Mike LeSage

In speaking with reporters at the Winter Meetings last week, including Diamond Centric's own John Bonnes, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was asked about the Manager of the Year award. He offered a very typical Schneider response (quoted below) that was equal parts self-deprecating, boastful of his team, and reflective of his players and position. It’s the kind of answer you would expect from him and a perfect response from a PR perspective. It would be wildly out of character for him to come out and say, ‘Y’know what? I did deserve that award, and I was screwed by the BBWAA!’ That’s where I come in. John Schneider deserved that reward and was screwed by those who voted on it! In 2025, Schneider made some decisions that left me scratching my head at the best of times and yelling obscenities at my TV at the worst of times. One example, the one I probably had the biggest problem with at the time, was a series of pitching decisions down the stretch that forced the Jays into a bullpen day, with the division tied and Toronto (likely) needing to win out over the final four games of the season. As was the case for most of the season, the decision broke Schneider’s way, and the Blue Jays would win the game behind Louis Varland, Eric Lauer and Yariel Rodríguez’s perfect opening six innings. The plays often went Schneider’s way – enough so that the Jays finished as the best team in the American League. Over the course of the season, it became clear that the trust Schneider had in his players was reflected in the trust they had in him. He worked his way up through the levels of Toronto's system on the managing side, alongside many of the players that now make up his roster. In 2024, the Jays finished 20 games back of the division lead; in 2025, they won 20 more games than the year before. That kind of improvement is the type of thing that often swings voters when deciding on the Manager of the Year. Of course, much like in the playoffs, Schneider fell just short. Stephen Vogt is, by all accounts, a very good manager, and I can’t say that I watched enough Cleveland Guardians games to be fluent in his play-to-play decision-making, but I can certainly go through the kind of things that have been brought up as reasons to swing a vote his way rather than Schneider’s. The comeback: Vogt’s Guardians made the biggest comeback in the modern era, erasing a 15.5-game deficit from early July and an 11-game deficit in September alone. A historic comeback, no doubt, but Vogt wasn’t a mid-season replacement – he was the manager that led them to that deficit too. If you want to give him credit for the comeback, he’s gotta wear the blame for having them in that position. Cleveland went 20-7 in September, but if Detroit doesn’t have an equally (un)impressive collapse (7-17), putting up the worst record in the majors outside of Colorado, the comeback doesn’t happen. The Jays, meanwhile, don’t have an impressive comeback to point to. All they did was lead their division from the start of July through to the end of the season. Overcoming adversity: Vogt lost Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz in July amid a gambling scandal. Losing your closer and a starter unexpectedly is always going to be tough. But, managing gaps in your lineups from a player(s) absence is part of the game and the manager's job. Giving Vogt extra credit for the scandalous nature of two of those absences is disingenuous. Again, as with the comeback, Vogt was the manager when the scandal was happening, and, if we want to be hyperbolic, he allowed it to happen. If we look at it as purely a loss of players, the Jays had 21 players miss time to injury through the season, and the Guardians only had 16. Advantage Schneider. Payroll: The Jays had the fifth-highest payroll in the majors, while Vogt made do with the 25th-ranked payroll. On the face of it, this one seems more skewed in Cleveland’s favour. Historically, the Manager of the Year has gone to a team with a payroll outside of the top third of the league. To a degree, that makes sense. The less money a team has to spend, the more impact the manager needs to have (in theory). Of course, the disparity also has a lot to do with where the teams play; the AL East and Central are in different financial divisions. The East was home to the third (NYY), fifth (TOR) and 12th (BOS) highest payrolls in the league last season. The highest payroll in the Central, meanwhile (the Tigers’ $179M, 17th overall), would’ve ranked fifth in the East, ahead of only the stadium-less Tampa Bay Rays. Holding the Jays' payroll against Schneider while ignoring divisional competition is a cop out. The MotY is typically awarded to the skipper of the team that most outperformed its pre-season projections. Steering a Jays team that finished 20 games back of the division in 2024 and had the best record in the AL in 2025, you'd think Schneider would be a shoo-in for the award on this criterion. Both the Jays and Guardians were projected to be bubble playoff teams in the AL. MLB.com had us in the fourth tier of playoff hopefuls in their season primer. The Guardians were in the fifth tier. Regular season award votes are cast before the playoffs, so the Jays' run to the World Series vs. the Guardians’ Wild Card appearance doesn’t skew things, but ‘overcoming the odds’ means different things between the two divisions. We’re over 1,000 words in at this point, and this is where I’d normally wrap up with something like “The voters may have gotten this wrong, but everyone in Toronto can agree we’ve got the best manager in the league.” Not everyone in Toronto does agree, however, and one of those people in particular had an impact on the outcome. The AL MotY voting panel is made up of two writers representing the city (or state) of each team in the league. Both Cleveland voters had Vogt first. Schneider also had to settle for down-ballot votes from the Boston, New York and Tampa Bay writers. One Tampa ballot left Schneider off completely – rivalries run deep. Vogt, by contrast, split votes among writers from Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota and Chicago (both Chicago voters had Dan Wilson first and split Vogt/Schneider in the second and third spots). Toronto Sun writer Rob Longley had Schneider #1, Vogt #2. The other Toronto writer was Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star. She went with Vogt. DiManno’s co-worker at the Star, Mike Wilner, talked about the vote on his Deep Left Field podcast. While DiManno declined to appear and discuss her vote, she did share with Wilner her reasoning. We’ve already covered what I think about the gambling suspensions and the Guardians' comeback. John Schneider didn’t lose the award by one vote, so it’s a bit of a moot point, but to say that he didn’t have anything to do with the positive atmosphere in the Jays' clubhouse seems insane to me. Even if he only contributed by seeing a good thing happening and staying out of the way (something previous managers may have struggled with), he deserves credit for that. He said it himself: Award or not, John Schneider managed the team of the year. View full article

