[ALCS GM 5] Blue Jays (Gausman) vs Mariners (Miller): 10/17/25, 6:08pm

[Jays24]

Just now, Masterbather said:

"Hey man I noticed your kid keeps playing with fire, you probably shouldn't let him keep doing that"

"What? No no he's fine, he hasn't burned down the house or anything"

"Yeah but dude if you keep letting your kid play with fire eventually he's going to burn down the house"

"Nah, it's fine he's been playing with fire for months, house is still completely fine."

⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳

"Hey what happened to our neighbors? 

"Died in a house fire"

Technically, Little has "died" plenty of times but Schneider keeps resurrecting him lol. 

[hanton]

9 minutes ago, metafour said:

There is no analytics which suggest putting Little in there in that moment. None.

old habits are hard to break

[Fastball21]

Sucks we lost the way we did but let's not forget, Little aside, we had bases loaded and couldn't get any runs, onwards to game 6, it's far from over. 

[Acemeister79]

4 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

"Hey man I noticed your kid keeps playing with fire, you probably shouldn't let him keep doing that"

"What? No no he's fine, he hasn't burned down the house or anything"

"Yeah but dude if you keep letting your kid play with fire eventually he's going to burn down the house"

"Nah, it's fine he's been playing with fire for months, house is still completely fine."

⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳

"Hey what happened to our neighbors? 

"Died in a house fire"

Best comment of the night.  

[Brownie19]

4 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Exactly what I posted earlier. Feels the exact same, using a meh reliever vs a switch hitter when the analytics don’t even back it up.

Just a brutal decision unfortunately.  What's almost hilarious is that I suspect this was a gut decision.  I doubt any statistics suggested this was the right decision.  Should have listened to the nerds? 😆

[Brownie19]

6 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Technically, Little has "died" plenty of times but Schneider keeps resurrecting him lol. 

Numbers don't lie.  

[Omar]

11 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Just a brutal decision unfortunately.  What's almost hilarious is that I suspect this was a gut decision.  I doubt any statistics suggested this was the right decision.  Should have listened to the nerds? 😆

Probably true.

If someone put a gun to my head and said the Jays have to blow this game or you're dead and you can only bring in one pitcher, who would it be. I would have said Little.

Everyone who has watched him pitch these past few weeks knows he is the most volatile pitcher in the pen. Everyone. The media folks knew it as well.  Everyone in the gdt knew it before it happened. 

I just don't understand why JS didn't know it.  Maybe he, JS,  crumbles in these type of situations.  

Truly a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. 

[glory]

16 minutes ago, hanton said:

10 years ago Little doesn't see the mound in that situation, fast forward to today with non-traditional baseball statistics and analytics.

I think that's the issue, there is no analytic on earth that would support this decision. Little has legitimately been terrible for a while now. You will be hard pressed to find a good big league reliever who walks 7 per 9 (Little's BB/9 since June 1). Many people said in the beginning of the season that once big league hitters figure out that they don't have to swing at his s*** in the dirt, then the fairy dust is going to wear off, and it has.

Honestly the one thing JS said that made sense was Little is hard to square up. I would have probably expected 3 straight walks instead of a HR and 2 walks, but either way, it was a stupid decision that has been universally panned (with good reason). I want to believe JS is just a pawn listening to nerds with computers, but even the worst analytical organization wouldn't suggest putting Little in that spot. This seems 100% like a "he's been my guy since April" gut move that you do in July when the games mean less, not in Game 5 of the f'n ALCS. 

[Stangstag]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Just a brutal decision unfortunately.  What's almost hilarious is that I suspect this was a gut decision.  I doubt any statistics suggested this was the right decision.  Should have listened to the nerds? 😆

I would really love to know which of these decisions come from the front office and which dont.

Mayza vs Santana, Pulling Berrios, IKF starts, Schneider benched, Little tonight…

Seems like so many bad decisions in just a few short years.

[Terminator]

4 minutes ago, glory said:

Honestly the one thing JS said that made sense was Little is hard to square up. I would have probably expected 3 straight walks instead of a HR and 2 walks, but either way, it was a stupid decision that has been universally panned (with good reason). I want to believe JS is just a pawn listening to nerds with computers, but even the worst analytical organization wouldn't suggest putting Little in that spot. This seems 100% like a "he's been my guy since April" gut move that you do in July when the games mean less, not in Game 5 of the f'n ALCS. 

Yeah I think facing Cal in a 1 run game loomed really large on this decision.

It's definitely a peculiar decision to go to Little but:

• Hoffman (most relief homers in baseball) vs. Cal (60+ bombs) in a 1 run game is scary
• SerAnthony is really bad vs. lefties and would have had to have gone against 3 lefties in a row

Little has been slightly better in September and the playoffs and for all of his faults, he generally doesn't give up homers. He's also equally effective against lefties and righties. So the hope I guess is to put him in there and even though he might walk someone, you'd think he can at least keep the ball in the park and hand the ball over to SerAnthony or Hoffman once they get past Naylor. 

