John_Havok

Jesus Montero killed in a car accident earlier. Played for the Ms in the bigs and for the Jays system in Buffalo. RIP

There were 3 scenarios possible. Series over. Jays up 3-2. Jays down 3-2. Any outcome that wasn't "series over" is positive.

There havent been any late and close games for the Jays this post season really though...Pretty much every game has been a blowout one way or the other. You wouldnt pitch him when youre down 2 or 3... he got the save in the Yankees series in the 5-2 game. Are people advocating/suggesting he should have started the 8th inning a 2-2 game?

It happens all the time now, usually from idiots who lost bets

Dunno why everyone is so upset, this literally the 2nd best scenario the Jays could have been on after going to Seattle down 2-0. Last nights game was just a bizarre game where crazy stuff that almost never happens, happened.

That'll do nicely

Vlad needs to be in ambush mode

Barger just being timid up there. Not ready to swing. 1st pitch was a middle-in cookie...if youre not looking for that, wtf is the plan? I can understand him not swinging at strike 2 since it was up and away and he sucks there...but he was clearly guessing slider on strike 3 and not ready again. Terrible PA.

Good lord Barger... swing the bat ffs

Seattle just became extremely in favour of robo-umps

Kirk got some real favorable calls there lol. Strike 4 really....but, f*** it. Here where we need the damage

Keep it going Kirky

This is where guys like IKF and Gimenez shine... pitchers that serve up cookies because they dont want to turn the lineup over to the top. BOOM

Are the mouthpieces ever tired of being wrong about IKF and Gimenez? Hahahahahahahah!

I'm somewhat surprised more sinker/slider guys don't try backdooring hitters with that sinker more often in 2 strike counts. Hitters are programmed to be expecting/guarding against that slider so much that anything that starts off the plate outside, they'll give up on it really early anticipating the slider. You'll get that K looking a decent amount of time, they'll roll over it a lot of the time, and it forces to the next guys to keep the sinker in their mind for the 2 strike counts, which should make the slider even more effective. PLus, i think it was the perfect pitch. It was a strike according to Savant by the width of a c*nt-hair.

Yes, his player option includes a 4m buyout if he doesn't exercise the player option. Unless the Jays negotiated for Cleveland to pay all or part of it, they'll have to pay it out. It would absolutely crazy for Bieber to exercise his player option if he's fully healthy. The only thing I can think of is that he signs a renegotiated deal with the Jays that tacks on years IF he exercises his player option to stay. Something like, he announces he is exercising his option and the Jays add on 3-4 years at 20+ per year.

Gausman cruising right now. Just 55 pitches after the 5th. Jays hitters definitely look a little jumpy, not being overly patient

He threw a full bullpen friday so he's definitely not available today, and most likely not tomorrow given his injury comeback. Game 3 in Seattle would be a decent guess for an appearance, even if it's not a start.

Alot of that will be dictated by the score and who's coming up in the Mariner's lineup next inning.

You truly don't know the basics of baseball contracts do you....

Just based on pure star power... Seattle gets the edge certainly when it comes to both pitching and offense. But the Jays are a far greater sum of their individual parts. That's probably the best way to describe the Jays this season honestly. There's some greatness there no doubt in Vlad, Bo, Springer, Kirk and Gausman, but the role players are just being plugged and played so well and their strengths being played to it's pretty amazing to see the results.

To a certain degree, it can be a little pedantic as "What defines a #1 vs an ace".. etc etc. are the aces the 6+ fWAR guys? 5.5+ ? 5+? Or, just the top 3-5 SPs each year regardless of WAR? If we take the 6+ FWAR - There's only 4 aces in the league, or 4 if you allow for leeway in fWAR ... Skenes(6.5), Skubal(6.6), Sanchez(6.4) and Crochet(5.8). Are the #1s that arent aces in the 4.5 to 5.5 range? That list is Webb, Yamamoto, Fried, Brown, and Luzardo. But, that type of system then discounts the guys that come up late, or come off injury and put up solid #'s on a per game basis but just arent there long enough to accumulate the fWAR. Is Schlittler a #1? Snell, Ragans, Woodruff, Megill, Lopez... all those types fall in there. Hunter Greene? Trevor Rogers... There's probably some what to quantify it based on combined per game stats, actuall stats etc, but as we all know for SPs, staying healthy is huge. But, to continue your eval of Gausman, I agree. He'd be a solid #2 on any staff in baseball where you'd also get the occasional flashback to the Gausman of the past like we saw with his CG not too long ago. Really right now for starters the Jays are counting on Gausman, Yesavage and Bieber. Not the worst trio by any stretch and if they are all at their best, they can match Seattle's top 3. But when you look at the question marks and what ifs, you'd probably lean towards Seattle having the edge.

No, the problem with using #'s from the staff is that they won't be facing the entire staff, the garbage relievers that contributed garbage numbers wont be on the roster. Take their top 4 starters and top 4 relievers #'s vs the Jays top 4 starters and top 4 relievers and I bet the edge is solidly on the side of the Mariners. Offense overall is about tied as far as wRC+ goes, but how they got those numbers is different. Mariner's 238 HRs, Jays 191. K rates, Seattle 23.3% (7th worst in MLB), Jays 17.8% (1st overall). Despite trailing in HRs by alot though, Jays SLG was higher than Seattle, .427 to .420, largely due to hitting 294 doubles vs Seattle's 234. and outhitting them overall 1461 to 1345. Basically, Seattle can put it over the wall better, but they don't put it in play as much. Jays put it play far more, and find the gaps far more. Defense is so far tilted to the Jays it's not even remotely close.

Rough way for the Phillies to lose - pitcher forgets how many outs there are and instead of taking the force at first tries to throw home and airmails it. That guy has to feel like s***

Which they will. Jays fans travel well to Detroit too, and Detroit will also try to lock out Jays fans. Happens every year in the playoffs, every home team does it to opposing teams.