Orioles @ Blue Jays.. Game 1 of 3

[Spanky99]

Your constant patrolling and policing anyone who criticizes the team is brutal. I just come here once in awhile and its insufferable.

 

An opinion isn't policing f***head, tell me why, bitch?

[Jays333]

An opinion isn't policing f***head, tell me why, bitch?

 

haha oooh struck a nerve did I

[5ToolPhenom]

The big picture is the top WC spot. Toronto is better than the others.

 

I get what you're saying. Even with all of the negativity as a result of their recent play, I'd be pretty damn shocked if they don't nab a WC spot. But they're starting to s*** the bed at a pretty inopportune time. Things are a lot closer now than I would've imagined.

 

It's a real possibility that the Jays won't make the playoffs this year and if you told me that a couple of months ago I would've said you were crazy.

[Spanky99]

haha oooh struck a nerve did I

 

Nice retort genius.

[JFD]

Your constant patrolling and policing anyone who criticizes the team is brutal. I just come here once in awhile and its insufferable.

 

[Spanky99]

I get what you're saying. Even with all of the negativity as a result of their recent play, I'd be pretty damn shocked if they don't nab a WC spot. But they're starting to s*** the bed at a pretty inopportune time. Things are a lot closer now than I would've imagined.

 

It's a real possibility that the Jays won't make the playoffs this year and if you told me that a couple of months ago I would've said you were crazy.

 

It is what it is, so far, they need to turn it around yesterday, but the panic is in short, early.

[Omar]

You're just a simpleton who doesn't understand the psychology of an athlete.

 

If you think the Yankees are panicking in the clubhouse and pressing on the field right now when they're leading the division by 10 games in mid August, you're crazy.

 

You can look at the records of teams historically who've built up an insurmountable lead, they always have a lull in the dog days of summer.

 

I don't see how this is a controversial take.

 

Dude, if you think the players are not trying to win games because they have the division lead, then you don't understand the psychology of athletes. You shouldn't be calling others simpletons.

[Brownie19]

It's not hard to see which posters on this board used to call into and listen to Mike Wilner post game.

[WryNGinger]

Your constant patrolling and policing anyone who criticizes the team is brutal. I just come here once in awhile and its insufferable.

 

Dude just disagrees with you and thinks you are stupid. That's not policing or controlling. Obvious troll account is obvious.

[WryNGinger]

I do find this team frustrating as hell to watch right now. They are a little too "peaks and valleys"... They are still a young team that had a LOT of expectations this year and hopefully they are just going through a downturn and will pull out of it soon.

[Stangstag]

I get what you're saying. Even with all of the negativity as a result of their recent play, I'd be pretty damn shocked if they don't nab a WC spot. But they're starting to s*** the bed at a pretty inopportune time. Things are a lot closer now than I would've imagined.

 

It's a real possibility that the Jays won't make the playoffs this year and if you told me that a couple of months ago I would've said you were crazy.

 

This is true, but all will be forgotten if they can have a strong September push like they did last year. Finish strong and carry it into the playoffs would be best case scenario IMO.

 

I will definitely admit this lull is concerning, but I don’t expect them to play like this for the rest of the year. The starting rotation has been dogshit this month and the offense has gone cold. Neither of those will last

[Jonn]

You know shits going bad when random people come out of lurk just to s*** on Spanky lol.

[jaysblue]

It's not hard to see which posters on this board used to call into and listen to Mike Wilner post game.

 

Hey Mike Wilner!

[jaysblue]

This is true, but all will be forgotten if they can have a strong September push like they did last year. Finish strong and carry it into the playoffs would be best case scenario IMO.

 

I will definitely admit this lull is concerning, but I don’t expect them to play like this for the rest of the year. The starting rotation has been dogshit this month and the offense has gone cold. Neither of those will last

 

Agreed! Blue Jays are still World Series contenders and its just all bad luck! This team is one of the best in baseball! Every player on this roster is amazing especially Raimel Tapia!

