Governator

Yea it's a major overlooked problem. It's one thing to hire a bunch of analytical data nerds, but it's another to take the data given to you and be able to make a logical coherent decision. Atkins was a minor league player himself, he's been around the game his whole life and should know that scenario is just playing with fire. At the very very least, wait for a fresh inning for Kikuchi. You can go to your BP in that scenario if you felt the need to throw a lefty and salvage the inning unscathed (That's kinda their job) but going to Kikuchi in untested waters was just plain dumb. He didn't even last 2 innings, so what did they gain out of it? I'd rather be tied 0-0 in the 10th than down 2-0 in the 9th.. Edit: Also while I'm ranting, VLAD needs to get benched going forward after making boneheaded plays so it's driven in his head what his role is on this team. A manager needs to be able to set the tone on young players on what they expect out of them and what they never want to see. Getting picked off at second with a runner in front of you during the most important at-bat of the season is just inexcusable. It's actually embarrassing for the whole team that worked so hard all season for them to see that from their franchise player.

No analytics can convince me it's a +EV move to put a starter in a reliever position with a runner on base, who hasn't done any relief pitching all season (and only a handful of times in his career). It's an obvious red flag to whatever math they ran. This isn't a video game where that works. And now that I'm more aware this was an Atkins decision, I stand by that the one responsible should be fired for this. Schneider should have said hell no because he might lose his job for them to save face anyway.

Nailed it... It's also worth noting that even if he looked a LITTLE bit off that inning (which he wasn't), bringing in a starter with a runner on, not even a clean inning is a horrible decision in itself that isn't talked about. Kikuchi pitched as a starter in every game he played all season, in fact 122 of his 132 MLB career games over 5 seasons. It's literally why you have a bullpen and a lefty specialist.

The reaction of this board is hilarious. Shatkins are able to at least sign legit free agents for once who've been very durable and panned out as they hoped. The ones talking about AA like he's some God, had to trade for players with huge risks with a very limited window of opportunity, huge financial commitments (Thanks Tulo) because no one except disgraced Melky Cabrera would sign here in the offseason. Whatever they are doing, they at least are able to build a f***ing team with the dollars given to them. Like it's their fault Vlad sucked balls all season or Springer wasn't Springer. No one predicted the offense would crumble like pie all season. One thing is for sure though, Schneider looked like a fool again and I have no problem if he gets fired.

Minimum 130 wRC+ and leads the Jays' roster of regulars in the postseason

And if Vlad happens to be the hottest hitter on the Jays, we change your display name for next year

Is 4:30 just preshow time or first pitch? I feel like it's not going to start until 5pm after all the player intros.

I really hope we can give Gausman some runs to work with out of the gates. Springer leadoff bomb please.

lol

Man you had me for a minute there lol

I think you have to put your roster in before game 1 for an entire series.

I like to think that's the beauty of baseball. The odds of every player, playing up to their ability in every big game moment is simply improbable and always means there's a chance. Whether that's Castillo, Romano, or the nonsensical collapse of Texas' defense in 2015 in a single inning which is always overshadowed by the bat flip. I also think, most of us preferred to lose the final game to get the 3rd WC spot if the stars aligned and it worked in our favour.

I still find it crazy how Astros went from 3rd WC, and arguably playing their way out of the postseason less than a week ago to division champs and 1st round bye. Got to love baseball and today is the best day of the season.

knock on wood

Agreed. Also, Twins have lost 18 postseason games in a row... if we can't make it 20, we've failed.

I mean.. injuries aside, Sonny Gray has been about as consistent as he could be the past 5 years, what are you talking about? Also, you can never call a team that lead the league after 162 games 100% luck or even s*** for that matter, especially coming from the AL East... that's absurd.

Would you rather face a well rested Os team in a best of 5 or face them in the ALCS best of 7?

Scenarios

Funny thing is, I can imagine TB might be throwing the game tomorrow as well so they can avoid Astros playing on the road. This could be interesting

I've been trying to avoid the tie breaker crap in hopes we just win but my qsn is if Mariners win tonight and Astros lose, where does that put things? Is the only way in is if we win tomorrow or if Mariners lose one of the next two or Astros lose the next 2?

Not to mention they got great pitching and we were 3-3 on the season against them. All that said, I'd rather face the Twins than any other team in the postseason.

Well when I lost $500 last year in my fantasy pool because the Dodgers rested their regulars on the final weekend, they definitely didn't care about competing lol.

I don't know but shouldn't every regular be resting this weekend?

We get to control our own fate, lets just win the next 2. TB should be playing duds at this point, no?

Is there a way to quantify how much our improved defense played a role in the success of our pitching staff? Maybe on an overall basis? Just curious