Tom Brady called quite a matchup on Sunday, the one between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions, which went right down to the wire. After all, there was much at stake for both teams.
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The home team, Detroit, sitting at 5-2 after a bye week, was hoping to build on its strong start. The Vikings, meanwhile, were desperate to snap a two-game skid, especially with QB J.J. McCarthy finally back from injury.
The Lions, however, ended up shooting themselves in the foot, with 10 whopping penalties that cost them 76 yards. That gave the Vikings just enough breathing room to take control. Despite entering the game at 3-4, Minnesota grabbed the lead by the end of the first quarter and never really let it go, aside from a brief 14-14 tie in the second.
Late in the third, with the Vikings up 24-14, Jared Goff hit receiver Jameson Williams on the left side of the field at the Vikings’ 17-yard line with a dart that earned them a new set of downs. And that’s when Brady slipped in a playful baseball nod, tipping his hat to the LA Dodgers’ World Series triumph and their Finals MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“[Goff] throws an absolute strike. That’s a fastball, Yamamoto fastball right there… From last night,” Brady said.
Tom Brady with a Yoshinobu Yamamoto reference. pic.twitter.com/utMTzeD1Rv
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) November 2, 2025
Yes, Brady, we get it… You were tuned in for the World Series on Saturday night. And we also understand why you couldn’t resist sneaking a little Yamamoto talk into your game call the next day.
This season, the 27-year-old pitcher proved every bit worth that $325 million, 12-year contract the Dodgers handed him. And he has added a World Series ring to his name to top it off.
Going into Game 7, Yamamoto became the first pitcher since 2001 to throw back-to-back complete games in the postseason, and his dominance didn’t stop there. He even took home the World Series MVP after tossing 2⅔ scoreless innings just a day after throwing 96 pitches in the Dodgers’ Game 6 win.
That makes him the first pitcher to win the World Series MVP since 2019 and the first Japanese-born player to do it since 2009.
And about that fastball of his, fans are already calling him “Goat-a-moto,” and for good reason. He topped out at 98.2 mph this season, with his four-seam fastball averaging 95.4 mph. No wonder Brady had to bring this guy up.
As for the NFL game Brady was calling, it was the underdog Vikings who pulled off the upset, handing Detroit their first home loss of the season, 27-24.
