Passion MLB – The Podcast, Episode 114

Félix Forget and Charles-Alexis Brisebois discussed the Blue Jays’ offensive resurgence, the All-Star Game, and Justin Verlander’s career.
Enjoy the show.We'd like to remind you that anyone who wants to listen to us live can do so every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Facebook, X, and YouTube. We record live to answer everyone's questions.
However, those who prefer to listen in a more traditional podcast format can also do so at any time on all major podcast platforms.Spotify
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A few days ago, the Senators surprised everyone by trading Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.
Tkachuk, who will be joining his brother, followed in his footsteps by leaving Canada for Florida.
Since then, there's been a lot of grumbling in Ottawa—and for good reason. The Ottawa Titans, the Frontier League baseball team, have offered fans a trade: their Tkachuk jersey in exchange for the team's No. 7 jersey, worn by AJ Wright. This was reported by Radio-Canada.About 50 Brady Tkachuk fan

Pictures of the Rays’ stadium
The plans are magnificent.
The Rays have released new images of their future $2.3 billion ballpark.
It will feature a first-of-its-kind transparent roof. pic.twitter.com/VUHGWoECZs
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 9, 2026
The end of an era
Who will reach 300 wins as a pitcher now?
As Justin Verlander gives up the chase, the 300-Win Club seems closed forever https://t.co/foxZtaM5Nf
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) July 9, 2026
Jordan Walker at the hom

This one goes out to our site manager, Emily, who I’m sure has already seen these photos of Melanie C aka Sporty Spice, in London tonight at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards looking healthy and happy and fit as f-ck forever.
Which she humble-flexed herself with her latest IG post, throwing it back to 1996 while showing off what she’s still doing in 2026 and, seriously, you can’t tell the difference.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Melanie C (@melaniecmus

One of the major issues in sports is undoubtedly the absence of Russian athletes. It's understandable why they were suspended, but at the same time, it's not fair to the Russian athletes, who didn't ask for any of this.
It's not their fault that their president is crazy. Anyway, the U.S. president is also crazy, and his athletes can still compete internationally…
But now, more than ever, Russia's return to the international stage is approaching (the International Olympic Committee has, in

The heat has been an issue during Paris Fashion Week but here’s a heat story that has nothing to do with climate change and everything to do with gossip… good gossip.The gossip that’s been lighting up so many timelines and algorithms has to do with Cardi B at PFW and it’s actually overshadowing the outfits – even though the outfits have been so good! Like this crazy Robert Wun look. The silhouette is insane, the material is incredible.View this post on InstagramA p

Dylan Larkin has asked to be traded.
The Red Wings captain wants to play for a team that has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup because he's sick of losing.
We're talking about a 29-year-old who has played a total of… five playoff games since the start of his career.
The problem?
Larkin provided a list of teams he'd like to play for, but the list was short. It included only the Panthers, the Wild, and the Golden Knights… but now we can add the Stars to that list.
Greg Wyshynski (ESP

It's no secret: relations between Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor are strained. And that's true no matter what Soto wants us to believe on the subject.
Does this remind you of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez back in their Yankees days? It seems like I'm starting to draw parallels… #NewYork
The difference? They aren't both shortstops… and I can't really see them hosting a TV show together 20 years from now.But then again, let's be honest—we didn't think Jeter and A-Rod would be

Jessica Williams spoke about her love for reality TV with Michelle Obama and points are made, both about the role shows like Real Housewives play in pop culture and from Michelle’s point of view, how reality TV compares to sports as entertainment.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama)
Happy Birthday Billy Crudup do you remember when you left pregnant Mary Louise Parker for Claire Danes.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Naomi Watts (@naomiwatts

Zachary Bolduc doesn’t have a contract lined up for next season.
But that could change, as he mentioned this morning at the Celebrity Open in Lévis.
Kevin Dubé (Journal de Québec) met with him, and the Canadiens player confirmed one thing: he'd like to have a long-term contract.
Except… Bolduc makes no secret of the fact that the financial aspect is important to him, too.
At 23, he's looking for a way to secure his financial future, and the best way to do that i