 

Ok on a serious note, yes this team has hit a rough stretch though they will turn it around at some point soon. Too much talent not too. It's unfortunate they are s***ing the bed right now especially when the Yankees are as well. Anything short of making the Postseason would be a huge disappointment with this club however. I don't think the Orioles have enough to win one of the WC spots though who knows. Not going to be easy for the Jays though. Don't write off the Mariners, Guardians and Rays.

[Spanky99]

 

You're a joke over 500... seriously.

[Spanky99]

Agreed! Blue Jays are still World Series contenders and its just all bad luck! This team is one of the best in baseball! Every player on this roster is amazing especially Raimel Tapia!

 

Ok on a serious note, yes this team has hit a rough stretch though they will turn it around at some point soon. Too much talent not too. It's unfortunate they are s***ing the bed right now especially when the Yankees are as well. Anything short of making the Postseason would be a huge disappointment with this club however. I don't think the Orioles have enough to win one of the WC spots though who knows. Not going to be easy for the Jays though. Don't write off the Mariners, Guardians and Rays.

 

You're an idiot, Sil. Through and through...

[Spanky99]

Who are they better than exactly? They’ve been getting smacked around by basically every team above .500

 

lol... I can't...

[Spanky99]

Who are they better than exactly? They’ve been getting smacked around by basically every team above .500

 

Every team but the LAD, NYM, NYY, HOU... ???

[Spanky99]

Your constant patrolling and policing anyone who criticizes the team is brutal. I just come here once in awhile and its insufferable.

 

lol... at the haterz... speak up, ****s.

[Spanky99]

You know shits going bad when random people come out of lurk just to s*** on Spanky lol.

 

lol

[Spanky99]

Agreed! Blue Jays are still World Series contenders and its just all bad luck! This team is one of the best in baseball! Every player on this roster is amazing especially Raimel Tapia!

 

Ok on a serious note, yes this team has hit a rough stretch though they will turn it around at some point soon. Too much talent not too. It's unfortunate they are s***ing the bed right now especially when the Yankees are as well. Anything short of making the Postseason would be a huge disappointment with this club however. I don't think the Orioles have enough to win one of the WC spots though who knows. Not going to be easy for the Jays though. Don't write off the Mariners, Guardians and Rays.

 

Passive aggressive again, don't change meat.

[BlueJaysFever]

Kikuchi aside because he's not a SP a contending team should have in the rotation and I think that becomes true now, this offense seems very easy for pitchers to game plan against. When you can just pitch an honest game with the attitude of " you're going to have to beat me rather than me beat you" it makes life far too easy on rotations and defenses. The better teams are exposing that quickly here. There is a lot to fix it feels like.

[Laika]

The offense has been very bad in August (91 wRC+ and 27th in MLB in runs scored)

 

But they were nearly the best in baseball the two weeks prior (136 wRC+) and on the season they are the 5th or 6th best offense.

 

On the pitching side they are 17th in fWAR on the year.

 

I don't buy that there are fundamental problems with the offense, at all. Certain players are slumping very recently - it's disappointing at this point in the season but also normal.

 

The frustrating truth is that some of these other teams are better than we thought. The pitchers Toronto has been facing are not zeros. There are actually no zeros on the other side this month - the opposing SP ranges from helpful to very good.

 

And Toronto has been throwing out 2 good pitchers (Gausman and Manoah) one unknown without length (White) a zero (Berrios) and a pitcher who actively loses you the game every time (Kikuchi). It creates a tough environment for confidence when one of your pitchers is a guaranteed loss, another one is an enigmatic probable loss, and a third is an unknown import with just okay stuff who looks like more a swingman. On the other side of the field, a guy like Kyle Bradish, Jordan Lyles, Cal Quantrill, Triston McKenzie, would probably all be Toronto's SP3 at the moment and give the team more reliable and consistent chances to win. Bradish has a bloated ERA but we all saw his breaking ball the last two starts and his MiLB numbers are great.

 

Just a tough spot. The rotation is a f***ing mess. Berrios is the lynchpin problem.

