While the crowd noise in Toronto was at a fever pitch, so was the sound of notifications on the cellphones of Marc Tramuta and Michael Youngberg.

Tramuta, the Blue Jays director of amateur scouting who was sitting in his living room in Fredonia, immediately reacted in a text thread with Youngberg, the organization’s manager of amateur player evaluation, who was at the game.

“As soon as the ball landed in the seats I’m thinking, who’s pitching the eighth? … Who’s coming up for Seattle? … It makes you do that, think ahead, what’s the next scenario?” Tramuta said Wednesday afternoon. “Michael, myself and another guy text each other throughout the games. You’re sharing it with your teammates. You get upset with them, you get excited with them.”

It’s been a good couple of weeks — make that months — for the pair of Chautauqua County natives who are pursuing their dreams working for the American League champions.

Submitted Photo Michael Youngberg and his wife, Laura, are pictured in Toronto at a game earlier this postseason.

They hope to win four more games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, which starts tonight in Canada’s largest city.

ııı

Tramuta is a 2022 Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame inductee who graduated from Fredonia High School in 1988 and attended St. Bonaventure University before being drafted by — you guessed it — the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991.

His front-office career in baseball began in 1996 with the Baltimore Orioles as a regional scout before his first stint with the Blue Jays from 2003-12. In November 2012, Tramuta was hired by the New York Mets, where he spent 11 years, including New York’s loss to the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 World Series.

Youngberg is a 2003 Falconer High School graduate, who then spent four years at Slippery Rock University where he earned a degree in sports management. He was the Jamestown Jammers clubhouse manager during the summers of ’05 and ’06 before being hired as an intern by the Florida Marlins in 2007.

Youngberg’s first full-time job with the Marlins came in 2008 in scouting and player development with the organization. He was promoted to Miami’s assistant scouting director in 2013 and served in that role until 2018 when he joined Toronto’s front office. Youngberg was the Blue Jays’ Northeast Region crosschecker until 2023 when he was promoted into his current role by Tramuta.

“He’s tremendous. He and I are very close. He’s one of my right-hand guys. He’s involved in everything we do at the national level,” Tramuta said of Youngberg, the man he calls “Spider.” “He’s a very valuable member to me on this staff.”

Ironically, despite being from communities separated by less than 30 miles, they didn’t really have a close relationship until joining forces in the Blue Jays front office.

“I always knew of him being from Fredonia and I had met him early in my baseball career when somebody introduced me because we’re from the same area,” Youngberg said Wednesday afternoon from his home in Nashville. “My parents are obsessed with baseball and he was always in The Post-Journal so my parents were always asking me about him. I knew who he was, but we didn’t really talk.”

That changed in 2023 when Tramuta returned to the Blue Jays.

“We were in Arizona at the same game, we sat together and we just totally connected. We have similar personalities. We just kind of hit it off being from the same area. Now we talk every day. He’s awesome to work for,” Youngberg said. “‘Tram’ has turned into a pretty big influence and mentor for me both professionally and personally.”

ııı

Working on the amateur scouting and development side of the organization, Tramuta and Youngberg enjoy all of the Blue Jays success, but both agreed they gain even more satisfaction when a “homegrown” player makes an impact.

That’s why the recent run of 2024 first-round draft pick Trey Yesavage has been so enjoyable for the two.

The 20th overall pick out of East Carolina University last year, Yesavage climbed like a rocket through Toronto’s minor leagues this spring and summer. After seven starts at Class A Dunedin, the 6-foot-4 right-hander made four starts in the Northeast League for Vancouver. By June, he was pitching for Class AA New Hampshire and just two months later was a member of the Class AAA Buffalo Bisons. Then, on Sept. 15, Yesavage made his Major League debut in Tampa, Florida, against the Rays.

“We’ve drafted guys who we’ve traded and they’ve become good big leaguers with other teams,” Youngberg said. “But you are watching the Blue Jays every night and it’s more fun to see them come up through your organization.”

Yesavage’s meteoric rise was seen on the national stage Oct. 5 when he allowed zero runs and no hits while walking just one and striking out 11 as the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

“I was there for that one. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve not seen that too many times. To be a part of that pick and to see him embraced by the city, I can count on one hand, honestly, over the last 30 years the number of times I remember that happening,” Tramuta said. “As a scouting director, you just take a seat and enjoy or appreciate the work that you and your staff have done.

“This job is so much ‘what have you done for me lately?'” Tramuta added. “Watching him pitch that day against the Yankees, that was one of the few days you could sit back and really soak that in.”

Yesavage has since lost Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, but then beat Seattle in Game 6 to set up Monday’s dramatic clinching game.

“The draft is so hard and you fail so many times with players that don’t make it that you thought could or would,” Youngberg said. “When you think of the process that you go through to draft a player, all of that hard work that you put in on that player comes to fruition when he’s pitching in the playoffs.

“You work so hard to get there and to do that,” Youngberg added. “When it actually happens and he contributes, it’s hard to not feel more proud of that.”

The Blue Jays think so highly of their rookie phenom that he will start Game 1 tonight against the Dodgers.

“Did we think he could move fast, sure, but this fast? Player development has done such a good job managing his workload throughout the year to still have gas in the tank and be ready. You have to credit them so much because they planned this way back in spring training,” Tramuta said. “You never guess that he’s going to pitch in front of 40,000 fans against the Yankees in the Division Series and strike out 11. Did we think maybe next year? Yes. But he’s done all of this in 14 months.”

ııı

Neither Tramuta or Youngberg have earned a World Series ring in their combined 40-plus years in the Major Leagues.

Tramuta came the closest in 2015 with New York while the Marlins never really came close during Youngberg’s time with the organization.

They both hope that changes in the next couple of weeks and feel like Toronto has become an organization that is not playing for a championship by mistake.

“I had a friend tell me that the whole country is counting on us,” Tramuta said. “When I was here the last time, only once or twice were we in the running for the playoffs; we were more of a lower-budget team at that time.

“The investment that ownership has made and the resources we have are outstanding,” he added. “Their commitment to winning is showing now.”

Youngberg has been logging many frequent flier miles during the Blue Jays’ postseason run. He and his wife, Laura, have flown to Buffalo, dropped their 3-year-old daughter, Emma, off with his parents, Jim and Debbie in Jamestown, and then driven to Toronto for games.

“When we got to Game 7 of the ALCS, I told my wife I was going,” Youngberg said. “I flew up and met a few other scouts, and we watched the game from the seats.”

Friday and Saturday, Michael and Laura will take in World Series Games 1 and 2 at Rogers Center.

“I don’t think when I started in baseball it was because I wanted to win a World Series. Whatever they wanted me to do, whatever they needed, I just wanted to help an organization win,” Youngberg said. “For so long with the Marlins, players would get traded and have success with other organizations. … Now I’m experiencing it and, of course, this is what it’s all about.”

Tramuta will be in Toronto this weekend as well, but hasn’t decided yet if he will make the trip to Los Angeles.

“It’s been fun the last couple of months, that’s for sure,” Tramuta said. “It’s going to come to an end now because this is the last series, but it’s been fun and intense.

“The excitement level is at an all-time high in Toronto. We are on the front page and the city has gone absolutely nuts,” he added. “That stadium was as loud as I’ve ever heard a stadium when I was there for the Yankees series. Hopefully we can get two wins and enjoy this as much as we can.”