Encouraging Santander Update For The Blue Jays… But One Key Concern Remains (Blue Jays Today Show)
Hello everybody and welcome into Blue Jays today where we have got to recap that series against Tampa Bay. Started out incredibly did not finish with a whole lot of steam. Toronto Blue Jays as it stands right now. I got the schedule in front of me. Nine games remaining in the regular season. nine games between them and potentially a postseason buy, potentially the wild card, postseason in general, folks. So, we’re going to be breaking down exactly what has been going on with this team, the good, the bad, the kind of ugly, and then also too, some reinforcements might be on the way. We’re going to be breaking that down and discussing whether or not that is actually a positive thing for the Toronto Blue Jays or something that they should treat with a little bit of caution. What’s up, everybody? Welcome in. I’m your host, Nicholas. I’m your host, Adam Paddle. You know, you weren’t here on the Monday show, and I predicted the exact opposite of what exactly happened. I said we’d get the split, but I said we we’d lose the first two games and then win the last two. And the reason why is cuz we had such great pitching matchups on the last two. And when we won the first two, I was like, “Oh my god, we actually have a chance to win it.” We didn’t inevitably win the series. We just came out with a split with again on the road against the Rays. I’m okay with a split. I actually made a tweet being like, “Look, it’s it’s all good, guys. It’s like going on the road and splitting a four- game series against the Rays in Stein Brenerfield. We were having troubles with the lights getting adjusted there in the Heat. Like that’s that’s still okay. And people were kind of disagreeing with me saying, “Well, we got to get wins because of the Yankees are sneaking up on us.” But again, looking at the whole picture, you know, we’re still in a good spot right now to go and clinch a postseason spot and clinch the AL East. Yeah, 100%. I do see Drew Gamer in here saying that your your mic has a bit of static. Let us know, guys, if you’re well, maybe that’s just true or maybe that is universal there. So, let us know please. We will adjust if we can. I uh I was instilled with a whole lot of confidence when I saw I believe this statistic it might have been right when they were entering the series or if not a game after that. But the Toronto Blue Jays like we’ve been a 500 team on the road all year long. Yeah. And exactly they’re still in the spot where they are right now. As you can see, literally still 500. Still 500 on the road. and you are still talking about a team that’s 89 and 64 with the best record in the American League. So whilst it it it definitely feels like a big momentum loss losing the last two games and and you know basically going 500 against the Tampa Bay Rays, they are still again, you know, they’re still the team to beat and this has been what they’ve been doing all season long. So honestly, I’m really not that worried about it. Yeah, I’m not worried about it either. Like we’re a 500 ball team. We take care of stuff at home and also I think it is my mic apparently. If you don’t if you want to check the audio there. This is the problem of like us producing while also live like we can’t actually hear. Yeah. Wow. Mine is like way high. One second guys. That should be better. That should be better. It might have just been turned up a little bit too much. That’s probably it. Um just peeking a little bit. Sorry about that. Apologies guys. But yeah, I mean again I’m not worried. Now you’re going on the road and you’re facing Casey. And we’re going to break down that series at the end of this show. But honestly, like you go take care of business there. You go back to Raj Center. You go take care of business at home. You got the Rays again. This time you will be at the dome. Hopefully pick up some W’s. Look, they can still clinch postseason tonight. Absolutely. So I’m not worried at all. But let’s take a look right now at the last series and what stood out to us. Obviously the big thing the last two games we only scored one run. That and that’s a very big concern for me. you know, you kind of look like honestly watching the game, just my overall impressions was the boys looked very tired. Like you have a lot of games in a row. You’re hearing the heat in in Florida. They for me look tired and they look kind of sloppy. And that is to be expected, but I don’t want that to carry into the postseason. Yeah. And in in the total series right there, they scored two on the uh the Monday, which was good enough to get the W. Shout out to Trey Savage. Then they scored six the following day. So that’s a solid offensive performance. Uh but you know total what what is that? Uh that’s nine runs in four games. That’s definitely uncharacteristic of this Toronto Blue Jays team. I will say though, and this is something that I don’t want us to forget now that we are through this series. But walking into that series, it’s the Rays. And what do the Rays do really well? They’re very good at pitching. They did make some defensive errors actually this series which was kind of uncharacteristic of them but I knew that the Rays were going to play as tough and and Toronto just for whatever reason never does great against Tampa Bay. So, the offense not performing at an optimal level with only nine games left. Sure, when we think about it like that, it doesn’t sound great. But I do need to give some