Statistically speaking, we're halfway through the 2026 Major League Baseball season. However, the All-Star Game is considered the unofficial midseason break.
And with just a few days to go before the All-Star Game, now is the perfect time to look back on the first half of this season by examining the biggest disappointments of the past few months in MLB.
First things first, let's start with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. With a $500 million contract in hand, Vladdy is going through the worst stretch of h

We were all waiting to see how that matter would turn out.
Now we have the answer.
The Ducks have finally decided to match the Flyers' hostile offer sheet for Leo Carlsson. Remember, we're talking about a five-year contract that will pay the Swede $18 million per season…The Ducks have matched the Leo Carlsson offer sheet
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 9, 2026In a statement, the Ducks' owners (Henry and Susan Samueli) said they were thrilled with Pat Verbeek's decision.
But

The trend is Canadian authors and their books being adapted into successful streaming series. It hasn’t even been a year and already there are three high-profile shows that have taken up a lot of cultural space. Of course the loudest among them is Heated Rivalry, which premiered last November on Crave and then HBO in the US, based on Rachel Reid’s books. Filming for season two starts very soon. Then this summer it was Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus on Prime, with production already

Mike Commodore isn’t one to mince words.
And that's nothing new.
The former NHL defenseman was known as a player who ruffled feathers on the ice. And even though he's 46 now, that doesn't seem to have changed…
On X, Commodore posted something last night that's got people talking. He says he received a “threatening” email from the Oilers… and I think I might know the reason behind it all.Evening, folks… hey @EdmontonOilers… thanks for the threatening

With just a few weeks to go before the start of the new NFL season, the Green Bay Packers are raising questions following the release of several rankings highlighting the league's top talent.Despite a team in the midst of a rebuild and a core of promising young players, the franchise is struggling to gain individual recognition.
According to a recent ranking published by CBS Sports, only two Packers players are among the top 100 players in the NFL. This result stands in contrast to that of sever

Martin St-Louis will have a new assistant coach behind the Canadiens’ bench next season: Derek Lalonde.
Lalonde will replace Trevor Letowski, whose contract expired on July 1.
The Habs are expected to make the announcement in the coming hours. Officially, the organization will say that Trevor Letowski wanted to spend more time with his family and that a hiring process began once Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton learned of Letowski's intention.
Is that really what happened? Honestly, I don't kno

If you gather together all the rumours about Jack Antonoff, the reputational portrait that can be pieced together by Lena Dunham’s anecdotes and, of course, the social media projections that have infested our timelines, Taylor Swift’s “tolerate it” from the evermore album might work as the soundtrack for Margaret Qualley’s decision to leave.This is conjecture. What’s confirmed is that Margaret and Jack are indeed separated. Shortly after my post about the onli

As a sign that the 2026 Major League Baseball season has already passed the halfway mark, we're just a few days away from the MLB All-Star Game.
So without further ado, here's the latest edition of Passion MLB's power rankings. Last week's rankings are shown in parentheses.
1 – Los Angeles Dodgers (1)
2 – Milwaukee Brewers (2)
3 – Atlanta Braves (3)
4 – Tampa Bay Rays (4)
5 – Chicago Cubs (7)
6 – Philadelphia Phillies (5)
7 – New York Yankees (6)
He's th

The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup a few weeks ago.
And as usual, members of the organization had their names engraved on the coveted trophy, which is always special.
Because it's true that it must be pretty crazy, having your name engraved on the Stanley Cup…
But this year, the whole thing is causing a stir for… different reasons.
In fact, Tom Dundon, the team's owner, also decided to have his family's names (his wife and children) engraved on the Stanley Cup… and let's jus

We continue toward the “Dunesday” apocalypse absolutely no one asked for, with Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday opening on the same day in December. I feel intense dread about this. You know me, I want to check the f-ck out in December, not deal with two of the biggest movies of the year at the same damn time. Alas. Between the two of them, I am more excited for Dune: Part Three, which isn’t saying the most because I am fairly neutral on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune fra

