glory

The return was light at the time. Kay was an older prospect and SWR was so young that we had to hope he was acquired pre-breakout. To be fair, it did look for a while that the Jays did in fact get SWR pre-breakout, so the deal started to look better afterwards, but hindsight is now matching what many felt at the time. The fact that the main part of that trade (SWR) + the 5th pick in the following draft were traded for a pitcher pretty much on the same level as Stroman kind of makes it worse now, except Stroman is signed to a much better contract. Of course, Berrios could always bounce back next season and resemble the 3-4 WAR starter that he normally is, but year 1 of 7 hasn't been good.

Merrifield has turned into a good pickup.

Playing both catchers at the same time has been the team's best lineup all season but we very rarely see Jansen DH'ing. Hopefully when Kirk catches Manoah in the playoffs, Jansen is at DH. There's really no excuse to not run that lineup for all 3 of the WC games and hopefully into a deeper playoff run. Only exception would be if Springer can't play the OF, but let's cross our fingers and hope he stays healthy from now until Friday.

Yeah I remember how it felt in 2015 for the Jays drought to finally be over and to be able to watch the Jays in the playoffs again. Happy for Seattle fans.

Canadian viewers don't count towards ESPN's ratings, and the Jays don't have Ohtani or Judge or someone that ESPN can market to US audiences (Vlad isn't there yet), so they are not going to prioritize the Jays when filling out the time slots. If it's Jays/Tampa, then prepare for a 12:30 pm EST timeslot. If it's Jays/Mariners, then one would think they'll at least throw a bone to Seattle fans and start it at 3:30-4 PM EST (at the earliest) so it's a reasonable time on the west coast. If the Mets have to play in the WC round, then NY is definitely going to get the prime time slot given its market size. Then on the other side they'll have Pujols in St. Louis, so that will get attention too. It's the AL games that are going to be a bore for most of America since it will involve a Canadian team, two smaller market teams that can barely get 10k into their own stadiums, and the Mariners who if J-Rod plays might be the only team that a national audience in the US would care about given how long of a drought they had. The AL games are going to get the s*** time slots.

Manoah shouldn't be used in Game 162 regardless. The Jays are in the playoffs and they can't win the division. Make sure Manoah and Gausman are pitching the first two games of the WC series, whether it's home or away.

I'd be surprised if all of Tapia, JBJ, and Zimmer are not on the playoff roster. JBJ has vetrin presents so his spot is likely set, and the club obviously feels Tapia is the greatest below replacement level player in history given his playing time all season, so I doubt that changes in October. Zimmer is the one likely on the bubble if they had to subtract one of those 3, but he's also probably best suited on a playoff roster as a pinch runner/defensive replacement given he's great at both of those things. Ultimately I think all 3 will get in even if everyone's healthy. Tapia is starting at least one of the WC games. I don't know how, or why, but he will.

I didn't even consider the time zone issue for the Mariners. Starting their series at noon, regardless of their opponent, would be unfair to Seattle fans. Same with the Padres. So yeah, if it's Jays/Rays, then it's pretty much guaranteed to be the earliest game (or Toronto/Cleveland if the Jays somehow collapse down the stretch). If it's Jays/M's, then it's likely later in the afternoon/early evening, unless ESPN/MLB want to be cruel to Seattle. Honestly, as long as the game is not at the Trop, I don't care what time it starts.

Just looked up the 2020 TV ratings for Jays/Rays, and they were really bad. That could have been for a number of reasons (pandemic, election, no fans, etc), but that seems like a matchup that would get tossed in the 12:30 timeslot on ESPN2 or something. Canadian viewers don't count towards ESPN's ratings, and while Tampa gets good local TV numbers, I don't think their fanbase stretches beyond that. My guess is Toronto/Seattle might get the better timeslots if J-Rod plays. But yeah, it really depends on what the official matchups are. ESPN is going to put the games they think will draw the best in the most desirable time slots, so based on the above matchups, the NL is likely getting top priority in that regard.

I was surprised by the attendance as well as I was expecting closer to a sellout. The Jays have pretty much locked up a playoff spot but they are still fighting for homefield in the WC round so they are playing for something, and it's against the Yankees. Judge's chase is the closest thing to a national story baseball has had in a long time. ESPN hates baseball and even they are interrupting College Football games to show Judge at bats, so there has to be some national interest for them to do that. Maybe that doesn't translate over to Canadian audiences. The fact that it's the AL/"clean" record doesn't hold the same weight as it would have if the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds stuff never happened. The WC round starts on a Friday so I don't think anyone has to worry about tickets sales for that assuming the Jays are hosting, although the games are on ESPN, so it's going to be the death timeslots most likely (ex. noon). Toronto fans are going to show up for playoff games regardless.

Berrios starts tomorrow, so he's my guess.

Vlad will be a FA at age 26 going into his age 27 season. Bichette at age 27 going into his age 28 season. So on top of being sons of rich former MLB players, they also know they won't be old as f when they reach free agency. I still think the Jays end up signing/extending Vlad, and losing Bichette to free agency, but I'm basing that off nothing.

I've said before I will have to see it to believe it as far as Stripling starting Game 3 of the WC round, but I don't see how that's even a debate at this point for the team/front office. My guess is that they'll go with Berrios in Game 3 if the series is at home, since his home numbers are a lot better than his road numbers, and I have a suspicion they want to show faith in him after just signing him to a long ass deal so that might factor in as well. We will see. If the series is on the road, then the Jays would be nuts to go with Berrios in any of the 3 games.

The Jays push Manoah to 113 pitches to get through 7, but then take out Stripling after 5 when he's at 76 pitches. Never doubt the analytics.

This is why Manoah shouldn't be pitching in game 162 and missing the WC round just for home field. Big game pitchers pitch in the big games.

Yeah, if the end result is a 3 game series in Tampa for the WC round, then I want Manoah, Gausman, and Stripling in the 3 games. If the Jays lose, then they lose, but go with your best. I still have a bad feeling that Berrios will be starting a Game 3 regardless, but I hope the Jays prove me wrong there.

On the plus side, it looks like Stephen Nelson is the main PBP guy in the booth for the Yankees game. I'm not familiar with his game calling but the only thing I know about Apple TV games is that one broadcast with Melanie Newman as the lead announcer is unlistenable, and the other is less offensive, so Judge is getting the the less offensive of the two broadcasts if that's the case. Pujols would be getting screwed if he hits his 700th, but that's probably not happening tonight anyway since he needs 2 (possible but not likely).

I believe there was talk that Apple would bring in Michael Kay and the YES booth to announce only during Judge at bats, and go back to the regular Apple TV crew for the rest of the game. Not sure if that is happening or not, but clearly people within the game are worried about Apple announcers messing that call up.

Yeah, something like that wouldn't be Schneider's call. Home field is important, especially if facing the Rays, but not sure I'd make that trade off losing Manoah for the WC series. It's not even a guarantee the Jays win game 162 with Manoah on the mound, and I don't want 2022 Berrios anywhere near a mound during the WC series.

Let’s see if the Jays have the balls to start Stripling in game 3 of the WC series.

Yeah seriously. Pearson better be a 1 inning max reliever going forward.

Wow. That’s a Charlie quote right there. Not good. With the WC round coming up, decisions like that are kind of scary.

Is Bass hurt/unavailable? He should be in this game right now.

Yeah on top of all the amazing offensive numbers, Judge has played quite a bit of CF this season and is a positive defender there. So even on defense he is extremely valuable. There is no question he should be the MVP this season.

Judge hits 60 and then a walk off grand slam for Stanton. Wow.