credit to Tampa Bay because I just think that for whatever reason, like they are our kryptonite, they are out mosquito that can never go away. And the bats typically don’t perform great against Tampa. And I hate making excuses like that where it’s like it’s just Tampa. We can’t beat them when it’s like, you know, they’re not even a playoff team. But again, for whatever reason, it’s Tampa. They know us really good and they’ve got I guarantee they’ve been studying the AL East harder than any other teams in baseball. So, I guarantee they’ve got a great way to get us out and they played up their matchups perfectly. And also as well that to jump in there too, yes, we’ve lost the last two games in a row, but prior to that, everyone is very quick to forget prior to that they were on a six-game win streak. Right. Exactly. Right. Because we were we were listening to to Blair Barker uh following the game yesterday and all all the respect of the world for those guys. They do some incredible work, but there was a lot of negativity coming from from both of them actually talking about how this is not a good ball team right now. You know, they’re not playing great. And I will admit the last two games, yeah, like to your point, offense was sloppy. They looked sluggish. They looked kind of lazy with a lot of their swings, right? It it just felt like we were all fatigued, giving up. We’re all giving up. We all just needed to have a break. And I I get that more than most people, right? I mean, [ __ ] There are some weeks where you just feel like you got to have a break. Toronto Blue team or that they’re playing bad right now in a row prior to the last game. Yeah, they were playing bad in these two games and like you can chalk it up as that. But the overall product they are they’re number one in the American League. So they’re not a bad baseball team. And if you think they’re a bad baseball team, you got to look at the standings again because clearly they are not. Now, one guy we want to bring up to talk about, speaking of being sluggish and being lazy right now, and this isn’t again his overall character, cuz all season he’s been good all year long, but Vlatty has not been very good and especially since Bob Bashette has been injured. You know, over the last eight games, Vladimir Gro Jr., shout out to Chris Black by the way. Vladimir Gro Jr. is 7 for 30, which is a 233 average. Only two RBI’s in one run with zero extra base hits. Uh but again, the team is six and two in those time because we’ve had other guys pick up the slack, but it’s been very slow and very sad to see a kind of fall off right now. Just a just a little bit of a dip here for Vladimir G. Yeah, and you can see all the rolling averages right there are trending in the wrong direction. Uh not where you want it to go. Uh I do certainly think that there is an element of fatigue and I I think that that’s that’s universal for the whole team, but that’s also universal for all of MLB. And I can’t really be sitting here and using that as an excuse because the team that wins the World Series, they’re going to be fight the fatigue, right? Like they do their best to hold off and they are going to be extremely tired, but they do their best to fight the fatigue right now. And that’s where Vladimir Gro Jr. needs to be. I mean, especially with no Bobette in this lineup, at least until playoffs. We don’t even know if it’s going to, you know, be a guarantee that he’s back there, but at least until playoffs, there’s no Bob Bashette. you want to clinch this thing up and you specifically want to have your star guy come out and perform at a high level. This is where for all those people who use the $500 million argument, you know, to us all the time. This is where I want to see that money coming and and showing up right now. I want you to be our leader and I want you to be that that individual who’s driving us whilst the rest of the team is really tired because if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walks into the postseason and these rolling averages are still kind of ticking down and everything like that. That’s not a great spot to be. You know, you want to have your star player playing their best ultimately come the beginning of October. And the big problem for me, what I’ve been seeing with him is it looks like his timing is off. Like, you can just tell his timing isn’t there. Like when you when you get a slow-mo of like the side cam of a swing, you can see that like he’s not getting the barrel out in front, right? Or he’s putting the barrel too out in front. He’s he’s just timing is just a little bit off. And again, like I know you said fatigue is an excuse, but it might be right now. And if it is, that’s the reality of the situation. And you need a buy. You you need a buy, right? And a buy might actually be very helpful. Yeah. And again, it’s it’s not like it might be the cause of why this is happening. But what I’m trying to say right here is whether it’s the cause or not, everyone is going through that. So he’s got to battle his way through. He’s got to battle. Yeah. He’s got to battle your way through that, right? It’s like that’s just what it is. Everyone is [ __ ] tired at this current juncture of time. And to your point, that is why the buy is so damn important. Now, John Schneider actually came out and talked about this recently because Vlad was not playing his best ball uh you know, in the last couple days. And he very rarely um I guess like calls out calls out players or criticizes them