When the Blue Jays made the first big splash of the offseason by signing Dylan Cease, it was understandably the talk of the town. One curious thing I noted in the early discussions was the framing of the potential Toronto rotation. The most egregious (in my opinion) came from a TSN Instagram post. The post, straightforwardly titled “Potential Blue Jays Rotation in 2026,” showed Cease, centred in the foreground, flanked by Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage. Behind them, representing the potential fourth and fifth starters were Shane Bieber and… Eric Lauer? No disrespect to Lauer, who was one of the (relatively) unsung heroes of the 2025 team and arguably, at times, the most important member of the rotation, but that’s Berríos’ spot. We were all caught a little off guard by the Cease signing, so I don’t want to put *too much* weight on a social media post from the network that doesn’t have the rights to the Jays — but it was something I noticed. Then it was Cody Ponce coming to Toronto on a three-year deal. Owen Hill laid out some of the possible ramifications for Berríos, and it comes down to how Toronto intends to use Ponce. Is he the fifth starter, or does he slide into a Lauer-type role? Those are questions you could fairly ask about Berríos, too, Then it was a Mitch Bannon report that the Jays “will listen to trade offers” for Berríos. Let’s not forget, Berríos wasn’t just one of the 38 different players to throw a pitch for Toronto last season. He’s been the Opening Day starter in three of the four seasons he’s been here since the Jays acquired him from Minnesota in 2021. Given the time of year, I’ve been watching a lot of holiday-themed programming. I was all prepared to use the Island of Misfit Toys as a comparable – “What good is a Machine that’s lost its calibration?” – but I’m not sure that Berríos is as broken as that premise would lead us to. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Berríos wasn’t great last season. His ERA (4.17) was the worst it’s been in three seasons, he threw his fewest innings (pandemic-shortened season aside) since 2017, and despite the drop in innings, he still walked more batters (56) than in any season since 2018. A quick look at his peripheral stats isn’t much better. His Statcast percentile ranks graphic is bluer than an Elvis Presley Christmas (there’s the seasonal analogy I needed!). His average fastball velocity was the lowest it’s been since he came to Toronto, while his average exit velocity and barrel rate were both at their highest. So where is the bright side? Berríos’ season ended with a career-first appearance out of the bullpen, followed by another career-first: a trip to the injured list. Here’s where I’m going to throw in some speculation. I think he was pitching hurt most of the second half of last season and potentially longer. He was a little shaky out of the gates to start last season, but in May, he showed serious improvement, and in June, he was the best pitcher in the rotation. We recognized it at the time, and he was Jays Centre’s Pitcher of the Month in June and a runner-up in May. Looking at his splits, the numbers really spiked in July/August/September, culminating in that IL stint and a full absence through the playoffs. His arm angle was lower than in the previous two seasons, which could point to a player who was just gritting his way through the season, trying to maintain the IL–free streak he had through his career to that point. If that were the case, he certainly wouldn’t be the first player to ever try to mask an injury and ‘play through it.’ We’ll shelve the discussion of whether that’s heroic or stupid for another day. Considering that he had over 1,500 career innings pitched without ever hitting the IL, maybe pitching through pain has gotten him through previous seasons. Ross Atkins told reporters that Berríos should “have a completely normal offseason and be ready for spring training.” I don’t want to completely hand-wave away his 2025 season, but if the results were influenced by injury and he’s healthy for next season, isn’t he a lock for at least the last rotation spot? John Schneider has shown himself to be loyal to “his guys,” and Berríos has a track record of durability if nothing else. When the announcement was first made of his move to the ‘pen in September, Berríos said a lot of the right things about wanting to help the team and doing whatever it took to win – but he was less convincing than some of his teammates when similar moves occurred. He is undoubtedly a guy who wants to start. He’s also a guy with three years remaining on his contract. Now, if the trade rumours are anything more than ‘of course we’ll listen to a trade offer for a player, we’ll listen to an offer for anyone on the roster, that’s literally our job’ then would Toronto be selling low just to clear salary? I think the most likely outcome is that Berríos goes into spring training as a Blue Jay and starts the season as the fifth man in the rotation. His days as the Opening Day starter are likely behind him now, but there’s nothing to definitively suggest that he can’t put up close to 200 innings with an ERA around 4.00, and if that’s your fifth guy, that’s not bad. Toronto was also more aggressive with its management of pitchers last year than in previous years, and if Berríos breaks camp in his expected spot, it might be with the shortest leash of his career. View full article

Last month, Jesse Burrill looked at the Blue Jays’ depth on the corners. Today, I’ll be looking at the middle infield options throughout the organization. In 2025, 10 different Blue Jays took a turn at either second or short, with half of them spending time on both sides of the keystone. As much fun as Myles Straw’s turn at second base was, I don’t think he’s in consideration for playing time there this season. Similarly, Will Wagner and Buddy Kennedy’s one start each at second would have them out of contention, even if they weren’t already off the team. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Michael Stefanic both made it to double-digits up the middle, but they have elected free agency and are unlikely to be back. So, let’s start with a look at the remaining five players who have been there before. Andrés Giménez — fWAR: 1.0, wRC+: 70, Fielding Run Value: +6 The lock. The Jays traded for Giménez last year, and he is under contract through the 2029 season. He’s not going anywhere. The Platinum Glover missed time due to injury in 2025, which likely cost him another defensive award, but on the defensive side of the ball, he was exactly as advertised. There was hope (especially when he hit the first Jays home run of the 2025 season) that his bat would show some improvement, but instead he set career low marks for average (.210), SLG (.313), OPS (.598) and wRC+ (70). This feels like a bit of a repeat from heading into last season, but we all know the glove plays, and we just hope the bat is closer to league average. The real question now is which side he’ll play on. After playing the majority of his time at second base, he shifted to shortstop to close out the regular season and spent the entire playoff run at short. He didn’t look at all out of place, despite not having played a major league inning at shortstop since 2022. Like many Blue Jays, Giménez’s positional flexibility will allow the front office and management to get creative when filling out the roster. Bo Bichette — fWAR: 3.8, wRC+: 134, Fielding Run Value: -10 The big question mark. Technically a free agent, I think most would agree it’s fair to be discussing Bichette here. In a lot of ways, Bichette is the perfect ‘buddy cop/odd couple’ pairing with Giménez. One no bat/all glove and the other a liability in the field, but can flat out hit. Bichette played in 139 games last year (his most since ‘22) and set a career-high mark for doubles (44) and average (.311). That BA was second in the league, behind only Aaron Judge. Bichette’s 181 hits were second only to Bobby Witt Jr. He received some down-ballot votes for AL MVP and hit one of the most memorable home runs of the 2025 playoffs with his World Series Game 7 blast. He is absolutely going to get paid this offseason. The first question is: by who? Bryan Jaeger recently looked at Toronto’s payroll flexibility, and while there is no question that Rogers can afford to bring back Bichette, there will be other suitors. The second question is: where would he play? Injury forced him to second base (and DH) for his World Series return to the lineup, but there is desire from the fanbase to make that move permanent. My preferred middle infield for 2026 has Giménez at short with Bo at second, so the last question might become the most important one: how much of Bichette’s contract negotiations will have to do with where he’s going to play? Ernie Clement — fWAR: 3.2, wRC+: 98, Fielding Run Value: +5 (+10 overall) The ErnDog played more defensive innings than any Blue Jay last season. 593 of those innings were up the middle. If Bichette goes elsewhere, Clement is potentially the first option to fill the spot internally. A trio of great baseball minds agree — to varying degrees (hi, Leo, Jesse and Jim!). Clement’s bat obviously doesn’t come close to Bichette’s, but if that spot is taken care of, then the offense can be backfilled elsewhere on the roster (in theory) with an external addition or the return to form of Anthony Santander. If Bichette returns, Clement can still fill the infield utility role he held in 2025, moving through the positions as teammates need time off or as the lineup is optimized for each opposing pitcher. Davis Schneider — fWAR: 1.3, wRC+: 127, Fielding Run Value: 0 (-2 overall) Schneider had a bounce-back season at the plate, which, in the early weeks, didn’t look to be on the horizon. He broke spring training with the big league club and then proceeded to go 0’fer in his first nine games before getting a hit in his 10th match to raise his average to .067. That long-awaited hit wasn’t enough to stop a mid-April demotion. He came back up in June, and while he didn’t set the world on fire, he played capably at multiple positions and ended the year with improved stats across the board. I don’t think Schneider is anyone’s first choice to fill a middle infield spot (again, in a Bo-less future) with any kind of length, but he’s solid enough that he can be called on in a pinch, and like much of the roster, that flexibility provides additional value. Leo Jiménez — fWAR: -0.3, wRC+: -19, Fielding Run Value: +1 Jiménez appeared in only 44 games across all levels in 2025 (18 in the majors). Limited by hamstring issues and a nasty bout of mono, he did not take the step forward that many in the organization were likely hoping for. He went 2-for-29 (one homer) with the MLB club during his July call-up. He’s another glove-first player, but even at that, he’ll need to hit better than .069 if he hopes to stick in his next shot. It’s worth noting that in 2024, he hit .229 over 63 games and 179 ABs. Over two seasons in the majors, he has played 36 games at second base and 44 at shortstop and could be another flex piece depending on how the roster shakes out (and what his bat does in 2026). The Pipeline There are players in the Blue Jays’ system that may one day see time at the major league level, but at this point in the offseason, it would come as a shock if any of these were impact names in 2026. Where applicable, I will be using FanGraphs’ projected ETA to the majors from their most recent prospect list, and Jays Centre’s top prospect list for each player’s ranking within the organization. JoJo Parker: 2025 first-round pick, #2 prospect, ETA 2030 Arjun Nimmala: 2023 first-round pick, #3 prospect, ETA 2028 Juan Sanchez: 2024 amateur signing, #10 prospect, ETA 2031 Josh Kasevich: 2022 second-round pick, #11 prospect, ETA 2027 Charles McAdoo: 2023 13th-round pick, acquired via trade, #14 prospect, ETA 2027 It is always a balancing act with prospects between the potential future and the win-now window the Blue Jays are certainly in. While it would be interesting to consider a 2029 middle infield of McAdoo and Nimmala, the likelihood of any of the guys on that list switching positions (or organizations) before making their MLB debuts is not outside the realm of possibility. Addison Barger came up through the minors starting out as a middle infielder before settling into the 3B/RF role he occupies now. All of this to say, hold your prospects lightly. View full article