One of the most formidable defensive players in the history of the Canadian Football League (CFL) will soon receive one of the sport's most prestigious honors.
Charleston Hughes will be officially inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame at a ceremony scheduled for September 17, 2026, honoring a career marked by consistency, records, and success.
The announcement was made in a very special way. It was his former teammate—now head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders—Corey Ma

Dear Gossips,It won’t just be Madonna, Shakira, BTS, and Justin Bieber on stage for the first-ever FIFA World Cup halftime show. They will also be joined by Burna Boy, Gustavo Dudamel, the PS 22 Chorus featuring Coldplay …and the Muppets. Also the performance is supposed to be a mere 11 minutes. Which is why the immediate reaction after the announcement yesterday was… howww? But also it might explain why BTS doesn’t need that much rehearsal time since they’re on t

‘Play loud, Celebrate proud — Together We Are Stronger’ is the tagline for the 2026 Vancouver Carnaval del Sol. But anyone who has attended Latincouver’s annual celebration of the city’s vibrant Latin American communities knows there should be on more part to that slogan:‘Come hungry.’From July 10 to 12, the familiar green space at Jonathan Rogers Park will transform into a multicultural summer fiesta with music from across the Caribbean, Central, North

Brandon Aiyuk’s future in the NFL seems increasingly uncertain.While several observers are speculating about the possibility of him leaving the San Francisco 49ers, the star wide receiver has been posting a string of controversial messages on social media—a behavior that could put off several teams, including the Washington Commanders.
For several weeks now, the 28-year-old has been making a series of scathing statements on Instagram. In particular, he has lashed out at his current t

Last night, Eric Engels announced that Derek Lalonde had been hired as Martin St-Louis's assistant.
This wasn't news we were expecting, given that we didn't really know Trevor Letowski was going to step down from his position to spend more time with his family.
It surprised a lot of people, of course. But the addition of an experienced coach is not to be underestimated with the Habs.
The question is, what does this mean for the rest of the Canadiens' coaching staff in terms of their contracts mo

Summer is now truly here, thanks to the mild weather we've had over the past few days, and our sport is the big winner when it comes to this factor, which is so important for its smooth operation.
So let's start with some news from the Bas-Saint-Laurent region in the Puribec League. As a reminder, this league has been providing quality baseball to the region's residents since 1978. With the season already halfway through, the Kamouraska and Rivière-du-Loup teams are standing out at the to

Yesterday, the Utah Mammoth announced that Barrett Hayton would remain in Salt Lake City for the upcoming season. The Western Conference team matched the Devils' hostile offer.
And of course, on the other side, we're also waiting to see if the Ducks will choose to keep Leo Carlsson at $18 million per season, following the Flyers' hostile offer.
The answer will come tomorrow, at the latest.
The fact that hostile bids are becoming commonplace (not to mention the threats of hostile bids that shake

When it comes to teams with a unclear direction, the Pittsburgh Penguins have to be at the top of the list. For several years now, we've been waiting for the much-talked-about rebuild, but it never seems to happen.Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang aren't getting any younger and can no longer carry the team on their own. This year, despite making the playoffs, the Pennsylvania team was eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the first round.
Despite all this, it appears

On Wednesday evening, the Canadiens surprised their fans with the announcement that Derek Lalonde would be taking over as head coach.
We wish Trevor Letowski all the best as he spends more time with his family. In the meantime, there are several implications.
First, Martin St-Louis will finally have an assistant coach with extensive NHL experience.
Lalonde served as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings and won two Stanley Cups as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay. He just wrapped up last season wit

There will be a change behind the bench for the Canadiens next season.
According to Eric Engels, Derek Lalonde is set to join the team as an assistant coach.
He is expected to take over for Trevor Letowski, who has reportedly decided to step down from his position to spend more time with his family.The Montreal Canadiens are hiring Derek Lalonde to join their coaching staff as an assistant. He will be replacing Trevor Letowski, who has decided to step down from his role to spend more time with h