Blue Jays vs. Rangers ALDS Thread

[Governator]

Lmao 3-1 this year against with an era of less than 2

 

He's faced the Rangers only once this year... 1-0, 6IP, 5H 2R with a 3.00 ERA.

[jaysblue]

Well I live in Denver so it's easier for me to get to Dallas than it is Toronto.

 

I tried looking into using some of my points to fly down to Texas though you need to book your flight 14 days in advance ugh! Still a round trip into Dallas from Toronto is around $600, which isn't bad this last minute.

 

I'd like to see a game down in Pittsburgh, or Chicago, if those teams and the Jays meet in the World Series. I'd probably even go down to NYC as well.

[intrigid]

That's crazy

How can Jays be 3 to 1 to win WS

 

That translates to a 25% chance. That's hardly unreasonable. We're talking about a team that could quite conceivably win 120 games over a full season.

[Masterbather]

Bc the AL is trash so our path is much easier than the Cards or Dodgers.

 

Yeah, I'd put my money on the Jays throughout the AL playoffs, but probably put my money on any NL team over any AL team in the WS, Jays included (although I get a funny feeling we would expose both St. Louis' starters and Pittsburgh's. No rationale for it, I just feel like we'd handle them).

[Candide]

I think if the Jays beat the Rangers, they win the world series. I think if the Jays win Game 1, they beat the Rangers. I think if the Jays score first in Game 1, they win Game 1. I think if Jose Bautista hits a home run, they will score first in Game 1. I think if Jose Bautista has a favorable 3-1 count, he will hit a home run. I think if the roof is open and there's wind on Thursday, Jose Bautista will have a favorable 3-1 count. I think if I get enough likes for this poast, the Rogers Center roof will be open.

[Abomination]

I tried looking into using some of my points to fly down to Texas though you need to book your flight 14 days in advance ugh! Still a round trip into Dallas from Toronto is around $600, which isn't bad this last minute.

 

I'd like to see a game down in Pittsburgh, or Chicago, if those teams and the Jays meet in the World Series. I'd probably even go down to NYC as well.

 

Try flights from Detroit instead.

[BTS]

I think if the Jays beat the Rangers, they win the world series. I think if the Jays win Game 1, they beat the Rangers. I think if the Jays score first in Game 1, they win Game 1. I think if Jose Bautista hits a home run, they will score first in Game 1. I think if Jose Bautista has a favorable 3-1 count, he will hit a home run. I think if the roof is open and there's wind on Thursday, Jose Bautista will have a favorable 3-1 count. I think if I get enough likes for this poast, the Rogers Center roof will be open.

 

Mods

[jaysblue]

Try flights from Detroit instead.

 

Yeah a RT on Spirit, so leaving Saturday - Tuesday is $205. Delta is $336. Not bad. A lot cheaper than Pearson haha.

[Laika]

Gallardo seems a lot like Estrada.

 

One of those guys will probably have a stellar start and the other will get pumped (if they both even see the mound).

[Bojangles]

Is anyone heading to Texas and not have tickets yet? I happen to be there on a work conference so was just going to grab a single, but would prefer to sit by Jays fans. PM me and we can figure out how to arrange it, but I'm happy to buy them in advance and wait for cash until in person at the gate.

 

Try flights from Detroit instead.

 

Yeah I'm driving down to detroit on saturday and am catching a flight from there to Dallas. So excited. Still hoping to coordinate with other Jays fan regarding seats though

[burlingtonbandit]

I tried looking into using some of my points to fly down to Texas though you need to book your flight 14 days in advance ugh! Still a round trip into Dallas from Toronto is around $600, which isn't bad this last minute.

 

I'd like to see a game down in Pittsburgh, or Chicago, if those teams and the Jays meet in the World Series. I'd probably even go down to NYC as well.

 

Cubs Ticket Prices for WS are like 2K for the cheapest seat in the building.

[jaysblue]

Cubs Ticket Prices for WS are like 2K for the cheapest seat in the building.

 

Yikes! Go Pirates then haha.

