Laika

I dunno. This just seams fair. Toronto needs to get by a nemesis and New York needs to win some real games too. NYY: Warren, Schlittler, Gil BAL: Rogers, Sugano, Bradish The Yankees have their work cut out for them if they want to sweep or even win 2 of those games. Rutschman just came off the IL three days ago too.

Yeah but other than Scherzer none of these guys were likely playoff contributors

Varland + Lauer is a way better playoff idea than Max Scherzer

Michael A Taylor redemption home run

That swing decision by Vlad was so hilariously bad. At least Barger has a pitch to hit when he decides to hack away

I dunno man. What if he actually has elbow inflammation? This could be bullish news. Some kind of surgery, rest, or rehab combo and he might have some useful starts left on this contract. Dude touched 97 and sat 94 for his entire career, including 2023 and 2024. This year he started off without any of that top end velo and lost like 2 mph over the year. If you look closely at the below chart this velo drop off may have started at the end of 2024. Nobody is going to want him. Toronto could not eat enough money to make any trade make sense. Unless there is a 1 for 1 bad contract swap for some other player owed a similar amount of dead money. Only hope is that he might have the kind of injury that can actually be corrected. Does he need elbow surgery? Not the worst thing in the world if he does. He was projecting to be an SP6 quality guy anyway.

Honestly, pitchers these days probably look at these lineups and only game plan for George and Vlad Everyone else is cake

If Raleigh can pass Judge's AL record it will be too much narrative and Cal will run away with the voting.

Can just make the decision on Sunday I guess. I agree with your thoughts. If a win seals it, have to use him because that win is worth as much as winning an entire wild card series. The downside though is you burn him for the WC series by using him ugh. Imagine having to start Scherzer in game 1?

Or lose tonight, fall 1 game back, then sweep the Rays while New York loses in game 162

Some of that is suckage. Some of it is randomness. Sept 23rd, lose 4-1, outhit 9-3 Jays had a .292 xBA vs Boston's .246 xBA! Sept 18th, lose 4-0 Had just 4 hits on a .289 xBA! Sept 17th, lose 2-1 Had just 4 hits on a .258 xBA! Kirk 3 run homer robbed. I mean MOST of it is the hitters sucking but there have been a few unlucky games and that makes the bad stretch into a brutal stretch.

The sober truth might be that the Blue Jays just don't have good enough pitching to win from here on. Since August 1st, Toronto has a 98 Stuff+ and 98 Location+ as a staff. That's 24th out of all MLB teams (Pitching+). Their xERA is just as bad. It wasn't much better earlier in the year. And the rank is the same since Sept 1st. If the playoffs began today, the Blue Jays 713 Runs Against would be the highest of all playoff teams. The only wild card contender with more runs against is Arizona. The pitching staff is probably worse than the Chicago White Sox for perspective (722 RA with a horrendous defense). The only teams that are *obviously worse* than Toronto at pitching this year are the Rockies, Nats, Angels, Marlins, Athletics, and DBacks. I know the offense has been the focus for the last week but the team is top 10 in runs for the year, since August 1st, and mid-pack since September 1st. I guess for the playoffs we just... hope the other team lines out a lot? Get lucky? Hope the opposing SP has a blister?

Lauer should be good to go so I am guessing he gets most of the innings after Varland So it was really a choice of Lauer over Berrios. Perhaps some insight into the playoff roster pecking order there. If they have to use Scherzer or Lauer in a playoff game, it might make sense to have an opener like Varland ahead of them. That extra 2%.

Are you implying that you'd rather see Berrios start? You want to throw this game too?

Scherzer the Hangman

Lose the division but win the World Series anyway 💪

Yet another horrendous PA from our 86 IQ superstar in the clutch

True Just sucks the Yankees won the Shane Smith game. That was one they could have really lost. Need Baltimore to spank them.

Well it's both Needs perfect location because the stuff is not good

Yank him now. Now.

A 2025 pro scouting report on Manoah would be 30 and 40 grades across the board and a FV that is not MLB relevant. Org guy projection

I don't think so. His MiLB numbers are horrible this year, he's 28 next year, he has s***** stuff now, he would require a 40 man spot and an arbitration price tag of like $2.2M which could pay for a few minor league free agents. It's not that complicated. Moving on from dudes when they are cooked is a skill.

Horrible night but honestly sort of one of those games where nothing goes your way More than one liner or hard hit ball down the line that went just foul or was called foul Ump taking two runs from them s*** like that

Brutal inning for Gausman Got ahead of guys and then missed his spots terribly giving up those hits Jays need to try this. Hit a mistake pitch hard. What a concept

People only want to keep Manoah because of the sunk cost fallacy, basically Dude looked horrendous pre injury and he looks horrible now in the minors. It is what it is. Many random minor league free agents will supply better SP depth next year. The org that signed Eric Lauer to a minor league deal can make better use of that 40 man spot.