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Pompey was given the starting CF position in April 2015 after only 43 MLB plate appearances in 2014. Travis proved that he could hit whereas Pompey showed that he wasn't ready. What makes you so keen on Pompey? I was a fan of Pompey because he is from Mississauga, and I still am a fan of Pompey, I just don't think he is ready to be on the 25 man playoff roster as some have suggested. If Devon Travis started in 2015 the way Pompey did, would Travis have been the starting 2nd baseman after April? I think not.

I wonder if Bautista is mocking Kawasaki?

Not for me. I would rather look at his current abilities not what it was when he was still learning to hit at the major league level.

I have no idea what you mean. Are you saying his 43 plate appearances in 2014 with a wRC+ 105 is proof that he is a starting CF? Now he has 93 plates appearances in 2015 with a wRC+ of 59 - http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12797&position=OF Get serious. I want Pompey to succeed as much as anyone but I am being serious.

Do you realize that since the start of June until yesterday (396 plate appearances) he had a wRC+ of 105 - http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=12434&position=OF&type=&gds=2015-06-02&gde=2015-09-26&season= . Once today's contribution is taken into account he should be at 106 or 107 wRC+ over his last 400 plate appearances (I will check it once it is updated early tomorrow morning). Pillar is on the rise. Let's see if after the last game of the regular season he will be at 110 wRC+ since the start of June (hardly just a hot streak). I am very glad that the Blue Jays have Pillar defensively in CF and offensively going into the playoffs. He is an impact player both defensively and now offensively.

How is Pompey ready? Pompey was rushed into a starting role this year because he is Canadian, however he needs a couple of more years split between AAA and the Blue Jays to show that he is ready before the Blue Jays should trade someone with the potential of Pillar.

What about that Pillar kid. Future All Star, am I right or am I right

Very exciting game. Smoak (future 100-RBI player), Donaldson (MVP), future All Star Pillar and amazing Cecil all made big contributions. And of course, BBBB's GDT added that 0.001% that won the game. (it's black magic or Big Bouncey Blue Balls magic ). Thanks for that little bit of effort you made.

Will be interesting to see if they play with intensity today. They still have to win the AL east and hopefully best record overall. At the very least, I expect the Blue Jays to win the AL Championship but I am hoping they will win the World Series also.

The Kansas City Royals seem to be over-performing based on their runs scored versus runs allowed. (source: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp) Kansas City: 89 wins - 65 losses total runs scored = 694 (4.51/game); total runs allowed = 626 (4.06/game) Toronto Blue Jays: 89 wins - 65 losses total runs scored = 848 (5.51/game); total runs allowed = 627 (4.07/game)

Infield defense and all around defense is a big issue with the pitching. Once the Blue Jays improved their defense with Tulowitzki and Revere (plus Price and Stroman), the team ERA dropped dramatically after the All Star break. The Blue Jays had several good defensive players but until they had good defense at all positions the team couldn't crack 0.500. Pitching and positional defense go together. However, pitching is a big part of it, as we have seen with Hutchison; often he needs a lot of runs scored to win. Just a couple of interesting facts: (source: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp#20150729 ) Up to and including July 28th Blue Jays were 50 wins - 51 losses (101 games) total runs scored = 530 (5.25/game); total runs allowed =436 (4.32/game) July 29th and after, once Tulowitzki started and soon after Revere, Price and recently getting Stroman back Blue Jays were 39 wins - 14 losses (53 games) total runs scored = 318 (6.00/game); total runs allowed = 191 (3.60/game)

I just realized the identity of the mystery player who is often in the Blue Jays dugout. It is Michael Saunders - http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/9d7ae42f97c0e995266c9f26a272ff2527f44ca6/c=277-0-4618-3264&r=x513&c=680x510/local/-/media/2015/05/10/USATODAY/USATODAY/635668653441386090-USP-MLB-Toronto-Blue-Jays-at-Tampa-Bay-Rays.jpg

It didn't seem like any of the players (Jose Bautista or Josh Donaldson) were treated with any more respect than Barry Davis. Barry Davis was in the middle of the celebration so he probably expected to get mugged and drenched with champagne. I think the players welcomed him into the celebration even though they probably preferred not to have cameras rolling.

