Toronto Blue Jays

[LawMan]

If the Jays can win tonight they will at a minimum be tied with Seattle and a game back of Yankees. Assuming the Sox win Jays would be a game back of both.
If the Sox lose we could have 3 teams tied for 2nd all 1 GB the Yankees...
All teams would have 3 games left

Yankees v. Rays
Sox @ Nationals (sidenote: WTF, interleague play to close the season??)
Jays v. Os
Seattle v. Angels

In case you're wondering (like I was) a 3-team tie requires two-days of tie-breaker games:

In the case that three teams tie for the spots in a Wild Card Game, that’s where things get fun. The three tied teams would choose or receive A, B and C designations. Once the clubs are designated, two games will take place:

Club A would host Club B for one game. The winner would earn one of the Wild Card Game spots.
Club C would host the loser of the Club A/B game. The winner would earn the second Wild Card Game spot.
The Team A, B and C designations are decided by this season’s head-to-head records. This scenario is still a real possibility in the American League. In addition to the Red Sox and Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays are still in the mix.

[hockeyrobot]

Well they have the right pitcher on the mound to do it.

I'm surprised Vlad is still at 9/1 for MVP. It's unlikely at this point.

[2014olympicgold]

Well they have the right pitcher on the mound to do it.

I'm surprised Vlad is still at 9/1 for MVP. It's unlikely at this point.

Ya, it's Ohtani's now. He's the first player to hit 45+HR, 100+R, and 25+SB. Plus what he's doing with pitching.

Also, Jays playoff tickets on sale. $75 for 500s.

[blayze]

Agreed. which is absolutely wild.
Having 4-100 RBI hitters, 2 of which are middle infielders, is unreal.
I'm fairly certain Bo and Semien have either most HR or most RBI for a middle infielder pair in history (broadcast has mentioned it before). Soo much power.

And yet we're still on the outside of the wildcard picture... disappointing. I blame it on our bullpen.

[2014olympicgold]

And yet we're still on the outside of the wildcard picture... disappointing. I blame it on our bullpen.

It was injuries and the inability to pivot away from failing guys.

Phelps (out for the season in May)
Yates (out of the season in April)
Hatch (Injuries for like 4months, then back on the IL)
Dolis (hurt, came back and was terrible)
Chatwood (I believe it was sticky stuff that derailed him)
Castro, Merryweather, and Borucki were hurt

pretty sure Mayza and Romano were on the IL in April/May. They just got massively hit by BP injuries all at once and went bargain bin shopping to try and fix it at first.

Think we had Yates (signed as the closer), Merryweather (the guy who replaced Yates), Dolis (guy who replaced Merryweather), and Romano (Guy who is the closer) all hurt at some point. That doesn't happen usually.

But the issue was not pivoting away from guys who weren't performing. Hatch as a starter, Dolis and Chatwood as RP in high leverage, trying to make Bass work. Jays management were managing a team they thought weren't playoff ready by the moves they made. They didn't care about games early in the season and decided to put growth ahead of success.

Injuries suck, and I think that was the main issue with the team, but Montoyo and upper management not realizing the issue at hand early just didn't help the situation at all. Plus...playing in 3 home stadiums likely didn't help.

[Feenom]

Imagine where the Jays could be if Springer played all year.

[hockeyrobot]

Another tough one.

Glimmer of hope....Washington is actually very good vs LHP. Eduardo and Sale should be going for Boston on Friday and Sunday.

[LawMan]

Man that was a tough loss. Is it just me or have the Jays hit a ton of balls hard the last 10 games that were right at various fielders...
Welp gotta sweep the Os and pray for the best.

[2014olympicgold]

Runners left in scoring position...again their issues.

[Feenom]

Hopefully TB keeps it up. Big day tomorrow.

[Feenom]

Oh well. Big expectations for next year with a lot of questions. Will they improve the BP? Will they sign Semien? Ray? Good season but hard to forget what could’ve been. Great season Jays!

[Axeman33]

Imagine if Ross Atkins had took his hands off his dick and improved the BP and rotation earlier instead of waiting until the trade deadline to do so. Arsehole.

[2014olympicgold]

Cimber and Richards were acquired pre-deadline.

More like imagine if there's no injuries, 1 home stadium, Montoyo managing for wins and not growth of young players.

91-71, I would have been happy with that record for the Jays 6months ago. Sucks it came down to 2 games that were tied in the 9th inning, but the season wasn't for loss. Gives the management a real target for the team as a playoff team. Showed Manoah is an ace in the making. 22yr old VGJ is an MVP candidate. Bo finished the campaign off with 19 straight games without an error and strong defense. Teoscar had an insane season after missing time. Springer when in the lineup changes the team. Romano is a top 10 closer. Pearson's health got figured out.

Montoyo isn't the manager for a playoff team, but if he's the manager next yr, whatever.

On to Ray and Semien. I doubt Semien re-signs with Toronto because he wants to be a SS and I don't think Bo will be moved to 2B.

[hockeyrobot]

Tough end to a tumultuous season. I really hate the divisional format. Especially if a team like LAD misses out on an actual playoff series.

I hope this team spends again this offseason. Lets add some bullpen arms so that can be a position of strength and not just patch work until they find something that sticks.

As for Montoyo...if the right candidate comes up I hope they move on from him. But I see SD is now looking for a manager so the Jays better move fast if they want to be in that market.

[2014olympicgold]

Top FA right now for the 2022 season:
Greinke, Bauer, Verlander, Arenado, Kershaw, Scherzer, JD Martinez, Bryant, Stroman, Semien, Freeman, Castellanos, Kimbrel, K Seager, Story, Correa, C Seager, J Ramirez, Syndergaard, Baez, Rodon, K Gausman, Rizzo, Conforto, Ray, R. Iglesias, Schwarber, Kenley Jansen, Bundy, Marte, Matz

And for RP specifically, it's these guys:
Iglesias, Jansen, Kimbrel, Betances, Ottavino, Richards, McHugh, Tepera, Graveman, Hudson, Knebel.

It's a pretty thin yr at RP.


Toronto really on has a couple of holes to be filled via FA. 2B and RP. Then in the trade market, 3B and vet Catcher. McGuire, Kirk, and Jansen were great to end the yr but that's something you can't have. 3 catchers, with a 4th coming (Moreno) isn't really how it should go. It's far down on the wish list though, and 3B is a weird position for the Jays. You have Espinal, Biggio, and Groshans and O.Martinez in the minors.

C: Jansen
1B: Vlad
2B: Semien, Biggio
SS: Bichette
3B: Espinal, Biggio, Semien, FA
OF: Springer, Teoscar, Grichuk, Gurriel

SP: Manoah, Ryu, Berrios, Pearson, Stripling, Ray, FA
RP: Romano, Merryweather, Mayza, Cimber, Richards, Barnes, Cole


Jays have $144,107,143 in "Tax Space". Bichette, Vlad, Biggio, Berrios, Hernandez, Jansen, Kirk...pretty much everyone...needs to be signed though. Just to gauge, the Jays had $45,495,460 in space this yr.