Toronto Blue Jays

[2014olympicgold]

Omg yep was thinking the same thing. What a fun weekend.

Now a series vs Shohei where I guess they won't see his bat as much. Which is never a bad thing.

I was listening to the MLB radio station and they laid out a pretty interesting argument about how Ohtani being an SP and with the DH rules might cost him the Homerun title, and then depending on things, could cost him the MVP depending what Vlad does (and a higher potential of injury and missed games from Ohtani)

Games Ohtani pitch in have cost him 1-2 ABs, which has cost him I think the potential to 4-5HRs. Only because if he's DHing, and he's removed as SP he can't stay in as DH. It's really odd and it's cost him ABs.

I think when Ohtani is scheduled to start, he's up against Berrios. Which is cool.

[hockeyrobot]

I was listening to the MLB radio station and they laid out a pretty interesting argument about how Ohtani being an SP and with the DH rules might cost him the Homerun title, and then depending on things, could cost him the MVP depending what Vlad does (and a higher potential of injury and missed games from Ohtani)

Games Ohtani pitch in have cost him 1-2 ABs, which has cost him I think the potential to 4-5HRs. Only because if he's DHing, and he's removed as SP he can't stay in as DH. It's really odd and it's cost him ABs.

I think when Ohtani is scheduled to start, he's up against Berrios. Which is cool.

Yaaaaaaa I understand maybe it costs him the titles, but if he stays healthy I can't see Vlad beating him.

[2014olympicgold]

Yaaaaaaa I understand maybe it costs him the titles, but if he stays healthy I can't see Vlad beating him.

It's Ohtani's to lose when it comes to the MVP, but the HR battle is still tight and might cost him being a pitcher (37 vs 35).

But I dunno, I would put money on Vlad at good odds for MVP just because the league has an odd thing with MVPs bring you to the playoffs, and I think the Jays have a higher chance at that than the Angels.

[stevegamer]

I'm happy to say that I got to see the Bison in Trenton. Even got what should be a very interestingly weird promotion: a team card set. Considering the Trenton Thunder were an interim farm team for the Jays, those things will be rare. Highlight may be a Rowdy Tellez card in the set - he'd already been traded.

I was hoping to also catch the Jays in Buffalo, but my significant other told me she wanted to go with me, and promptly kept scheduling more uncancellable work appearances on dates. Between her, Covid, & Rob Manfred and friends contraction of the minor leagues, my vacation plans the last 2 summers have sucked.

[hockeyrobot]

Oakland has passed Boston and now the chase is really on. They'll be a lot easier to catch at this rate.

[2014olympicgold]

That game 1 loss yesterday hurts a bit more now seeing Yankees are 62-51 and Toronto is 61-51.

[hockeyrobot]

Here is a nice excerpt from a Q&A with someone from Baseball America's prospect division....

. Matthew (Toronto):

What kind of upside are we looking at with Gabriel Moreno?

J.J. Cooper: Massive. When we were doing our midseason calls, we did talk to evaluators who would argue ranking him ahead of Adley Rutschman. We're not going there, but that is something we heard on multiple occasions.

[LawMan]

Solid behind the scenes look at the Jays return home.

https://youtu.be/_Vvn2J-OXoA

Great read from Bichette. Here's hoping the Jays get a stretch run and some playoff baseball.

[lucafen4]

I dunno if it's Ohtani's MVP to lose.
Sure he's the only Pitcher to hit like this... but .269 avg. DH's 4/5 games

If Vlady can keep his avg around .320 or above and stay top 3 in hits, runs, rbi, hr's and Jays swipe at least a play-in game I think he's a mild front-runner.

[2014olympicgold]

I dunno if it's Ohtani's MVP to lose.
Sure he's the only Pitcher to hit like this... but .269 avg. DH's 4/5 games

If Vlady can keep his avg around .320 or above and stay top 3 in hits, runs, rbi, hr's and Jays swipe at least a play-in game I think he's a mild front-runner.

