Terminator

I'd sign or trade for a 5th starter and then fix Mitch White (to the extent he even needs to be fixed he had a 3.76 FIP for us) to be the long man/6th starter. Zulu and Tiedemann in AAA.

I'd strongly consider leaving Kikuchi in the bullpen. SSS but he had a 16.2 K/9, 4.42 BB/9 and a 2.28 xFIP. He can live with a BB/9 that high as a reliever.

I'm still so freaking pissed off at Schneider. From pulling Gausman, to ignoring the splits against Santana, to putting in Tapia when the game called for a defensive sub...he completely screwed up the biggest game of the season. You could even make the case that he screwed up one of the biggest games in franchise history. I thought he did a good job taking over for Montoyo but this completely stains his managerial career IMO. My guess is he gets retained and I do think he can learn from this and get better but it's almost like nothing he does from here on out, short of the team winning a WS, will ever make up for the fact that he screwed up an 8-1 lead in an elimination game. I hope he gets canned. He definitely deserves it.

No idea why Schneider went with Tapia. If he goes with JBJ we win.

Were the Mariner bloop hits falling (1) bad luck bad (2) bad fielding or (3) bad managing? Probably a mix of all 3. Tapia let a fly ball drop in the 6th that had a 55% catch rate and another one in the 8th that had a 30% catch rate. Springer's collision ball had a 75% catch rate. If any of those three balls are caught the Jays likely win the game. JBJ was riding pine this entire time, even after one of our OF left the game with an injury.

I just got back to my hotel after attending the game. Not even really sure what to say but I think it would be therapeutic to at least share something. 1. Atkins traded for Bass at the deadline and the Mariners traded for Luis Castillo. Gabriel Moreno didn't log any playing time during the series while Jansen and Kirk, two talented Catchers in their prime, both played well. 2. Schneider rode Mayza like he was Munoz or something. Puzzling decision to turn Santana around like that. At this point in his career he's basically a platoon bat that should only face lefties. It put them right back in the game. 3. A lot of this was just dumb luck by the Mariners as their bloop hits fell but I feel like the Jays OFers could have caught some of them and they didn't. Both Tapia and Springer had a shot on some flyballs and they both failed. JBJ rode pine up until the point the game was tied at which point we needed his bat. He should have went into the game for Merrifield. If he does we probably win. Another odd choice by Schneider. 4. I'm blaming Schneider a lot and it's mostly the fault of the relievers (even Romano who let Adam Frazier and his .311 SLG line a double off him) but he did make some bad decisions and his post game comments were infuriating. He looks more no-nonsense than Montoyo but it's barely the case. He's another laid back player's manager. I think we should pay for a veteran manager with playoff experience. We have a talented core but we keep pissing away our chances. 5. I'm not really sure what the team sees in Tapia. He logged a ton of playing time this year and continued to do so in the playoffs. As much as they play him it seems like offering him arb is a possibility but I really hope they don't. He's a jack of no trades who does everything below average which makes him a terrible bench player.

Not sure. They usually like to stick us with the early games but are they really going to make Seattle fans watch this game at 9 am their time? I think we might get early evening.

I will also be making my home playoff debut. Hoping to sit close enough to the Jays dugout so I can give Schneider some tips.

Glad Judge is having a s*** end to his year. I hope he stays at 61 too.

Pujols up to a wRC+ of 150 on the year. He hasn't done that since his age 30 season in 2010.

Hopefully Berrios throws a good game tomorrow and we win and get it all wrapped up and can rest everyone we need to heading into the playoffs. I don't think there is any way the Mariners win 4 games in 3 days, even if they are playing the Tigers (who have won 9 out of 10 games). The Mariners would probably have to tax their high leverage relievers to get that done and they might be in the same boat as us on Game 162 in wanting to set up their rotation and bullpen.

^Someone check my math.

Today's games were huge for home field advantage. Here are the scenarios for the final series of the season. Jays go 3-0 or 2-1 and we clinch home field no matter what the Mariners do. Jays go 1-2, Mariners have to go 4-0. Jays go 0-3, Mariners have to go 3-1. If the Mariners go 2-2 or worse, we clinch no matter what. Good job Jays and good job A's.

Kirk is a 23 year old 4 WAR stud. He'll be fine through the duration of his control which ends before he even turns 30. If anyone is going to fall off completely it's the oft injured soon to be FA or the prospect who has power concerns. Kirk is the safest of the 3, not the riskiest.

Whit Merrifield is slashing .270/.317/.450 for the Jays. Max Castillo's ERA is 5.95 on the year, 7.90 since the trade. What an absolute steal of a trade. Pretty sure this is what got Dayton Moore fired.

Yeah great point. Jays on the whole have a better playoff roster than regular season roster seeing as the rotation is top heavy with two aces and a solid mid rotation starter. Berrios is fine for the final starter but with a deep bullpen we can afford to pull anyone who is struggling pretty quickly.

They barely even have any guys hitting above a .700 OPS. I think they have 3 total.

Their lineup is terrible. You'd have to think Manoah and Gausman would dominate and the series would be over.

So trade the young controllable guy who just put up 4 WAR in favor of the no pop rookie and the oft-injured soon to be FA? Got it.

A's up 4-0, if this holds the Jays definitely get home field with a series win against the O's. Likely get in going 1-2 as well.

I'm telling ya he's on roids. It's his last year so he thinks he can probably beat the final few tests he gets down the final stretch of his career. On top of it, what are they going to do? Suspend a legend from his remaining half season? Not a chance.

Mods

Will the Mariners be tinkering with their rotation to try and set it up for the postseason too? Seems like they might and on top of it they have a double header against the Tigers which is going to force them to use someone not normally in their rotation. Are they going to want to use all their good relievers too or will they want to rest some of them? That double header could come up big for us. Also, the Tigers have won 7 of 8. This is going to be really close but if the Jays go 3-1 they should be fine. 2-2 even gives them a decent chance. That Orioles series with Berrios, White and Koch is scary though. The Orioles hate us so they are going to try and spoil home field for us for sure.

So if the Jays end up hosting the wild card games what time are the games going to start? I would assume the early games, is there any indication at what time those will be?

Yeah she's not bad. Pretty vanilla like most of them are but she puts up with all the shenanigans well, is likable enough and is miles better than Arash Madani.