Kansas City Royals are now 12-17 since August 25. I wonder if they will even make it to the AL championship; they might lose to Texas or whoever wins the AL West. Right now it looks like: Blue Jays versus wild card (probably Yankees) and Kansas City versus Texas Blue Jays versus Texas for AL Championship Blue Jays versus Cardinals for World Series I hope I haven't jinxed the Blue Jays.

Yes, he has become a good, experienced GM.

If it is a blow out win and he just has to field for an inning or two, then maybe since he can throw and field. It would be good to get him into a game for an inning or two. He could go in for Goins or Pennington and then be subbed by Darwin Barney in the field and a pinch hitter.

I think this story makes it definite that Tulowitzki will be on the 25 man roster instead of Kawasaki - http://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2015/09/25/blue-jays-tulowitzki-willing-to-wait-until-the-playoffs-before-returning.html

Explanation on how the Blue Jays have already clinched at least a wild card berth - http://m.mlb.com/news/article/151749062/blue-jays-technically-already-in-postseason However, if the Blue Jays only get the wild-card berth then that will be a major disappointment and would require a very poor finish in the final 9 games.

I actually expect him a have a better year next year. We will have to wait until next year to see, or just see how he does for the remainder of the year, and in the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see. Ben Revere is doing well defensively in RF and has a history of getting on base, Pillar has established himself as the CF and his All Star hitting potential is easy to see (once he becomes consistently patient at the plate), Bautista still seems to have a few years of production left in him. I see Pompey as starting 2016 in AAA Buffalo, and I don't really see a future for him in Toronto. Saunders is a big question mark. I see Goins as a utility infielder next year with Travis at 2B. Pennington probably won't be back with the Blue Jays since he has a $3.3 million dollar contract for this year and would have to take a big cut to match Goins $500K minimum. Darwin Barney might be in the mix, perhaps splitting time between Buffalo and Toronto. Hopefully Tulowitzki can stay healthy for a few years. One thing that I think Gibbons and AA realized from this season is the importance of good defense. Hopefully it will be the end of good offense/poor defensive players in Toronto. I hope that Toronto won't have to endure watching players like Juan Francisco in Toronto any more (having him on the Blue Jays in 2014 showed how inept AA was last year).

You are probably right; it seems like hitting ability can only be improved to a limited extent by hard work (in any case, I think Goins needs to focus more on hitting than defense if he wants to stay in the major leagues, since defense seems to be natural for him). Even though a run saved is as important as a run scored, defense isn't valued as much as offense so I can see Ryan Goins' future as being similar to that of Darwin Barney's (who won the Gold Glove in 2012 but spent most of the year in AAA).

The bottom four went 6 hits for 13 ABs, plus a walk and 2 sacrifice bunts. They also had 3 runs scored and 2 RBI's - http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2015_09_25_tbamlb_tormlb_1#game=2015_09_25_tbamlb_tormlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup The exception was Goins; he had 3 strikeouts. The last strikeout was a headshaker - 3 pitches in the strike zone in almost the exact same spot and he missed all 3 (what happened there Goins, were you swinging for the fences?). All four players Goins, Pennington, Barney and Pillar played errorlessly; no outstanding defensive plays were required, however Pennington showed a strong arm at 3B.

This has nothing to do with the above conversation regarding BABIP. The fact that BABIP doesn't include home runs makes it difficult to consider BABIP numbers as valid for home run hitters since batting AVE includes home runs and BABIP doesn't. I don't see why BABIP doesn't include home runs (other than the fact that they aren't technically "balls in play"). If baseball fields were 500 feet from home plate to the fences then most home runs would drop in for a hit (probably double, triple or four-bagger).