openly. And this was a very mild critique, everybody. Like it’s not like he came out and said Vlad’s playing like [ __ ] He did come in and say though that I think he kind of just gave away that at bat against Kelly, the one in the seventh inning. Yeah, it was just it was sloppy. It was just like we weren’t trying and it exactly like it felt like and it looked like an individual who was like we keep bringing up fatigued and sluggish and just needing a rest and everything. And whilst all of those things are true, we can’t have our guy who is the leader and who is getting paid a absurd sum of money to just be giving away at bats. Yeah. Honestly, if I’m John Schneider, and I get it, you’re trying to post or you’re trying to clinch the postseason right now and that’s why you’re playing him every day cuz you just want to get him to the clinching the postseason then give him a break. But like he does need a break. Like it’s it’s whether it be mental or physical. Like keep rolling him out there like with no days off. Like he just needs a mental reset, a physical reset. get back to the T-work, get back to the traject back in Rogers Center, that like pitching machine, and get back to the fundamentals and go hit baseballs cuz right now, like rolling him out here, hitting like 200 is isn’t going to help anybody right now. But at the same point, I mean, like what are you supposed to do? You don’t have Bob Bashette, right? I know. I mean, like, are you you’re telling me what we’re going to take Vladio to line up as well that like, you know, again, our magic number is less than I know, but that’s that’s why we’re not putting that’s why he’s still in there, right? because he’s just like waiting for that popping of the champagne, that clinching game, which could be tonight. We’ll get to that. And then he’s definitely getting a day off. Like 100%. He will of course get a day. Yeah. And honestly, all of the starters should be. But I don’t like I don’t blame John Schneider for doing that. No, I don’t either. In a perfect world, could Vlad get a day off right now? And would that be beneficial? Probably. But I just think that with the loss of Boba and and considering nothing is guaranteed, you know, whilst everything does feel great right now and the Toronto Blue Jays are still several games up leading the American League and several games up in the AL East, you know, nothing is guaranteed and these wins are just important now, if not more so now than they have ever been. So I think you have to keep Vlatty in the lineup. It’s just we got to get to the clinching sooner rather than I know. I know. But exactly Mondoon here, he can get a break after Jay’s clinch. That’s what’s going to happen. I I would almost bet my bank account the day or it could be tonight, the Jay’s clinch, he’s off the next day. Like, it’s so It’s like you when you came back uh from your shoot on Monday night, it’s like, but Buddy wasn’t here. He’s like, it doesn’t look like he’s here right now. He’s just so gassed. Like, he needs a break. So, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens. But I’m not overly concerned. I again, I think he’s literally just one break away. He’s in the swing of things. He was just hitting 600 last week. You know what I mean? He’s going to be back and he’s going to be fine. and he’s going to be playing like the $500 million he should be playing like. Yeah, I I do hope so, man. I do. Again, like not an excuse, but I do hope that it is just the the element of this being a bloody long season. It feels long everybody feels like we’ve been waiting for the opportunity for the Toronto Blue Jays to to lock up the postseason now for a long period of time. Uh which again they could do tonight, which we will get to shortly. Now, before we move on and talk about tonight’s game and everything like that, we did want to bring up and just highlight some of the key pitching performances here. Kevin Gosman has certainly been uh doing his part. I brought this up uh I think I’ve brought this up countless times actually, but the offense for a long period has been the driving engine force behind the Toronto Blue Jays success, which is great. That’s awesome. I’m very happy that that’s the case. But we do want to see the pitching carry their load at some point. And right now that has certainly happened especially with Mr. Kevin Gosman this month 23 innings and erra under one a whip well under one. The walks to the Ks is phenomenal. Uh this is the lowest in franchise history for any September by the way for the RA the whip right there from Kevin Gosman in uh in Blue Jays history. This is the game one starter without a doubt. We already knew that but this just further hammers it home. Yeah. And like um he I saw another stat too where he has the fifth he has five games where he has at least gone eight innings or more which leads MLB by a wide margin which is two. The next highest is three. So he’s actually going deep and giving the bullpen a break which we’ve been all talking about all season long how much the bullpen needs a break. And anytime Kevin Gosin rolls out there you feel got a good chance to get a break. But also speaking of the bullpen I do want to give them a shout out too. They’ve been pretty much locking it down for the Jays. I mean, this past week, we saw the emergence of Braden Fischer, you know, coming into that role. Sir Anthony Dominguez, there’s been a little bit of flirtation with the closing role, but I don’t think that’s really going to change. Jeff Hoffman locking