My head says 'no', but my heart says 'yes'. Olerud and Votto the next to garner support when their respective nominations come up?

I'd re-sign Bo (on the condition that he's our new 2B) and then I confused Cease with Clase and thought you were suggesting a new kind of moneyball that included wire fraud and money laundering - which, if Rogers was into, could inflate the budget. Give me Bo at $26 and bank the rest.

I haven't put on my accounting department hat yet, but I want Bichette back as our second baseman at almost any cost. Bassitt, the guy I was most okay with letting walk, really turned me around with his work out of the pen and his post-series comments. I would welcome Scherzer and Bieber back with open arms. The active roster can't hold all the guys I want on it... tough decisions to be made for sure.

Pre-game - Win Probability: 50% Max Scherzer gets the ball in what is likely the final start of his career. Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho swap places in the batting order, but otherwise it’s the same lineup as Game 6. The Dodgers' lineup is unchanged. Shohei Ohtani gets the start for the Dodgers, going on three days' rest. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. arrived wearing a Marie-Philip Poulin Team Canada jersey, and if he can channel half of the power of Captain Clutch, we’re in for a good night. All the cliches are in effect, every player is available - to pitch, to bat, to run - whatever is asked of them. The first time the MLB season has started and ended outside of the United States of America. Let’s keep the trophy up here! First inning - Win Probability: 50% Ohtani leads things off with a single and makes it as far as third. Guerrero makes a diving stop on a Will Smith grounder and flips it to Scherzer for the first out. Freddie Freeman flies out, and Mookie Betts grounds out to leave the top half scoreless. George Springer gets things started for the home side with a single. Nathan Lukes strikes out, and then Guerrero strikes out (looking) on a full count and with Springer running. Springer held up on his run (thinking it was a walk? Forgetting where he was?) and was thrown out in the weakest strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play I’ve seen since little league. Second inning - Win Probability: 50% Scherzer has an efficient inning, striking out Max Muncy and getting fly outs from Teoscar Hernández and (a deep one from) Tommy Edman. Mad Max is through two innings with 20 pitches. Bo Bichette walks to start the inning, and Barger singles behind him. Two on, none out. Alejandro Kirk pops out, and Daulton Varsho flies out to Teoscar. Ernie Clement hits a single to right field that might have scored anyone else in the lineup, but the hobbled Bichette is (correctly) held at third. Bases loaded. Andrés Giménez goes down on strikes to leave the bases full. Ohtani is up to 43 pitches, so that’s something at least. Third inning - Win Probability: 82.1% Scherzer gets the Dodgers to go three up, three down again with Kiké Hernández flying out, a Miguel Rojas strikeout, and Ohtani with a lineout that Nathan Lukes made a terrific catch on. Springer leads off with a single, and Luke's sacrifice bunt moves him up to second for Guerrero. The Dodgers elect to pitch to Vladdy, but after Ohtani's wild pitch allows Springer to take third, they decide to walk Guerrero and take their chances with Bichette. Bo responded by hitting his first career postseason home run (+20.5% WPA)! 3-0 Jays! That would be Ohtani’s last pitch of the game as the Dodgers turn to Justin Wrobleski to keep the game in reach. Barger would get a single, but outs by Kirk and Varsho end the inning. Fourth inning - Win Probability: 75.8% The Dodgers would load the bases, but get only one back in the fourth. Varsho would make an incredible diving catch on a ball hit by Teoscar, and Guerrero made a diving catch of his own into foul territory to retire Edman and limit the damage to one run. 3-1 Jays. Clement grounds out to the inning, and Giménez, after three pitches up and in, takes one off the hands for an HBP. Giménez used some choice words to question Wrobleski’s ability to throw strikes. Wrobleski, in turn, used some choice words of his own to let Giménez know that he was interested in escalating the matter. Tensions might already have been elevated around the diamond, but this was enough to empty the benches. *Everybody* came running. The bullpens emptied. It was a brief interlude of chaos in the midst of an already historic game. Springer would single, and Lukes would strike out. That brought Guerrero to the plate and Tyler Glasnow into the game to pitch to him. Guerrero would line out to end the inning. Fifth inning - Win Probability: 78.6% Scherzer would start the fifth and get a strikeout of Kiké Hernández. A single to the #9 hitter (Rojas) would bring Louis Varland out of the ‘pen to face Ohtani. Pre-game, I mused about how Mad Max would pitch in his potential final career start. After watching him through four and a third tonight, I think he might pitch in 2026. Shohei would be single, but Varland induced flyouts from Smith and Freeman to end the frame. Glasnow gave up a single to Kirk, but otherwise worked an efficient inning. Glasnow, at one time slated to be the starter in this game, is looking like he might go a few innings. Sixth inning - Win Probability: 82.2% Chris Bassitt came in for the sixth and issued a walk to Betts to open the frame. Betts would come around to score on an Edman sac fly, but again, the damage was limited to one run. 3-2 Jays. Bottom half, and Ernie Clement leads off with a single, tying the major league record for hits in a postseason at 29. Giménez would hit a double into the right-centre gap for a double. Clement would ditch his helmet and perform one of the most beautiful and unnecessary slides into home I’ve ever seen. The Jays had their two-run cushion back. 4-2 Jays. Seventh inning - Win Probability: 86.9% Another record holder, Trey Yesavage, would enter the game to face the top of the Dodgers' order. A walk to Ohtani and a fly out by Smith brought Freeman to the plate. He would hit a ball up the first baseline that Guerrero fielded cleanly and executed a textbook 3-6-3 GIDP. Vladdy’s second great defensive play of the game. Emmet Sheehan would be next out of the ‘pen for LA, and he worked a quick bottom of the inning. Kirk got a single, but the others around him retired. Eighth inning - Win Probability: 84% Yesavage would stay in for the eighth and got groundouts of Betts and Teoscar, but between them, Max Muncy would homer (-9.9% WPA) to bring the Dodgers back within one. Jeff Hoffman entered the game to get the last out of the inning - a groundout by Edman. Ernie Clement led off the inning with a double, putting him at second base and giving him sole possession of the record for hits in a postseason with 30. That would bring Blake Snell out of the Dodgers' bullpen. Giménez hit a ball hard at the third baseman, Muncy, who was playing in to protect against the bunt. The ball had an xBA of .590, but Muncy got his glove up and made the catch. Snell then struck out Springer and pinch-hitting Davis Schneider to end the inning and leave Clement stranded at second. Ninth inning - Win Probability: 50% Hoffman stays in, and the Jays are three outs away from becoming champions. He gets Kiké Hernández to strike out. He gets the #9 hitter, Rojas, to a full count and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, hangs a slider that ends up 387 feet away for a home run (-35.4% WPA). Tie game. 4-4. An Ohtani flyout and a Smith strikeout keep the game tied and send the Jays to the bottom of the ninth with a chance to walk it off. Guerrero hit a ball deep, but Edman was there to make the play. Bichette would single, Barger would walk, and then Yoshinobu Yamamoto came into the game, and Kirk would be hit by a pitch. Bases loaded, one out, tie game. Daulton Varsho hit a ball to Rojas at second. The throw came home, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who was in as a pinch runner for Bichette) was called out. The Jays challenged the call—it was certainly close, and it appeared that LA catcher Smith may have lifted his foot as the throw came in, breaking the connection with the plate. The call was upheld, the runner out. Bases were still loaded, but now two out, and the hit machine, Clement, was at the plate. The ErnDog put a charge into the ball, but Andy Pages, who was in the game as a defensive substitution, literally ran over left fielder Kiké Hernández to make the catch on the warning track, end the inning, and send game 7 to extra innings. Tenth inning - Win Probability: 50% Seranthony Domínguez came in for the first of the extra frames and started with a deep flyout from Freeman. He would then load the bases with a Muncy single (-8% WPA) sandwiched between walks for Betts (-5.9% WPA) and Teoscar (-13.5% WPA). Pages, who had only just come into the game, hit a grounder to Giménez, who came home with the throw for the force out and kept the score tied (+18.1% WPA). Then an incredibly tight play at first ended the inning (+17% WPA). The game was still tied. Yamamoto stayed in the game and retired Giménez, Springer, and Myles Straw in order. Eleventh inning - Win Probability: 0% Shane Bieber got the call for the eleventh and quickly got two weak groundouts to retire Rojas and Ohtani. Then Will Smith came to the plate. After two balls well out of the zone, Bieber put a slider right in the middle and Smith hit it out (-41.5% WPA) to give the Dodgers the lead with their third homer of the game. The Jays' bats would come up needing one to tie and two to win. Yamamoto stayed in to face them. Guerrero doubled to left field (+24.4% WPA) with his 29th hit of the postseason, moving him into a tie for the second most all-time. IKF executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Vladdy to third and bring Barger to the plate. He would draw a walk and put the winning run on first base. Alejandro Kirk then came to the plate. He would then become the final batter of the season, hitting a ground ball to Betts at short, who turned two and ended the game. This was a magical season. The Jays had chances in both Games 6 and 7 to have it end differently—just one more hit with runners in scoring position would've done it. We will celebrate this team and analyze these series, but for now, it just hurts. The appreciation will come, but until then, we just sit in the pain of the loss. Pitchers and catchers report in just over 100 days - there’s always next season. View full article

