2z19oo1Q&s=19
I studied Mandarin for three years in college, and still avoid trying to regularly practice or speak it around native speakers due to frequent mistakes and social embarrassment. Seems very normal to me. But maybe a strong, unaccented multilingual like yourself has much higher expectations of others.
Last edited 3 days ago by Turk's Teeth
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
He actually has addressed this in the past.
Sporting News:
Vladimir Gurrero Jr. is a native Spanish speaker. He has tended to use an interpreter during press conferences — perhaps a response to the frenetic nature of pre- and postgame media scrums. But he has grown confident in his English, familiarizing himself with the language via conversations with his daughter.
“It’s hard, but my daughter has helped me a lot,” Guerrero Jr. told MLB.com in March 2025. “I only speak with her in English, so that’s why I’m getting better.”
Guerrero Jr. still uses an interpreter during pressers. But he has made an effort to handle one-on-one interviews in English. He also uses the language around the locker room — all part of his push to become Toronto’s foremost leader as it attempts to climb up MLB’s totem pole.
“I want to be more vocal. If you need me, I’m going to be right over there,” Guerrero Jr. said. “In the past, I didn’t like it because I didn’t like somebody laughing about my English, but now I can speak more English and I feel more comfortable speaking. It’s way better. I can communicate with everybody.”
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
But more to the point:
Legend
3 days ago
Why did you feel it was necessary to post the same video twice? You must be really emotionally invested in this.
Last edited 3 days ago by JackFrost
Trusted Member
3 days ago
says the guy who, unprompted, wrote 2 paragraphs on how he thinks Vladdy should not speak spanish 😂
Legend
3 days ago
Not the same as repeating the same thing over and over.
Trusted Member
3 days ago
right. one person sounds kinda dumb in their initial complaint (you), while the other responded to two separate comments with the same video (hardly a weird scenario on a blog with multiple conversations ongoing)
Legend
2 days ago
Lol. He spoke poor English in one interview and used a Spanish/English interpreter in the interview I posted. Not sure how that makes me look dumb, but knock yourself out …
Last edited 2 days ago by JackFrost
Trusted Member
2 days ago
you cried about Vlad Jr. only speaking spanish in interviews, which just isn’t true, as TT’s video shows. Ultimately though, who gives a shit about players using an interpreter for interviews? Just another ice cold take from JackFrost.
Legend
4 days ago
It’s good the season is over. Watching the Dodgers re-load during the winter will be difficult, but their prowess and our ineptitude has become an annual occurrence.
I can take solice that Betts’ decline is beginning to mirror MNT’s. It’ll be interesting to see if Friedman has an answer….
Legend
4 days ago
The Dodgers get one more gluttonous bite of the deferral apple this offseason, before the new CBA is negotiated. My guess that loophole will be closed or greatly curtailed.
Legend
4 days ago
This was a GREAT WS. I would have much more preferred the Jays to win but this was baseball in all its glory on display.
Super Member
4 days ago
I don’t think I’ve seen a pitching performance like Yamamoto’s since Randy Johnson in 2001. I despise the Evil Blue Empire, but they earned this one.
s
Legend
4 days ago
This Dodgers deferred team is going to be one of the reasons there will be a strike / lock out in 2027. Other teams owners are going to call bullshit on The Dodgers and their loophole, because their teams fans are going to grow disinterested if The Dodgers are just going to buy an All Star team every year.
Legend
4 days ago
Agree. And it is no smaIl detail that Yamamoto, who was the Dodgers $325 million dollar man/mercenary was the one who won the World Serie’s MVP, and whom without the Dodgers surely lose the series, probably in 5 games… Don’t tell me the Dodgers didn’t buy the Championship !
And for Ohtani, the undisputed GOAT; I am actually happy. He deserves all the praise that is heaped on him, and while he was with us he was a warrior, the perfect teammate, and never failed to give everything he had. I have nothing bad to say about him …. but Arte’s foolishness is highlighted and underlined by this back to back feat. He allowed the Dodgers to do this by delivering Shohei on a Silver Platter (Arte’s failure was the Billion Dollar Blue Boys’ golden opportunity) when Ohtani and his camp were open to a long extension earlier in his stay in Anaheim.