The only thing that stops Ohtani from winning is Vlad going on a run and Jays making the playoffs and Ohtani continuing his skid. I'm thinking with how the American media is going, it's Ohtani that's getting the news when he hits a HR, not Vlad.

Funny enough the race for 2015 AL MVP was between Donaldson (TOR) and Trout (LAA) lol.
Here's the stat line from that race:
Donaldson:
385 vote points (23 1st place), 7.1WAR, 122R, 41HR, 123HR, 0.297avg, 0.939OPS

Trout:
304 vote points (7 1st place), 9.6WAR, 104R, 41HR, 90RBI, 0.299avg, 0.991OPS


This yrs race:
Vlad:
4.9WAR, 87R, 35HR, 88RBI, 0.311avg, 1.024OPS

Ohtani:
4.0WAR (hitting) + 3.1WAR (pitching), 76R, 38HR, 84RBI. 0.267avg, 1.016OPS

This is really an interesting race, and interesting how it's mimicking 2015.

[2014olympicgold]

I'm also surprised that Manoah threw 110+ pitches. Wow. Ump screwed him from the 12th K and getting out of the 7th I think. Manoah is looking like a stud, and if Pearson can turn his injury riddled season around, a 1-2 punch of Manoah and Pearson could be nutty.

[Axeman33]

Whats sad is the Jays are 8-2 in their last 10 games and still in fourth place in the AL East. The problem is the Rays and Yankees (also in the wild card race) are 7-3 in their last 10 games as well. Boston is 3-7 so thats a plus I guess considering they are holding one of the wild card spots. Oakland (8-2 in their last 10 games) holds the other wild card spot.


Hard to gain ground that way.

[2014olympicgold]

Whats sad is the Jays are 8-2 in their last 10 games and still in fourth place in the AL East. The problem is the Rays and Yankees (also in the wild card race) are 7-3 in their last 10 games as well. Boston is 3-7 so thats a plus I guess considering they are holding one of the wild card spots. Oakland (8-2 in their last 10 games) holds the other wild card spot.


Hard to gain ground that way.

Yankees Schedule:
CWS (3), LAA (1), BOS (3), MIN (3) - 10 games

Oakland Schedule:
CLE (1), TEX (3), CWS (4), SFG (3) - 11 games

Boston Schedule:
TBR (1), BAL (3), NYY (3), TEX (3) - 10 games

Jays Schedule:
LAA (1), SEA (3), NATs (2), DET (3) - 9 games

It could look worse too just with Toronto's schedule coming up in terms of games. But Toronto still has the best schedule out of the 3 teams. Still a bunch of games vs Baltimore, Twins, and Detroit. They have 25 home games left out of 49games, should be a fun run (~62% chance at the playoffs, higher than Boston and Yankees)

[Axeman33]

Yankees Schedule:
CWS (3), LAA (1), BOS (3), MIN (3) - 10 games

Oakland Schedule:
CLE (1), TEX (3), CWS (4), SFG (3) - 11 games

Boston Schedule:
TBR (1), BAL (3), NYY (3), TEX (3) - 10 games

Jays Schedule:
LAA (1), SEA (3), NATs (2), DET (3) - 9 games

It could look worse too just with Toronto's schedule coming up in terms of games. But Toronto still has the best schedule out of the 3 teams. Still a bunch of games vs Baltimore, Twins, and Detroit. They have 25 home games left out of 49games, should be a fun run (~62% chance at the playoffs, higher than Boston and Yankees)

Thats great that they have a lighter schedule, but I'd rather see them playing H2Hs against the teams they're chasing than the easy teams because the other teams they are chasing don't really have a hard schedule either.

[2014olympicgold]

Thats great that they have a lighter schedule, but I'd rather see them playing H2Hs against the teams they're chasing than the easy teams because the other teams they are chasing don't really have a hard schedule either.

Then you'll be happy for the September schedule. Jays play:
Oakland 3x
Yankees 7x
TB Rays 6x