The Blue Jays went to Los Angeles after splitting the first two games in Toronto, and the return trip wasn’t guaranteed for either team. After a successful trip out west, the Jays made sure at least one more game would be played at Rogers Centre. Now we know it will be two. They’ve been called underdogs and Davids (next to the Dodgers’ Goliaths), over-performers and uncommon men, but by the end of the night, we might be calling them champions. In the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 5, Shohei Ohtani came to the plate. Ohtani was 0-for-3 at that point, a far cry from the terrifying performance he displayed in the marathon Game 3. Ohtani swung at the first pitch he saw, a middle-middle splitter from Seranthony Domínguez, and hit it up the first base line at just under 100 mph. The batted ball had an xBA of .440, but standing in its way was our Gold Glove first baseman: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He gloved the ball and tumbled backwards in the effort. His positioning had him close enough to first that all he had to do to record the out was reach out and slap the base (big time). The image of Vladdy, on his backside, in a postseason game, reaching out for a base, reminded me of something. In truth, it’s something I’m reminded of semi-regularly. I’m blessed to have some wonderful Twins fans in my life, but “Panda” Pete Leisen won’t hesitate to drop this picture into a chat – it helps to keep me in check. It’s from the last playoff game the Blue Jays played before this postseason: Game 2 of the 2023 Wild Card round. That was only a couple of years ago, but right now, it feels like a lifetime, so if you’ll allow me a moment of reflection, let’s look back at that game and that team. José Berríos started that day for the Jays, and if you didn’t immediately recall the specific game, that might jog your memory. Berríos had five K’s through three innings. He gave up a single in each inning but left two of them stranded at first and erased the other with a GIDP. He was only at 34 pitches. The fourth inning started with a walk to the Twins DH, Royce Lewis, and, in a shock to many viewers, that ended Berríos’ day. Lefty starter Yusei Kikuchi came out of the ‘pen and gave up a single, issued a walk, and then another single before recording an out. That gave the Twins a 1-0 lead. They would score another on a GIDP and leave the inning with a 2-0 advantage. The Jays had a chance to get it back in the bottom half of the inning. A George Springer single and a walk to Guerrero put two on with two out and Bo Bichette at the plate. A wild pitch from Twins starter Sonny Gray moved both Jays runners up a base – Springer to third and Vladdy to second. Bichette, an All-Star that season who would later receive MVP votes, worked a full count and was exactly the guy we wanted at the plate. With the count full and two outs, the runners would be going with the pitch – anything in play should easily score both and tie the game. The crowd at Target Field was LOUD. So loud that Guerrero didn’t hear shortstop Carlos Correa coming in behind him or hear the yells from his third base coach, Luis Rivera. Guerrero’s first move back towards the base came after Gray started his turn to throw the pickoff attempt. It was close, and Vladdy asked for an appeal, but he was out. The base just out of reach. The inning over. The game would end 2-0. The Jays would have other chances in the game – a bases-loaded GIDP in the sixth inning also could’ve gone differently. But the thing I remember most about that game is Guerrero laying out on the infield dirt, base (and game) just out of reach. Now it’s on to Game 7, and the World Series is still within reach. It almost seems cruel that this whole season will come down to the outcome of a single game. This team has reached heights and set records we never expected. There remains one target left to take hold of. Can the Blue Jays grab it? View full article