Instead, Cal hit a 348 foot homer, Little walked two guys, and then Suarez hit a 351 foot grand slam off SerAnthony. (The previous inning Clement and Straw hit 363 and 376 foot fly outs.)

[Jays24]

2 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

I would really love to know which of these decisions come from the front office and which dont.

Mayza vs Santana, Pulling Berrios, IKF starts, Schneider benched, Little tonight…

Seems like so many bad decisions in just a few short years.

Woww... you blast me for this comment and make the same one yourself.  

Your only way out of this is "you dont shut up about it" lol

 

[Stangstag]

Just now, Jays24 said:

Woww... you blast me for this comment and make the same one yourself.  

Your only way out of this is "you dont shut up about it" lol

 

The difference is im not acting like MY decision is objectively better than what happened. I can see nuance. You cannot, because you always think you’re right. And you’re too emotional.

[Big_Walleye]

Little literally pitched his arm off for this team this year.  He took the ball 79 times during the regular season.  That's nearly ½ the Jays games for those of you who can't do simple math.  During that time he gave up a staggering 2 homers!  If his numbers were bad of late it's because he was a bit gassed.  They stayed away from him the last few games to rest him for a big situation I would imagine.

The homer he gave up was to a guy that hit 60 bombs this year.  And it wasn't much more than a fly ball, it almost hit the roof.  After that can you blame him for being a little wild?  I'd like to see all the armchair managers here handle that kind of pressure.

Schneider went to the leverage guys he had left to pitch the 8th.  Hoffman had the 9th.

He used Little because he doesn't give up homers.  It just didn't work out today.  S**t happens.  It's baseball.

[glory]

12 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

I would really love to know which of these decisions come from the front office and which dont.

Mayza vs Santana, Pulling Berrios, IKF starts, Schneider benched, Little tonight…

Seems like so many bad decisions in just a few short years.

Pulling Berrios was likely 100% pre-planned by the front office/nerds. They did the exact same move with Buntoyo in 2020 (Shoemaker/Ray). The others seem more of a JS call to me, but who knows. Bringing in Mayza to face a switch hitter who hits lefties a lot better than righties couldn't have been an analytical move. Same with Little tonight. DS is more of a question mark. If they don't want DS to hit against any pitcher who throws more than 92 mph, then they should probably trade him this winter. 

I honestly wonder how Gibbons would have managed this series. I doubt he'd be pulling SP's on 70 pitches, but I wonder if he's using Little in that spot twice now (in Game 1 and Game 5, both resulting in the M's taking the lead). 

[Big_Walleye]

9 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Yeah I think facing Cal in a 1 run game loomed really large on this decision.

It's definitely a peculiar decision to go to Little but:

• Hoffman (most relief homers in baseball) vs. Cal (60+ bombs) in a 1 run game is scary
• SerAnthony is really bad vs. lefties and would have had to have gone against 3 lefties in a row

Little has been slightly better in September and the playoffs and for all of his faults, he generally doesn't give up homers. He's also equally effective against lefties and righties. So the hope I guess is to put him in there and even though he might walk someone, you'd think he can at least keep the ball in the park and hand the ball over to SerAnthony or Hoffman once they get past Naylor. 

Instead, Cal hit a 348 foot homer, Little walked two guys, and then Suarez hit a 351 foot grand slam off SerAnthony. (The previous inning Clement and Straw hit 363 and 376 foot fly outs.)

You got it exactly right.  They didn't like Dominguez vs lefties.  That's all there was to it.  It just didn't work out.

[metafour]

2 minutes ago, Big_Walleye said:

Little literally pitched his arm off for this team this year.  He took the ball 79 times during the regular season.  That's nearly ½ the Jays games for those of you who can't do simple math.  During that time he gave up a staggering 2 homers!  If his numbers were bad of late it's because he was a bit gassed.  They stayed away from him the last few games to rest him for a big situation I would imagine.

The homer he gave up was to a guy that hit 60 bombs this year.  And it wasn't much more than a fly ball, it almost hit the roof.  After that can you blame him for being a little wild?  I'd like to see all the armchair managers here handle that kind of pressure.

Schneider went to the leverage guys he had left to pitch the 8th.  Hoffman had the 9th.

He used Little because he doesn't give up homers.  It just didn't work out today.  S**t happens.  It's baseball.

What a load of crap.

Little can not throw strikes. He has not been effective for several months now, because hitters have realized that they don't need to swing. His walk rate is astronomical.

Who gives a s*** if he doesn't give up HR's? If he comes in and walks the bases you are still surrendering the run. In case you missed it, he walked the next two guys after giving up the HR. A guy who walks 7+ batters per 9 can NOT be a high leverage reliever. This is Little League baseball knowledge.

[Jimcanuck]

For his MLB career, Little has a 16.9% HR per FB.

Bassitt has 10.9%

If a primary objective was to keep the ball in the yard, JS had better options

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, metafour said:

What a load of crap.

Little can not throw strikes. He has not been effective for several months now, because hitters have realized that they don't need to swing. His walk rate is astronomical.