[Stangstag]

I don't think it works that way with baseball in the US. We can have an All-Star lineup, but it's not like the NFL in terms of national interest. They get major bumps from the local markets involved (of which Toronto offers them 0 bump being in Canada) and then they get a certain percentage of die hards that will watch any baseball, finally they get the out-of-market fans who will watch the heritage teams like Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers. Marketing individual players on teams with little national cachet like the Jays just doesn't fly.

 

Exactly

[art_vandelay275]

Here are your Vegas Odds...

 

http://www.bluejaysmessageboard.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1282&d=1444062595

 

Weren't these the same guys who picked Angels as the favorites last year when the playoffs started?

[aselvana]

I don't know, Houston/KC is still more compelling to a US broadcaster than Toronto/Anybody not named Red Sox or Yankees. Maybe it's not listed yet, but I think we'll be in the suboptimal time slot.

 

Also, I'm not a tinfoil hat guy, but FOX really does hate Canada.

 

im no expert, but im would assume the texas viewership would garner more than a kc/houston matchup

[Brownie19]

Cubs Ticket Prices for WS are like 2K for the cheapest seat in the building.

 

Can you imagine how amazing it would be though at Wrigley? I'd love to see a WS game in Chicago...great city.

[BigCecil]

I thought this was a pretty good read on the Jays decisions this past week. The "iffiness" of playoff baseball and the sport of second guessing decisions.

 

Blue Jays introduced to the unfair logic of playoff baseball

 

TORONTO — The Globe and Mail

Published Sunday, Oct. 04, 2015 9:57PM EDT

 

During the final week of the baseball season, the Toronto Blue Jays have veered into Donald Rumsfeld territory.

 

They’ve made correct decisions, incorrect decisions, correct-incorrect decisions and as yet unknown number of incorrect-correct decisions. Get your highlighter out. We’re entering the fog of playoff war.

 

Giving all the regulars the second leg of Wednesday’s double-header off after they’d won the division in the first – correct.

 

Giving every single one of them the next day off as well – incorrect. They were all a weekend away from three successive days off. How badly do these men need their rest?

 

With the exception of Jonathan Papelbon, we’ve rightly turned away from the old-timey tyranny of ‘play-hard-on-every-out-whether-it-matters-or-not’ philosophy.

 

However, the pendulum has begun swinging a little too hard in the other direction. These are elite performers. They know how and when to protect their bodies. Standing in the outfield and going to bat three times in the course of an afternoon – even if they’re hung over – is not going to drain them of their vital essence. You and I have done it. They can, too.

 

Considering that the Jays gave back their best-in-the-league record on the final day of the season, that decision looks profligate.

 

Scratching David Price from his last start of the year? Yet to be determined. If he’s sharp in Game 1 of the American League Division Series – correct. If he isn’t – it’s a nice idea that blew up on you, and therefore incorrect-correct.

Welcome to the unfair logic of playoff baseball. A lot of things that are textbook good choices will be revealed as real-life bad ones when they don’t work out.

They may have been the smart thing to do, but they weren’t the right thing to do – ipso facto. This is why we don’t erect statues of visionary military tacticians who lost wars.

 

Conversely, every dumb thing the Jays do from now on will, in the end, not have been dumb if they win. Winning makes everybody a genius. Even the idiots.You can try this at home with a simple test: Does home-field advantage matter in the baseball playoffs?

 

I don’t know what you said, and it doesn’t matter. You’re wrong and you’re right. For now.

 

Last year, home teams went 1-8 in nine postseason rounds. So it doesn’t.

 

In 2009, home teams went 6-1. So it does.

 

Over the past decade, the home team has gone 41-42. So it’s a statistical wash.

 

The bottom line on home field: If you have it and you win, it works. If you don’t and you win, it doesn’t. Because you’re not playing a statistically average series. You’re playing a very specific, chaotic one.

 

Should you be feeling a little worried today that the Jays lost four of their past five, lost home-field ‘advantage’ and lost the right to play a wild-card entrant who’d already burned their ace?

 

I’ll tell you in a week, when they’ve either won or lost their first-round series against Texas.

 

That’s how every decision works from now on – its wisdom is a mystery … until it isn’t.

 

On Sunday, Toronto started Mark Buehrle on one day’s rest in an attempt to push him to 200 innings pitched for the 15th consecutive year. Buehrle is beloved in the clubhouse, making the team’s gesture of respect not just cordial, but cunning.