it down. So, the boys have been good in that bullpen. They’ve been much better, I believe, since September 5th. They actually have one of the lowest ERAs in baseball since that time. Uh, so I got to give them a shout out. Look, they were struggling, and I knew it was just a matter of time before they found the rhythm again. That’s the thing. It it just it so happened that all of it happened at the same time and it made everybody freak out and and you know think about last year and just how terrible the bullpen was then. And I do think that again like they proved that it’s still it could happen in the playoffs like everyone could just [ __ ] the bed. But I also just think that’s the nature of of MLB bullpens is that they are extremely volatile. There was an unlucky couple weeks there where everyone was playing bad. Whether it be because they just got traded and they were trying to get their lives together. Maybe they were going through a little injury that wasn’t getting put on the injured report. We didn’t know about that. But all the [ __ ] hit the fan at one time. It feels like it’s leveling out and we are going to need to have that bullpen um you know locked down when we get to the playoffs cuz I mean we were Chris Basset for instance like he was playing so great and then yesterday Rays just didn’t have his best stuff and you had to have the pen come in for a long period of time. At this current juncture, I still think that Chris Bassid is going to be a playoff starter in some capacity for us. Probably not in the first three games, but you know, game four might have to roll out Chris Bassid for a time. So, bullpen is going to be crucial. Yeah, my mic is hot. Sorry, guys. I’ll I’ll try to stay away from it. I lean in when I’m looking at uh looking at the screen. Yeah. No, they’re are going to be absolutely crucial. So, want to give them a little bit of acknowledgement. They’re back now. It’s like it’s always the same thing with the Blue Jays. I see like three light switches. Two are always on, one’s always off. You flick one off or on and then the other one goes down. And so right now it’s the offense going down and and the pitching’s doing great and then So it’s just the that’s the way it goes with the Toronto Blue Jays. Yeah. Well, but that’s that’s just sports in general. There was a time here in this like I think it was roughly June where you could make a strong argument that all those light switches were on for Toronto. The offense was going insane. But this was back when we were on that, you know, close to franchise record win streak and just everything. July. Was that July? I think it was July. July then. Yeah. July then was when all those light switches were on. But it’s very difficult to have those switches on for the entirety of the season cuz if you did, I mean, you’re winning like 140 games. If we could have two, if not, you know, more so heading in or or very strongly in position going into October, I’m going to feel good about that because you look around the American League. Seattle might have all their light switches on right now, but other than them, it feels like, you know, there really isn’t anybody else that’s that’s playing at an incredibly high level. No, not really. I mean, hell, even through our bad stretch, we’re still seven and three, you know, like, you know, you’re thinking about this like two game loss like it’s everything. Well, last 10 we’re getting. still one of the better teams in the American League. Detroit, they’ve lost three in a row. They’ve lost three in a row. Three and seven in their last 10. I mean, if anyone’s going to panic in the American League, it has to be them, I think. Yeah. And and look at like Boston, if you want to talk about panicking, like you got the Guardians right on their tails. They’re on a sevengame win streak. They’re 9-1. They’re getting hot at the right time. Boston Red Sox kind of lock it in right now. But taking a look overall for how this means for the Toronto Blue Jays. You look at the regular season. You look at the division right here. The Yankees, they won two or they’ve won three in a row technically, but they’ve won their last two and we’ve lost their last two. So, we’ve gone from being ahead by five games to three games. And that’s shifted a little bit in the odds right here for the AL East division lead. Now, we were at 97% literally 4 days ago. We’ve dropped to 90. So, obviously, we we gave a little bit of a a crack in the door open for them. Uh but I’m still again not overly concerned. It’s a 1 in 10 chance that we don’t clinch up the division and hopefully the the uh the the schedule ahead shows some good things for the Blue Jays. Well, and it would take a pretty big [ __ ] up for them not to do it, honestly. I mean, we’re three games up on the Yankees, but really it’s four games cuz we own the tiebreaker on them. So, they need to win four more games than we win, right? So, like it’s some quick math here. If there’s nine games left, we go five and four. That means that they got to win out. They got to win out. And that’s again that that seems very unlikely. Hey, if they go 9 and0 like tip of the cap to you guys. I mean you did you did everything you could right there. But even still you go six and three for the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s why the Magic number six right now. It’s done. Everything is dusted, right? So we still control our own destiny. And even if you slip up, I don’t want this to happen. But even if you were to go four and