It's Game 6 in Toronto, and the Jays have a chance to win it all. I’ll be tracking their win probability and key plays by inning. Pre-Game - Win Probability: 50% Devon White with the first pitch to Nathan Lukes is perfect. Matt Trueblood wrote about him earlier in the week, and it was nice to see him out there as always. White was my favourite player for his time with Toronto from ‘91-’95. A hype video narrated by Eugene Levy has me ready to run through a brick wall. Let's get to the action! First Inning - Win Probability: 50% Shohei Ohtani leads off as usual. Kevin Gausman is equal to the task and sits Ohtani down with a strikeout. Will Smith, same story, swinging strikeout. Freddie Freeman? You get one too. Gausman goes three-up, three-down and looks like the best version of himself. George Springer starts things off for the home side, returning to the lineup after missing Games 4 and 5 following his early exit from Game 3 with an oblique injury. He looks to be in significant discomfort after a pair of swinging strikes and ultimately grounds out. Lukes reaches first on a Max Muncy error (gotta keep your eyes on the ball!), but the inning ends on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. GIDP. Yoshinobu Yamamoto looks good, but beatable. Second Inning - Win Probability: 50% Gausman is cruising early. Two quick strikes on Mookie Betts ends with a groundout to Ernie Clement. Teoscar Hernández logs his eighth strikeout of the WS – this one on three pitches, ending with the splitter. Muncy works a seven-pitch at-bat but meets the same fate: a swinging strikeout on the splitter. Gausman at 32 pitches through two. Bo Bichette, back playing second base tonight, leads off the bottom half of the inning and gives Yamamoto his first strikeout of the game. Daulton Varsho pops out softly to the infield, and Alejandro Kirk follows that with a popout of his own to shallow CF. Yamamoto is at 27 pitches through two. Third Inning - Win Probability: 26.4% Gausman gets a favourable call against Kiké Hernández and logs his sixth strikeout of the game. Tommy Edman doubles on a hard line drive straight up the right field line and brings up the #9 hitter, Miguel Rojas. Rojas is playing second base and getting his first start of the series as Dave Roberts continues to shuffle the bottom of his order. Rojas is called out on strikes, and after his first time through the order, Gausman has K’d 7 of 9 hitters. With first base open and two outs, Ohtani gets the four-finger free base. Smith hits a ball into the left field corner, and the Dodgers score the first run of the game (-13.2% WPA). Freeman draws a walk to load the bases, and the cold-as-ice Betts comes to the plate. Betts gets a clutch hit that splits Clement and Andrés Giménez and drives in a pair (-16% WPA). 3-0 Dodgers. Teoscar goes down swinging to end the inning and stop the bleeding. Addison Barger leads the charge in the bottom half with a double to start the comeback. Clement would strike out and Giménez would ground out with the next two at-bats, but Barger advanced to third. Springer would bring Barger home with a single on a 3-0 pitch (+7.8% WPA). Lukes hit a fly out to end the inning, but the Jays got one back. 3-1 Dodgers. Fourth Inning - Win Probability: 24.2% After a long third inning where he faced eight batters, Gausman gets a nice, efficient inning, with a groundout and two popouts to retire the side (Muncy, Kiké and Edman) on nine pitches. He’s at 67 pitches total. Yamamoto paints the edges of the zone to start the inning off with a Guerrero strikeout. Bichette hits a single, but is quickly erased as Varsho hits into the second GIDP of the game for Toronto. Yamamoto is at 58 pitches. Fifth Inning - Win Probability: 21.4% Rojas flies out to Barger, and Ohtani comes to the plate with one out. This at-bat is a battle. Gausman throws nine pitches to Ohtani and eventually forces a groundout to Vladdy at first. Smith hits one hard, but Lukes is able to make the out and end the inning. Kirk leads off the Jays’ half of the inning and has a nine-pitch battle of his own, ending in a strikeout. Barger up next is called out on a borderline strike with a full count, which we’ll want to check the umpire scorecard on tomorrow. Clement singles on a ball that Betts gets to but can’t field cleanly. The threat ends on the next pitch with a Giménez lineout. Yamamoto is up to 75 pitches, while Louis Varland is warming in our ‘pen. Sixth Inning - Win Probability: 17.8% Gausman worked another efficient inning. A popout and two groundouts (Freeman, Betts, Teoscar), but he’s up to 93 pitches, and that might be the end of his day. If it is, it’s a quality start, and we just need the bats to come around. Springer grounds out on the first pitch he sees, and then, after a costumed-streaker delay, Lukes flies out to centre. Guerrero hits a double to the left field wall and (hopefully) starts a two-out rally. Bichette follows that up with a walk to put the potential tying run at first and bring Varsho to the plate. The best pitch Varsho saw was the first one, but he was a fraction off and fouled it away. He would go down swinging on a splitter out of the zone. Still 3-1 Dodgers. Seventh Inning - Win Probability: 13.1% Gausman’s day is officially over, and who else could it be but Louis Varland, first out of the ‘pen and making his 14th appearance of the postseason, tying the MLB record for playoff appearances by a pitcher. Varland quickly moved to the top of the pitch velocity chart and got Muncy and Edman to fly out with a strikeout of Kiké Hernández in between. Hernández was absolutely frozen on a middle-middle fastball that he was not expecting. Maybe a little bit surprisingly, the Dodgers lift Yamamoto in favour of Justin Wrobleski. So far, it looks like an okay call, as he quickly gets a strikeout of Kirk and a Barger groundout. Clement gets a two-out double to bring Giménez up. Giménez battled for eight pitches but ultimately went down on strikes and left Clement stranded. Eighth Inning - Win Probability: 7.2% Varland gets Rojas to fly out for the first out of the inning and gives way to Mason Fluharty. It’s now the fifth time Fluharty and Ohtani have gone head-to-head. Ohtani gets the better of this encounter with a double to left-center on a ball down and out of the zone (Statcast flags this as a would-be homer at Dodger Stadium). An intentional walk to Smith brings Freeman to bat with one out and two on. A fly out to Barger will end Fluharty’s day, as he makes way for Seranthony Domínguez to face Betts. Seranthony doesn’t get Betts to chase anything out of the zone and issues a walk to load the bases for Teoscar Hernández. A tough day for Hernández continues with another strikeout, ending the threat again and keeping the score 3-1. Roki Sasaki comes in to face the top of the Jays' order. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but if the plan is for Sasaki to close out the game, I don’t know who might be next out of the Dodgers’ bullpen if he falters. Springer fights off a splitter to start the inning with a single. Lukes flies out, and Guerrero walks to bring up Bichette, representing the go-ahead run. He would pop out into foul territory on a ball that *just* stayed in play. Varsho got a splitter in the middle of the zone but hit it right at the second baseman to end the inning. Ninth Inning - Win Probability: 0% Chris Bassitt comes in and shuts down the Dodgers, striking out the first two he faces (Muncy and Kiké) and then inducing a groundout from Edman to bring the Jays to the bottom of the ninth, needing two runs to tie. Things started rolling with Kirk taking a ball off the hands and leaving the game for Myles Straw as a pinch runner. Barger was next up and absolutely unloaded on a fastball that traveled 386 feet before landing right at the base of the wall and coming to an immediate stop. Straw and Barger both came around to cross the plate before checking to see how the umps called it. The wedged ball is ruled a ground-rule double (+25.8% WPA), and the baserunners return. The Jays had runners at second and third with none out. And then it was over, just like that. Clement popped out on the first pitch he saw. Then Giménez lined out to left field, and Barger took one step too far towards third and got doubled off to end the game. The Dodgers went down in order seven of nine times, and ultimately, the only runs were scored in the third inning. The Jays went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and will need that to turn around if they expect to be champions tonight. Now, it’s all eyes on Game 7. Max Scherzer is locked in to start for the Jays. Dave Roberts, in post-game remarks, wasn’t tipping his hand yet on who will start for the Dodgers, only going far enough to say it wouldn’t be Yamamoto. One game left in the season, everything on the line, and I still like our chances. View full article

I keep cycling back and forth between extreme confidence and moderate panic. One hell of a ride either way!