Who gives a s*** if he doesn't give up HR's? If he comes in and walks the bases you are still surrendering the run. In case you missed it, he walked the next two guys after giving up the HR. A guy who walks 7+ batters per 9 can NOT be a high leverage reliever. This is Little League baseball knowledge.

Yeah and SerAnthony came in and gave up a homer too.

I guess we should have gone with Hoffman? Surely he wouldn't have given up a homer (he actually lead the league).

[Big_Walleye]

1 minute ago, metafour said:

What a load of crap.

Little can not throw strikes. He has not been effective for several months now, because hitters have realized that they don't need to swing. His walk rate is astronomical.

Who gives a s*** if he doesn't give up HR's? If he comes in and walks the bases you are still surrendering the run. In case you missed it, he walked the next two guys after giving up the HR. A guy who walks 7+ batters per 9 can NOT be a high leverage reliever. This is Little League baseball knowledge.

Who should he have used.  Dominguez? The guy who gave up the slam that cost them the game?  Hoffman?  Who was going to close?  You're the one with the little league brain apparently. 

[Big_Walleye]

4 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

For his MLB career, Little has a 16.9% HR per FB.

Bassitt has 10.9%

If a primary objective was to keep the ball in the yard, JS had better options

His career #'s don't mean s**t.  He was a different pitcher this year.   He led the league with 79 appearances and gave up 2 homers!

[Jimcanuck]

2 minutes ago, Big_Walleye said:

His career #'s don't mean s**t.  He was a different pitcher this year.   He led the league with 79 appearances and gave up 2 homers!

Lol that's ridiculous.  Are you new to baseball and reliever volatility?

Little has been one of the worst relievers in baseball for months.

[metafour]

Just now, Terminator said:

Yeah and SerAnthony came in and gave up a homer too.

I guess we should have gone with Hoffman? Surely he wouldn't have given up a homer (he actually lead the league).

You go with your best available pitcher. Which is NOT Brendan Little and hasn't been for 2+ straight months now.

Are you guys being serious? Every detail about that decision was atrocious:

1) Little has been empirically terrible recently.

2) Right handed hitters have been crushing Little recently.

3) Bringing him in flipped two switch-hitters to the to bat righty, both of whom are BETTER hitters as righties. So not only has Little been terrible against RHB as of late, but you also got the more dangerous versions of both Raleigh and Polanco.

 

[jmomcc]

5 minutes ago, Big_Walleye said:

Who should he have used.  Dominguez? The guy who gave up the slam that cost them the game?  Hoffman?  Who was going to close?  You're the one with the little league brain apparently. 

I would have preferred dominquez or fisher. Dominquez with a clean inning i feel decent about. 

[Brownie19]

27 minutes ago, glory said:

Honestly the one thing JS said that made sense was Little is hard to square up. I would have probably expected 3 straight walks instead of a HR and 2 walks, but either way, it was a stupid decision that has been universally panned (with good reason). 

Yeah - the one thing Little doesn't do is give up bombs.  I didn't have much confidence in him, but that's not how I expected it to go down.

[Jimcanuck]

Using Little was like the Yankees using Weaver.

Might have been good once upon a time, f***ing gas cans now.

[metafour]

9 minutes ago, Big_Walleye said:

Who should he have used.  Dominguez? The guy who gave up the slam that cost them the game?  Hoffman?  Who was going to close?  You're the one with the little league brain apparently. 

You are too stupid to speak with seriously.

wHo wAs goInG tO cLose?

The 8th inning there was the most high leverage situation of the game. THAT IS WHERE YOU USE YOUR CLOSER.

You figure out the 9th inning when you get there.

What you DONT do is throw in a trash-can who hasn't thrown a strike in 3 straight months to face Seattle's best hitters. Little literally looked like he was going to cry before he even threw a single pitch. He also blew Game 1 in case you forgot. He is rattled and has been rattled all playoffs.

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, metafour said:

You go with your best available pitcher. Which is NOT Brendan Little and hasn't been for 2+ straight months now.

Are you guys being serious? Every detail about that decision was atrocious:

1) Little has been empirically terrible recently.

2) Right handed hitters have been crushing Little recently.

3) Bringing him in flipped two switch-hitters to the to bat righty, both of whom are BETTER hitters as righties. So not only has Little been terrible against RHB as of late, but you also got the more dangerous versions of both Raleigh and Polanco.

 

I don't like the move to Little but I am curious as to who you think was the slam dunk choice there?

[Big_Walleye]

4 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

Lol that's ridiculous.  Are you new to baseball and reliever volatility?

Little has been one of the worst relievers in baseball for months.

He led the league in appearances and gave up 2 homers.

[Big_Walleye]

1 minute ago, Terminator said:

I don't like the move to Little but I am curious as to who you think was the slam dunk choice there?

The armchair managers can't think that far ahead.

[metafour]

Just now, Big_Walleye said:

He led the league in appearances and gave up 2 homers.

So in a 1-run game, the only way to blow it is if you give up a HR? There is no other possible way for the opposing team to score on a pitcher who was running a ~6.00 ERA in his last 21 appearances?