Suck it Arte — you are a fool.
Last edited 4 days ago by JackFrost
Super Member
4 days ago
Ohtani being open to a long term extension with the angels is just as believable as him not being a degenerate gambler.
Legend
4 days ago
I am mainly talking about earlier in his time with us. Arte could have gotten Shohei for an amazing bargain if he had had the foresight to do so in 2019 or 2020… But no, stingy Arte didn’t want to pay more than he had to, again pennywise but pound foolish…
I will also add that even at the end of 2023 Ohtani and his agent definitely reached out to Arte about signing him …. it was Arte who balked and cut off the talks, not Ohtani. Arte told Shohei’s camp, “He’s not worth $500 million dollars.” Really, Arte, is that so ???
I know this because I know someone who knows his agent Nez Balelo.
Last edited 4 days ago by JackFrost
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Great unknown info. Even with those contract talks, most know Ohtani was not going to resign. He already wanted to go Dodger and knew they had the revenue to fuel his recruitment plan for the best Japan players. All conversations or offers he had with Angels were all about image, not looking like a bad guy hopping over to the crosstown rival. Sounds like Arte was truly a fool, as if he was thinking Ohtani would be loyal to his home team like a Vlad, Witt, or Judge and just resign.
Legend
4 days ago
The people who liked your post are wrong.
Super Member
4 days ago
lmfao what a weird thing to say about the three lucid geniuses who liked my comment.
Legend
4 days ago
Copy that. Shohei is always “betting” on himself and his abilities. In no way was he going to sign a long term extension in his early years with the Angels before his FA date.
Legend
4 days ago
Genuinely afraid to “like” this comment. It made me laugh anyway.
Super Member
3 days ago
Say what you want about me, but if anyone attacks fans who enjoy my comments , i will show no mercy.
Legend
4 days ago
Arte could have at least traded Ohtani to an east coast team and loaded up the major league and minor league depth. Instead we are left with a quickly evaporating puddle of meh.
Legend
4 days ago
Yes, this is yet another angle of how Arte failed miserably. If he knew he had no plans to pay Shohei what he was worth he could have at least made it impossible for his chief geographical rival for fan dollars/revenues to snatch him up.
All of this makes Arte look very, very bad.
Legend
4 days ago
Yamamoto MVP
Legend
4 days ago
How close, Dodgers out scored by one.
Legend
4 days ago
What an edge of your sir World Series. Congratulations to the Dodgers and Blue Jays for a great series. SoCal gets to hold the trophy 2 years in a row since ’65 & ’66. 😍
Trusted Member
4 days ago
So upset can’t eat or sleep, only drink. Jays played tough and had chances, in the end it wasn’t enough to against the best $$ team. Man, Varsho is sht at hitting, glad he at least has a gold glove. Jays went against 4 aces tonight and a hitting lineup where everyone has power (except Rojas), can’t pitch around everyone, hence 3 bombs. I was hoping this series would be the hiccup to Dodgers Ohtani/Defer/$$ dynasty but not so. Dodgers will keep stacking rings and be here next WS, who in the NL can beat them in a playoff series.
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Any playoff team can beat the Dodgers in a playoff series.
It took a lot of talent, and a fair amount of luck, to beat the Blue Jays (Rojas hitting a HR; Pages making that incredible catch; 18 innings; etc.).
You just need pitchers and hitters to get hot at the moment. No team has been able to do that in 2024 and 2025. But 2026 could be different.
And, you never know what injuries could befall Dodgers pitchers. Pitching all these extra innings in the playoffs takes its toll on an arm.