five, which I do think is unlikely, especially considering we are going to be back at the Roger Center, which we just thrive at, but even if you went four and five, Yankee, nothing’s guaranteed for New York. They got to go eight and one, right? I know. Like that’s that’s you are asking a lot if you were the New York Yankees right there. So yeah, I I still think that we are in a very strong spot. If they really [ __ ] the bed and, you know, continue to to lose out here, lose the series to KC and Boston, then we’ll have something to worry about. Yeah. Also, apologies, guys. My mic’s apparently still very hot. I’m trying my best here. I’m turning it down. I’m putting it away for me, but uh we’ll see how it sounds. Uh oh, yeah. So, yeah, let’s look at this right here. KC, by the way, I know we’re going to break down the series in a little bit, but I just want to make a note. Yeah, we’re away and like, you know, we’ve been talking about going 500 road. I mean, KC is playing some bad baseball right now. They I I believe they just got swept and I’m looking over at the division and I think they’re three and seven. Yeah, they’re three and seven in their last 10. So, like even though we’re away, like this is a good juicy matchup you’ve got right here. And then to your point, we’re going to be back at the Rogers Center next week. Boston’s not really playing great baseball right now. The Rays, I mean, yeah, we just split the series, but maybe we could have a chance to win it. So, I’m feeling pretty good. And like I mentioned, the magic number is six for that AL East division. It’s three to clinch the postseason. But through some weird math, the Blue Jays might actually be able to clinch it tonight. According to Keegan Mat, these things need to happen for the Blue Jays to clinch tonight. They first they got to win. That’s a must. They got to beat KC. And then any two of these three matchups, you got to get a loss from these teams. You got to get a loss from the Tigers, the Red Sox, and the Guardians. So, two of those teams, if they lose and the Blue Jays win, they’re popping champagne at KC tonight. That would be huge. Well, I’ll tell you what, I’m pretty confident that we’re going to need to be relying on the Tigers and the Red Sox to lose because the Guardians have just been playing too damn good. And I do not trust the Minnesota Twins to uh to be able to get that job done against a red hot Cleveland Guardians team. But the Tigers, like we said, they’re three and seven in their last 10. Atlanta is not a playoff team this year, but you know, they are always they’re always a threat. They got people in that lineup that can certainly do work. And Boston also not playing that great. They’re five and five and they’re taking on the team that just took two off of us. So, I I certainly think that this is possible. It’s still unlikely because you’re asking a bunch. First off, we got to take care of our business. We got to win the game. So, that’s number one. And that’s not a guarantee if the offense puts up zero to one run like they did in the last two games. So, that’s number one. But then on top of all of that, you do need two of those other ones to win. It’s possible. It’s unlikely. Probably about a I don’t know. This is quick Nick math right here. Probably about a 10% chance, maybe even a little bit less than that, that we end up clinching tonight, but there is a opportunity for it. Yeah, I we’re going to be going live tonight for the game, by the way, everybody. And I might make a just a fun parlay uh on one of those teams losing. I probably won’t bet on the Guardians losing, but I’m going to bet like Atlanta win, Tampa win, and then a Jay’s win just for fun. Why not, right? Exactly. And that’s that’s the J Jay’s postseason parlay right there. I do wonder what that would pay out. If I’m saying it’s about a 10% chance, you got to imagine pay out something pretty nice. It’s probably pretty good. Um, also speaking of the game, I figured we could shout this out right now. Uh, it was originally just exclusively on Apple TV. It’s still the Apple TV broadcast, but because they do have a chance to clinch tonight, it will be simcasted on SportsNet. So those who are very upset about the whole Apple TV taking the rights for some of their Friday night games, well guess what? This one will also be on Sports Net. So you can actually watch the Apple TV broadcast on Sports Net. You can give your opinion on what you think about the broadcast and not just complain because it’s cost money and they’re stealing the rights of the game. Yes. Yeah. So we will be live for that game as well. Uh basically everyone and anyone is going to be streaming this game apparently. So, uh, yeah, you will be able to watch this on your normal broadcaster and everything like that. Uh, JF, I’m out tonight, so won’t be watching. The chat won’t miss you. But, you know who we uh have missed at certain moments? Well, I don’t even want to say that because there’s been times where I’ve actually forgotten about him if I’m being completely honest. I see where you’re trying to do the transition there. But, uh, yeah, I don’t know if it I don’t know if it really works that much because to be completely honest, when he was with us, he wasn’t doing a whole lot. And that’s Anthony Santandere. That being said though, he hit a home run as rehab yesterday. He trotted around the base paths for 41 seconds, which is a long time. That’s that’s a long time, everybody. I mean, you think 41 seconds. Oh, is that No, no, no, no, no. That’s