With the series tied 2-2 and the Blue Jays playing their final road game of the year, every play and every pitch was magnified. For this recap, we’ll be going inning by inning, looking at the key plays and how Toronto's win probability changed as the game went on. First inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 70.1% What a start! With the Dodgers sending lefty Blake Snell to the mound, the Jays countered the same way they did in Game 1, with Davis Schneider. The absence (but availability to pinch hit or run) of George Springer meant that Schneider would lead off the game. First pitch was 5:10 pm at Dodger Stadium. It was still 5:10 pm when Toronto went up 1-0. Schneider sent the first pitch he saw 373 feet over the wall and just short of the first row of seats (+9.8% WPA). Next up was Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who waited until the second pitch of his at-bat to one-up Schneider. Vladdy sent his pitch in the same direction but 21 feet further for his eighth home run of the playoffs (+9.1% WPA) and the Jays’ second of the game. In a postseason that seems to be full of firsts and records, this added another one. It was the first time in history that a World Series game led off with back-to-back home runs. It also moved Guerrero into sole possession of second all-time for hits in a single postseason with 27 (two back of Randy Arozarena in 2020). Trey Yesavage did his part in the bottom half, retiring the side in order. He got Shohei Ohtani to chop one back to the mound, Will Smith to fly out, and his first strikeout of the game, retiring Mookie Betts. Second inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 71.5% Addison Barger got the only Jays hit this inning, showing once again that maybe he can start regularly against lefties. Yesavage added 5.3% WPA on his own, striking out the side in order. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman each went down swinging on nasty breaking pitches (two splitters, one slider). Third inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 62.5% Yesavage picked up where he left off, striking out Max Muncy to start the inning, marking his fifth K in a row. Kiké Hernández would end the streak with his first home run of the playoffs (-11% WPA), cutting the Jays' lead to 2-1. A deep fly out by Alex Call would bring Ohtani to the plate with two outs and the bases empty. It was only the third inning, but surely the intentional walk had to be on Toronto’s mind. Instead, Yesavage would pitch to him… and log his sixth strikeout of the game. Fourth inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 75.5% Daulton Varsho would lead off the fourth and pull a curveball up the right field line. A hard-charging Teoscar Hernández had to make a decision to play it on the bounce or lay out to attempt the catch and ended up somewhere in between, allowing the ball to get by him and into the right field corner. Varsho would be held at third base with a stand-up triple (+9.6 WPA). Ernie Clement would bring Varsho home on a sacrifice fly. 3-1 Jays. Smith and Betts would start the bottom half of the inning off with a pair of strikeouts, bringing Yesavage’s total up to eight. It also brought him to 35 K's in the postseason – the most ever by a rookie. Freeman would get first base with a HBP on an 0-2 count and move up to second with a Teoscar single that Andrés Giménez got to but couldn’t corral enough to make an out. A well-timed mound visit by Kirk and a pop-out by Edman would get the Jays out of the inning and end the Dodger threat. Fifth inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 78.3% It was a quiet top half of the inning, with Guerrero grounding into a double play after Schneider started the inning with a walk. Bo Bichette then lined out to centre. Snell’s pitch count sat at 78. Yesavage starts the bottom half of the inning with his 63rd pitch and the Dodgers' 7-8-9 hitters due up. A Muncy groundout and swinging strikeouts for Kiké Hernández and Call brought Yesavage’s total to 10 and included one for every Dodger in the lineup (and two for Betts). Sixth inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 81.9% Another quiet top half with outs for Kirk, Varsho and Clement. Yesavage would start the sixth with Ohtani and the third time through the order. An incredible catch from Barger would retire Ohtani for the third time. Smith notched his second strikeout of the game and gave Yesavage a share of the record for most K's in a playoff game by a rookie (11). Seventh inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 96.5% A Blue Jays playoff seventh inning? Time to put the Dodgers in the blender. Barger, fresh off of his diving catch, got things started with a single. A Blake Snell wild pitch would allow Barger to take second. An Isiah Kiner-Falefa groundout and a Giménez walk would put two on with one out. Another Snell wild pitch allowed Barger to take third, and then, with his 116th pitch, he struck out Davis Schneider and ended his day. Edgardo Henriquez would come in to face Guerrero and throw the third wild pitch of the inning, concurrently walking Vladdy and allowing Barger to score (+7.1% WPA). Bichette would keep the line moving with a single to right field, scoring Giménez. 5-1 Jays. Yesavage came back out for the bottom of the seventh and started by striking out Freeman. That gave Yesavage his 12th strikeout and sole possession of the single-game rookie record. A Teoscar Hernández single set Edman up for an inning-ending GIDP. Yesavage came off the mound to a mob of congratulations in the dugout, signaling the end of his day. With that, he also became the first pitcher in playoff history to record 12+ strikeouts without issuing a walk (on 104 pitches). Eighth inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 99.4% Clement just keeps hitting. He started the inning off with a single, extending his hit streak to 11 games and leaving him one away from tying Pat Borders for the franchise record. Anthony Banda would add his name to the wild pitch column and allow Clement to take second, and a Barger groundout would move him to third. Then IKF would (finally) get his first hit of the series and an RBI with Clement crossing the plate. Seranthony Domínguez would get the bottom of the eighth and generate groundouts from Muncy and Ohtani to go along with a strikeout of Kiké Hernández, sending things to the final frame. Ohtani reached base nine fewer times than he did in Game 3. Ninth inning - Blue Jays Win Probability: 100% Noted shitbag Blake Treinen got Vladdy, Bichette and Kirk out on back-to-back-to-back groundouts. But it didn't matter. Three outs to go. Jeff Hoffman came in to get those three outs. Smith started things off with a single to defensive replacement Myles Straw. Straw would record the first out on a Betts flyout. Hoffman would get the final two outs on his own with K’s of Freeman and Teoscar. 6-1 Birds. Toronto will now fly home and prep for Game 6 at Rogers Centre on Halloween night. Kevin Gausman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will face off in a rematch of Game 2. Yamamoto was almost perfect the last time the Jays saw him, and he will have to be again if the Dodgers hope to stop the Blue Jays from becoming World Series champions. View full article