 

This is August:

 

Gausman vs Rasmussen

Kikuchi vs Beeks + Yarbrough

Manoah vs Gray

Berrios vs Mahle

White vs Bundy

Gausman vs Archer

Kikuchi vs Lyles

Manoah vs Bradish

Berrios vs Quantrill

White vs McKenzie

Gausman vs Bieber

Kikuchi vs Bradish

 

On the season:

 

Kikuchi -0.8 fWAR

Berrios 0.0 fWAR

Bradish 0.2 fWAR but a 3.99 xFIP

Archer 0.6 fWAR

Beeks + Yarbrough 0.8 fWAR combined

Bundy 1.0 fWAR

Quantrill 1.1 fWAR

McKenzie 1.6 fWAR

Gray 1.6 fWAR

Lyles 1.8 fWAR

Rasmussen 1.8 fWAR

Mahle 2.1 fWAR

Bieber 3.5 fWAR

[Brownie19]

Agreed! Blue Jays are still World Series contenders and its just all bad luck! This team is one of the best in baseball! Every player on this roster is amazing especially Raimel Tapia!

 

Ok on a serious note, yes this team has hit a rough stretch though they will turn it around at some point soon. Too much talent not too. It's unfortunate they are s***ing the bed right now especially when the Yankees are as well. Anything short of making the Postseason would be a huge disappointment with this club however. I don't think the Orioles have enough to win one of the WC spots though who knows. Not going to be easy for the Jays though. Don't write off the Mariners, Guardians and Rays.

 

It's honestly like you've never watched baseball before and it's like you're mad that everyone isn't freaking out like you and your Mike Wilner buddies. There is certainly a chance this team continues to spiral and falls out of a playoff spot. That would really suck and we'd ALL be disappointed in that. As of right now, the projection systems suggest the Jays have an 87% chance of making the playoffs. Believe it or not, there would be a lot of luck involved for them to fall out of a playoff spot. Once they're in - anything can happen. I don't think they can hang with the big boys myself, but stranger things have happened and in fact, slumping in August and getting hot in September is exactly the type of thing that might need to happen for the Jays to go deep into the playoffs. Very rare that teams are red hot in August and continue to stay hot through October.

[jaysblue]

It's honestly like you've never watched baseball before and it's like you're mad that everyone isn't freaking out like you and your Mike Wilner buddies. There is certainly a chance this team continues to spiral and falls out of a playoff spot. That would really suck and we'd ALL be disappointed in that. As of right now, the projection systems suggest the Jays have an 87% chance of making the playoffs. Believe it or not, there would be a lot of luck involved for them to fall out of a playoff spot. Once they're in - anything can happen. I don't think they can hang with the big boys myself, but stranger things have happened and in fact, slumping in August and getting hot in September is exactly the type of thing that might need to happen for the Jays to go deep into the playoffs. Very rare that teams are red hot in August and continue to stay hot through October.

 

I'm not freaking out haha. I do believe the Jays will get out of this funk at some point with the talent they have and they should still have a good chance at nabbing one of the wildcard spots. I'm also not a complete homer and defend every move made my by this front office or player in this organization like you and some other posters do. This team had glaring weaknesses and we've seen them since Day 1 of the season. I don't have any high expectations on this team winning a World Series this season with the current roster in place. I also think teams like Seattle, Tampa and Cleveland won't fold that easily, and even Baltimore might try to spoil the fun as well. So still, making the Postseason especially if the Blue Jays keep playing like this will be challenging. I'll admit and acknowledge they can get hot in September and carry that into October, and I hope they do. Get into the Postseason, anything can happen in a short series. Though not confident at all in their bullpen in close games and their rotation outside of Gausman and Manoah. Also, this lineup which is very streaky can get shutdown by elite pitching easily. Though otherwise, hope this season is a learning curve for this roster, they get a taste of Postseason baseball and hoping that they could get lucky and go deep like at least play in the ALDS or ALCS. More work needs to be done with this roster and hope they don't let this core they've built up go to waste in 2023 or 2024.

[jaysblue]

The frustrating truth is that some of these other teams are better than we thought. The pitchers Toronto has been facing are not zeros. There are actually no zeros on the other side this month - the opposing SP ranges from helpful to very good.

 

This is GOLD!