Trusted Member
4 days ago
True, any team can get hot, like the Angels did against them this year. Dodgers pitching can have injuries, but wasn’t that the case the year before and they still won it with bullpen arms starting against Padres and Yanks. Then they added Snell. Conforto a bust, so deep they didn’t need him, and most likely replace him paying Tucker, or even Schwarber if he’s willing to defer. Because of Ohtani, they get first dibs on top import Murakami. Dodger fans spend offseason flexing and saying “It keeps getting better!” For Angels fans we get a big question mark; are we going to spend money, does any good free agent even want to come here, can any of the young prospects turn MLB ready.?
Trusted Member
3 days ago
For 2026, I would like us to play the rookies, and to play the 2nd-3rd year players more often (Moore, etc.,).
While the Blue Jays may have gone from last place in 2024, to World Series in 2025, I do not see Angels doing this in 2026.
We do not have the talent they have (Blue Jays hitters in 2024 who came back in 2025 include: Kirk, Guerrero, Bichette, Kiner-Falefa, Varsho, Springer, Barger, Clement)
Might as well make the most of a not-so-good situation in 2026 by letting the youngsters play most of the season.
Don’t go adding Michael Conforto, Nick Castellanos, DJ LaMahieu.
Author
Legend
4 days ago
Incredible Series.
Hats off to the Dodgers. They were the better team.
The threw out at home by Rojas was so critical.
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Jays deserve to lose. So many wasted opportunities.
Congrats to Ohtani but FUCK the Dodgers!
Editor
Super Member
4 days ago
Best world series I’ve watched – either team could have won a dozen times. So many uncanny and close plays, so many unlikely heroes.
Had no emotional investment in either club, but as a baseball fan, that was incredible ball.
Super Member
4 days ago
I felt the same thing. The tension and energy just never let up. Even in the blow outs. Just so exciting. It was crazy. The 18 inning game was the best game I’ve ever watched. The Series was a classic.
Super Member
4 days ago
One of the better ones, but in my book, 2001 and 1975 were better. Those two WS also had 7 games, a bunch of HOF players and extra innning games.
so my ranks is 2001, 2002, 1975, 1968, 2025.
Legend
4 days ago
Interesting order. Being an Angels fan, I have to go with a list similar, 2002, 2025, 1975, 1967 (I pulled for Boston, a last to first thing and 2 CY and 2 MVP and Gibson dominance), 1968, 1988 (Gibson vs Eck), 1991, 1992, 1993. 1963 (Koufax vs Mantle), 1981 (Steinbrenner elevator thing.) But it is fun looking back, thanx for making me remember your choices.
Editor
Super Member
3 days ago
Was a toddler in 1975, so can’t say I experienced that one. And while 2002 was terrific for Angels fans, not sure it had the relentless tension of this year.
2001 was definitely a remarkable series though.
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Hands down the best players.
Super Member
4 days ago
They defeated the Jays in 7 games and won game 7 by one run in extra innings. They were behind the entire game until the 8th inning and were actually very fortunate to win. The Jays actually looked like the better team to me. The Jays are not spending quite as much as the Dodgers but they are still spending a considerable amount behind only the Mets, Dodgers, Phillies, and Yankees. The Dodgers are still spending considerably more than anyone else. The Jays are spending about 50-60M more than the Angels. It says a lot about who we’re paying.
Trusted Member
4 days ago
How can you celebrate winning when you have the best team far and above everyone else.
Legend
4 days ago
Hmm, loud! 🏆 💍 Very close World Series maybe ever.
Super Member
4 days ago
isnt that the point?
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Why even play just see who can buy the best players
Trusted Member
4 days ago
Money talks bullshit walks
Trusted Member
4 days ago
I predict 7 deaths tonight. 1 for each game of the Worst Series
Trusted Member
4 days ago
What a perfect “Behind the Orange Curtain” comment.
Wishing death on families just because you’re butt-hurt that the mean Dodgers won and feel the need to make some sort of edgy and alt snarky comment.
Legend
4 days ago
ANGELS WENT 6-0 against these clowns!
Super Member
4 days ago
Very sorry for those of you that don’t like the Dodgers. Let the IIWPM columns begin. This is the beginning of 2026.
Legend
4 days ago
only about 99% of us.
Legend
4 days ago
twas a great series, though. Great one.