Like the classic SNL Weekend Update appearances from Ball Hader’s Stefon, this game had everything. Seven batters were thrown out on the bases, and almost every pitcher in the building was called on. Sandy Koufax was in attendance, and once the Dodgers ‘pen was empty, there had to be a chance that MLB would be petitioned to let him play. In the 17th inning, the Sportsnet broadcast reported that Dave Roberts was intending to put a position player on the mound if the game reached 18. It didn’t happen, but a total of 19 pitchers appeared in the game and combined to throw over 600 pitches. There were chances for Toronto before the game reached extra innings. The Jays went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base before the extra frames – six in the last three innings. They left two runners on in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth. The chances were there in extras too. Davis Schneider, who was in to pinch run for Ty France, who himself had been brought in to pinch-hit for George Springer, was thrown out at the plate in the top of the 10th inning. The 12th inning saw Toronto load the bases but unable to bring anyone across the plate. In the 13th, it was Los Angeles loading the bases behind two intentional walks and not being able to end the game. The Dodgers had two on in the 10th and 11th innings as well. There were chances. Let’s look at some of the plays and players that made a mark on the almost seven-hour game. Max Scherzer: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Mad Max came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Shohei Ohtani led the game off with a double and was then stranded on second base as Mookie Betts flew out to a hard-charging Addison Barger. Freddie Freeman popped out. Will Smith went down on strikes. Scherzer’s fastball was amped up, topping out at 96.4 mph – the hardest pitch he's thrown in over four years! A hung slider in the second inning was put into the stands by former Jay Teoscar Hernández (-11% WPA), but Scherzer responded by getting swinging strikeouts of Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández to end the inning. In the third, the damage was limited to an Ohtani solo homer (-10.2% WPA) thanks to an inning-ending play at the plate. The fourth was a cruise, three-up, three-down, and it became a question of how far Scherzer would go. Tyler Glasnow was lifted in the top of the fifth. Scherzer matched that effort and exited the game before facing Ohtani a third time. In the head-to-head matchup, Scherzer also induced more swings and misses (13 to 10) than his counterpart. Scherzer is lined up to pitch a potential Game 7 if the series goes that far, but if this was his last start as a Blue Jay, I’d say we got our money’s worth. Eric Lauer: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB (2 IBB), 2 K Lauer pitched one inning and finished Game 1 of the series. In Game 3, he was called on for much more. Coming into the game in the bottom of the 12th inning, with six pitchers between him and Scherzer, Lauer would record more outs than anyone. He used every part of the park too. Freeman (twice) and Smith both had deep flyouts to the warning track. Max Muncy hit one about 400 feet foul in the 14th inning. Teoscar sent one to the wall in the 16th. Like he had done all season, Lauer, thrown into an unexpected position, delivered. Alejandro Kirk: 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI Kirk came through with the biggest hit of the game by win probability added, prior to extra innings. With two runners on base, he came to the plate and was looking for a first-pitch breaking ball. He got it, thanks to a Glasnow curveball right over the heart of the plate. Kirk sent it 394 feet away and cleared the outfield wall for a three-run home run (+25.9 WPA). That homer gave Kirk the most home runs by a catcher in a postseason with five, tying Cal Raleigh this year and Sandy Alomar Jr.’s 1997. It also moved Kirk into second place for Blue Jays franchise home runs in a postseason – a mark that also stood as the old record until Vladdy hit his sixth in the ALCS this year. Kirk worked a walk in the 12th inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Tyler Heineman. Bo Bichette: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI Bichette led off the second inning with the Jays' first hit of the game. Daulton Varsho then appeared to take ball four and started towards first base. Bichette took a couple of steps towards second before home plate umpire Mark Wegner called the pitch a strike. Bichette was then stuck in no-man's land, and the Dodgers picked him off. What is the opposite of heads-up baserunning? Wegner unquestionably had the call wrong, but you can’t take those kinds of things for granted. Bichette would reach base again in the fourth inning on an error by Edman (+10.4% WPA) and come around to score. He would also drive in Guerrero before being lifted for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Addison Barger: 2-for-4, 1 R With the game 2-0 Dodgers and Freeman standing on second (after a borderline safe call on a steal), Smith hit a single to the cannon-armed right fielder. Freeman tried to challenge, but Barger unleashed a 98.5 mph throw (which, to that point in the game, would have registered as the fastest pitch thrown) perfectly to Kirk, who had all kinds of time to set and make the tag on Freeman to end the threat and the inning. After a single in the fourth, Barger went first-to-third on a shallow single by Ernie Clement and then sprinted home on a sac fly from Andrés Giménez. Barger was replaced with Myles Straw as a pinch runner in the eighth inning – a decision. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 2-for-7, 2 R It was a quiet night at the plate overall for Vladdy, but in the sixth inning, with Teoscar Hernández at first base, Kiké Hernández hit a grounder that was headed for left field. Giménez got to it and made a leaping throw to first. With his momentum carrying him away, the throw was offline. Guerrero stepped up on the ball and came up immediately, throwing to third to catch Teoscar trying to take an extra base. Guerrero’s throw was clocked at 87.6 mph and marked the second inning-ending assist to catch a lead runner of the game. In the seventh inning, Guerrero would reach on a single (on a ball that was WAY off the plate) and then go first-to-home on a Bichette single to right field (+21.3% WPA). In a nice form of fair play, Guerrero gave Teoscar Hernández the chance to throw him out at the plate, but the throw was wide and Vladdy got in just ahead of the tag. Shohei Ohtani: 4-for-4, 2 HR, 5 BB We’ve gotta give Shohei his own spot in this recap. In classic Tungsten Arm O’Doyle fashion, he did something that hasn’t been done in a World Series since 1906. His four extra base hits tie Frank Isbell (four doubles), who accomplished the feat 10 days before the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe. According to Sarah Langs, Ohtani is also the first player since Babe Ruth to have multiple 12+ total base games in a single postseason. His only blemish was being caught stealing (+9.9% WPA) after an intentional walk (finally!) in the ninth inning. He also became the only player in World Series history to reach base seven eight nine times (Kenny Lofton and Stan Hack both did it six times, which by the 17th inning seemed pretty pedestrian). No one had ever been intentionally walked four times before either. Game 4 is set to start about 16 hours after the end of Game 3. I’d bet a lot of players and personnel in the stadium are wishing there were a hotel attached, like in Toronto. Ohtani is the projected starter for the Dodgers, and he just played through an 18-inning contest. Shane Bieber, despite moving down to the Blue Jays bullpen, was not brought into the game, so he should be relatively fresh. Will the Jays have an advantage with players like Bichette, Barger and Kirk having been lifted early? What is Springer's status? All questions that will be answered in short order. So, get a quick nap in, Game 4 is coming! View full article