[Brownie19]

I'm not freaking out haha. I do believe the Jays will get out of this funk at some point with the talent they have and they should still have a good chance at nabbing one of the wildcard spots. I'm also not a complete homer and defend every move made my by this front office or player in this organization like you and some other posters do. This team had glaring weaknesses and we've seen them since Day 1 of the season. I don't have any high expectations on this team winning a World Series this season with the current roster in place. I also think teams like Seattle, Tampa and Cleveland won't fold that easily, and even Baltimore might try to spoil the fun as well. So still, making the Postseason especially if the Blue Jays keep playing like this will be challenging. I'll admit and acknowledge they can get hot in September and carry that into October, and I hope they do. Get into the Postseason, anything can happen in a short series. Though not confident at all in their bullpen in close games and their rotation outside of Gausman and Manoah. Also, this lineup which is very streaky can get shutdown by elite pitching easily. Though otherwise, hope this season is a learning curve for this roster, they get a taste of Postseason baseball and hoping that they could get lucky and go deep like at least play in the ALDS or ALCS. More work needs to be done with this roster and hope they don't let this core they've built up go to waste in 2023 or 2024.

 

Curious - what teams do you think have a great chance to win the WS this year? Which lineups aren't streaky and don't get shutdown by elite pitching?

 

You must have missed my response in the Indians @ Jays Game 1 of 3 thread, but I think it truly applies.

[jaysblue]

Curious - what teams do you think have a great chance to win the WS this year? Which lineups aren't streaky and don't get shutdown by elite pitching?

 

You must have missed my response in the Indians @ Jays Game 1 of 3 thread, but I think it truly applies.

 

Astros, Dodgers, Mets, and Braves would be my top picks. I do think teams like Cleveland and Seattle are better positioned than the Jays to go far if they make the Postseason. I like the Cardinals as a sleeper in the NL. Yankees are a hot mess right now. I never count out Tampa since they always can cause trouble. Out of the 12 teams that make the Postseason, I probably would rank the Jays between #8-12 if they make it in. I think there is a wide gap between those top 4 or 5 teams vs. those bottom 4 or 5 teams. Though yes, anything can happen in a short Postseason series.

 

You're really a Blue Jays homer which shows in majority of your posts. It's a bit much!

[Laika]

I dunno man, the Jays have a 1-2 SP punch that competes with any team.

 

They also have a top 5 or 6 offense / position player group if you zoom out and look at the proper information.

 

The bullpen is now perfectly cromulent. And if Stripling is healthy they can at least roll out an SP3 and SP4 in the playoffs who might not suck. Like they can have White in reserve and yank Berrios if he does not look good, to stay in a game...

 

I doubt they are a bottom third team in the playoffs. With a top tier 1-2 SP punch and a good position core, they get *most* of the way there.

 

If Kershaw is not healthy the Dodgers roll into the playoffs with Tyler Anderson, Julio Urias, and Tony Gonsolin. It doesn't exactly strike fear into you. Edit and Dustin May I guess oops.

 

Like if Jose Berrios was having a normal Berrios season Toronto would look as good on paper, even right now, as most of these playoff teams and better than basically all of the wild card hopefuls in both leagues.

 

This is all basically to say that there are not seven playoff teams with better rosters than Toronto all things considered. There are a handful, but that number is not 7.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Laika

[Brownie19]

Astros, Dodgers, Mets, and Braves would be my top picks. I do think teams like Cleveland and Seattle are better positioned than the Jays to go far if they make the Postseason. I like the Cardinals as a sleeper in the NL. Yankees are a hot mess right now. I never count out Tampa since they always can cause trouble. Out of the 12 teams that make the Postseason, I probably would rank the Jays between #8-12 if they make it in. I think there is a wide gap between those top 4 or 5 teams vs. those bottom 4 or 5 teams. Though yes, anything can happen in a short Postseason series.

 

You're really a Blue Jays homer which shows in majority of your posts. It's a bit much!

 

How quickly you forget that I was suggesting the Jays sell at the deadline - but you mold the narrative however you like. You act like filling holes is as simply as it is in MLB The Show unfortunately.

 

Which lineups aren't streaky and don't get shutdown by elite pitching?