 

Then it got all no-good-deed-goes-unpunished. Buehrle allowed eight runs in two-thirds of an inning. It wasn’t all his fault. Toronto committed two errors behind him. But by the end, he looked like he was throwing batting practice.

 

Buehrle has made nearly 500 starts. He’d never before given up six or more runs while working for less than an inning.

 

So what was likely the last outing of his career is arguably his worst. It was the wrong thing done for the right reasons, but you could see the disaster coming a long way off. Call this one correct-incorrect.

 

This is the sort of choice you now need to eliminate.

 

The Jays can no longer afford to be sporting – letting a pitcher stay in one batter too long because you don’t want to hurt his confidence; or giving a guy a shot at postseason glory when you’re pretty sure he’s not up to it.

 

Baseball puts a high value on chivalry, but it’s a luxury born of the regular season and its interminable length. Those mistakes even out.

 

In the postseason, every minor ripple can become a campaign-ending, reputation-destroying tidal wave. Ask Bill Buckner. This is the time to be ruthless.

 

The Jays will make errors – physical and tactical – in the coming week(s). It’s an inevitability.

 

We’ll spend a great deal of time obsessing over what the manager does or does not do, because that’s easy.

 

Few of us have the bonafides to second-guess the players, and most would not assume to do so. All of us imagine we could handle the pitching staff under in-game pressure. We’re wrong, but we still think that.

 

However it turns out, you hope it comes down to a Joe Carter-esque moment of brilliance rather than a Buckner-esque miscue.

 

But I suspect it comes down to plays and decisions that only seem smart in retrospect – the incorrect-correct.

 

When the San Francisco Giants pitched their now-and-future ace, Madison Bumgarner, on two days rest in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, that was an iffy decision. Sure, you want to win a championship. Also, you do not want to break or humiliate a cornerstone of your organization.

 

Had it gone wrong, it would be remembered as a Buehrle-esque pratfall at the most critical moment. Instead, Bumgarner pitched five, remarkable shutout innings.

 

So a choice that could have been panicky and foolish became inspired and brave. Have the Jays made that sort of decision yet, or can they, or should they? Maybe. We’ll know when it’s over.

[burlingtonbandit]

Can you imagine how amazing it would be though at Wrigley? I'd love to see a WS game in Chicago...great city.

 

Oh that would be amazing. That would be my favourite WS matchup if I had to choose.

[Governator]

im no expert, but im would assume the texas viewership would garner more than a kc/houston matchup

 

 

I don't know the ratings but I assume Astros & Rangers would have a pretty even draw on viewership.

[burlingtonbandit]

I don't know the ratings but I assume Astros & Rangers would have a pretty even draw on viewership.

 

I'd say the Rangers are quite a bit bigger. Dallas area is a much larger fan base and I get the feeling that Rangers have more fans across the state of Texas than the Astros do.

[HERPDERP]

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Ben Nicholson-SmithVerified account

‏@bnicholsonsmith

#BlueJays play Game 1 at 4:07 ET if #Yankees advance, 3:37 if #Astros advance

[dineke]

friday game at 12:45 lol

[burlingtonbandit]

friday game at 12:45 lol

 

Thats brutal...

[HERPDERP]

friday game at 12:45 lol

 

Ton of people are going to take a half day or will end up with a 3 hour lunch break

[KevinGregg]

Thats brutal...

 

why wouldn't they play the game at night?

[Stangstag]

why wouldn't they play the game at night?

 

Better team matchups get the better timeslots. Nobody in the US cares about the Jays.

[King]

 

Impossible to read

[King]

Brendan Kennedy ‏@BKennedyStar 23s23 seconds ago

MLB says #bluejays-#rangers will play at 3:37 or 4:07 on Thursday, 12:45 on Friday and 8:10 on Sunday. All times EST.

[aselvana]

Brendan Kennedy ‏@BKennedyStar 23s23 seconds ago

MLB says #bluejays-#rangers will play at 3:37 or 4:07 on Thursday, 12:45 on Friday and 8:10 on Sunday. All times EST.

 

 

 

wow...im screwed

[jays_fever]

The 12 45 game is all kinds of bulllshit