It was a classic pitchers' duel. Two aces at the top of their game with a mastery of their pitching arsenal, doing what they do best, for as long as they could. The game situation stopped at one, and the other by its conclusion. Let's take a closer look at the two aces. Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K,105 pitches I’m starting in a way I haven’t yet in these playoffs: highlighting an opposing player. That’s how dominant Yamamoto’s performance felt. The curveballs, in particular, were a force to be reckoned with. They were buckling players' knees, but still landing in the zone. Mixed with a well-located high-90s fastball and an effective splitter, he had the Jays bats in knots. As the game went on, the Jays looked less and less comfortable, and Yamamoto looked stronger and stronger. Toronto bats started the game with a double from George Springer and a single from Nathan Lukes to put runners on the corners with none out. For a moment, it looked like the Jays might have tapped into their Game 1 performance and found a way to keep the line moving. The inning would end without scoring a run. Ernie Clement would lead off the second inning with a ball that was (at the time of this writing) ruled a single, but really should go down as an error on Freddie Freeman. The next three batters would be retired in order, leaving Clement stranded at first. Springer went first to third on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single (Springer had reached base with a HBP) and would score on an Alejandro Kirk sacrifice fly. The Jays would end the third inning having scored their first run of the game - it would also be their last. From there, Yamamoto would retire 20 consecutive batters without giving up a hit, earn the win, and have all Jays fans hoping that Toronto wins the series in five games, so that they won’t have to face him again. He had 17 whiffs on 105 pitches, but it honestly felt like more. Now that Toronto has seen him once, a repeat performance would be more difficult, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. Kevin Gausman: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 82 pitches Gausman, for his part, was equal to the task for a long stretch. After pitching in relief in Game 7 of the ALCS, Gausman let John Schneider know that he wasn't at 100% to be the Game 1 starter, and as a result, that honour went to Trey Yesavage. Gausman got an extra day of rest and looked like he put it to great use. A Freddie Freeman double, followed by a Will Smith single to score Freeman in the first inning, was the only time the Dodgers got anything going early on. Gausman would end the first inning by striking out Teoscar Hernández and then go on to retire the next 16 batters he would face, taking him into the seventh inning (the longest start of his postseason career). Sarah Langs noted that it was the first time in postseason history that both starters would retire 17+ consecutive batters. Then it was Will Smith at the plate again. With a full count, he would crush a no-doubt home run (-21.3% WPA) to deep left field and give the Dodgers their second lead of the game. Two batters later, it was a Max Muncy solo shot (-14% WPA) that would chase Gausman from the game. Muncy’s homer was more of a doubter - it would have only been an HR in 13/30 parks (it would have been a flyout at Dodger Stadium) and was hit shorter than four other balls that were recorded as flyouts in this game. Toronto would then turn to their pen, and while there were some concerning moments from the recently dependable Louis Varland, Jeff Hoffman, and Braydon Fisher, the fact that the Jays couldn’t muster even a hint of a comeback made them retroactively meaningless. Now the series shifts to Los Angeles, and the power of Addison Barger’s couch sleeping seems to have worn off. Max Scherzer will get the start against Tyler Glasnow on Monday. Hopefully, the Jays can do to Glasnow what they did to his Tampa Bay alumnus, Blake Snell, in Game 1. After the dominating performance put on by Yamamoto, the importance of Operation: Get to the Bullpen has never been more apparent. Lastly, I would love to blame this loss on the Jonas Brothers in some fashion. Their ‘halftime’ show in the 5th inning was weird and out of place (the Stand Up to Cancer moment that preceded their performance was nice, but equally oddly timed), but again, the story of this loss starts and stops with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. View full article

When the Blue Jays' World Series roster was announced on Friday morning ahead of Game 1, we saw Bo Bichette added to the squad as was expected (at Joey Loperfido’s expense). The unexpected move was Ty France’s presence as an extra fielder, with Yariel Rodríguez being dropped for one less pitcher. The next surprise of the day came when the starting lineups were announced. Bichette was in the lineup, but starting at second base. With a lefty, Blake Snell, getting the start for the Dodgers, the Jays also started Davis Schneider (in LF, seeing his first action since ALCS game 2) and Myles Straw (in RF, making his first start since game 2 of the ALDS). With lots of storylines heading into the game, let’s look at some of the key players and plays that emerged. Addison Barger: 2 for 2, HR, 4 RBI Not only was Barger not in the starting lineup, but Davis Schneider revealed in a post-game interview that he spent the night before in the SkyDome hotel on Schneider’s pull-out couch. Barger was brought in to pinch hit for Schneider in the sixth inning after the Jays got into the Dodgers' bullpen. Despite Los Angeles making another pitching change to make Barger face a lefty in Anthony Banda, Barger put the exclamation point on the inning, hitting the first-ever pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history and extending the Jays' lead to 9-2. Barger’s 8th inning single was also the hardest hit ball of the game with an exit velocity of 110.8MPH. Not bad for a guy who spent the night on a couch. Trey Yesavage: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K What a year for Yesavage. With this start, he has now made more major league playoff starts than regular season ones. He is the youngest pitcher to start a World Series game in the last 77 years and the first rookie since Justin Verlander. Yesavage didn’t have his best stuff, but he started the game by striking out Shohei Ohtani and, after loading the bases in the second inning, got Ohtani to ground out to end the inning. Of the 80 pitches he threw, he only went to the splitter 10 times. Maybe he just wasn’t feeling it, maybe they were trying to defy the Dodgers’ expectations, either way, it’ll be something to keep an eye on in Yesavage’s next start (if necessary) Bo Bichette: 1 for 3 with a BB Bichette had a single in his first at-bat and then walked to lead off the sixth inning, where he was lifted for pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It was his play in the field that was most noteworthy. He fielded a grounder cleanly in the first inning to get his feet wet at the position he hadn’t played since a sole appearance at Triple A in 2019. In the third inning, he had to range across the base heading towards left field to snag a Teoscar Hernández grounder, and with a smooth, quick turn-and-throw, hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a perfect strike at first to record the out. Daulton Varsho: 1 for 3, HR Varsho was responsible for the biggest WPA swing (+20.9%) of the game with his fourth-inning home run to tie the game. It was the first homer surrendered by Snell since June 2024, the first World Series home run for the Jays in 32 years, and the farthest hit ball of the game (432 ft). He also took an HBP with Snell’s 100th (and last) pitch to load the bases in the sixth inning and set the stage for Toronto scoring runs with the next three batters. Alejandro Kirk: 3 for 3, HR The first catcher since Gary Carter to have three hits, including a homer, in a World Series game. Kirk worked every at-bat he had and turned in a vintage performance that was overshadowed by Varsho and Barger’s earlier home runs. With such an offensive output, the other multi-hit guys (George Springer, Guerrero, Ernie Clement) all had to take a bit of a backseat, but, as with all the best Blue Jays performances this postseason, it was an all-hands-on-deck team effort, continuing the trend from the regular season. 6th inning: 6 hits, 9 runs, 2 walks, 2 homers, and a HBP. +37.3% WPA Just a few notes on that historic sixth inning. The 12 batters to the plate and nine runs scored are both franchise records for a single World Series inning. The nine runs are also the most in a World Series inning since the Detroit Tigers scored 10 in 1968. The Dodgers spread 44 pitches across three different pitchers to get out of the inning. The Blue Jays put balls in play on 10 at-bats for a total of 1,871 ft of batted ball - that’s over half a kilometer! One win down and three to go if the Jays are going to be crowned Champions. They will send Kevin Gausman to the hill tomorrow, facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Toronto bats will look to pick up right where they left off. View full article

Man, I forget what a stud Juan Guzman was for those teams (he also led the league in wild pitches twice). Also, pretty incredible that our only negative fWAR pitcher is our closer. I feel super fine about that.