not average. That’s like that’s a long time to just be trotting around the bases. So, he really enjoyed himself there hitting that one out. Uh, I believe this is his second home run that he’s hitting down there in Triple A Buffalo. And our whole thing, we brought this up at our event on um on Wednesday night with shout out to the people that were there in person. Uh but we brought this up there. For me, Anthony Santandere, if you’re actually going to bring him back, I want to see this guy batting 350 down there in Triple A because the gentlemen that have been doing it with this team all season long, they deserve a spot on that postseason roster. And frankly, there’s an argument to be made about, well, is it even a good thing to bring him in and disrupt the roster that has been working so well right now. So, the only reason for me that you would bring him back is he’s got to be going crazy. Yeah. And that’s kind of where I’ve been at too. Um, there is a reality where he does come back just because the season is actually ending in Buffalo this upcoming weekend and there is nowhere to put him. You have to make a decision if you’re the Blue Jays, like do we shut him down and wait for the postseason or do we bring him back up to to the big league level for this last week and see what he’s got at the big league level as almost like a trial run cuz again like hopefully we don’t have to sweat it out too much with these last final week and we can clench the AL East, we can clinch the postseason spot, clinch the number one buy spot and we’re feeling good and you want to bring him up just see what he’s got. So, he probably might just get up here because of, you know, just because we have the ability to and he might come up, but I’m with you where I don’t think he can necessarily come up and play in a postseason game unless he’s actually popping off. He hit two home runs from two sides. You know, he’s always been a low to mid 200 hitter, but if you can hit home runs, I mean, that’s the value that you’re asking for. So, I need to see a little bit of as well if he comes up next week. I guess the the big question is, do we believe him to be one of the best players in the Toronto Blue Jays organization? Because that’s the way that they’re looking at things right now. They did it with Trey Savage. They thought that he was one of the best 14 pitchers in the organization. So, they brought him up. The question is, do we think that Anthony Sandere right now today is one of the better players on the Toronto Blue Jays roster? Cuz if he is, okay, fine. Come up here and and do your work, man. But I’ll be honest, I’m not convinced at this current juncture for next year walking into next season 100%. Because then you’re going to have all the off season to rehab and get better and condition yourself and do all that [ __ ] and then you’ll get to start with the team in spring training and you’ll get to be in rhythm. But it is just so damn difficult to be out of baseball for months on end. You win a solid This guy went almost three months without swinging a baseball bat. Throw back to when that happened. to do all that and then come back when theoretically all of the pitchers should be locked in right now thinking about postseason. They they’ve already gotten into their rhythm. They are like totally like the the cogs are moving right now. Whereas for this guy, he’s got to catch up to all of it. I just don’t know if I believe that he is one of the best Toronto Blue Jay players right now and does deserve a spot on the on this roster unless I see him go nuclear in AAA. Yeah, like again like he’s got one weekend left, so there isn’t really much runway for him to go, you know, nuclear like you’re saying, unless he just hits a home run every single game, then he’s absolutely coming up. But like the reality is they might just shoot their shot because like people are in the chat are saying right now it’s all you’re really asking for him is a a home run in a postseason spot. Like give me one if you can hit one or two homers in a postseason series, you that’s all we’re asking for. That’s more than I expected from you about a month ago. Exactly. Right. That’s all like you could you could go three for 15, but if you hit two homers and two big spots like bang. Like you that’s that’s all you’re really asking for in the postseason from this guy. Now again like and when they implement him I don’t expect him to be like the three or four hitter. Like he’s probably going to be down there in a 78 spot. Like very low leverage because to your point and to all of our points here the Blue Jays lineup has been so good altogether clicking and I don’t want to disrupt what’s going on up there. stash him down where the Jimenezes are of the world and and keep him down there for you know if he strikes out he strikes out like man he’s batting next to Jimenez is batting 218 what’s the difference there this guy can actually pop a homer down there so that’s what I think will happen which again kind of feels like we’re not disrupting too much if you have to be very careful with how you put him back in this lineup dwey asking us do you guys really think he’s not going to be on the roster if he’s healthy and to be honest I do think he’s going to be on the roster if he’s healthy I’m just saying that I I have some concerns about that and I would be cautious about how they implement him right now considering there are a lot of other individuals who are performing at a high level and having him up here is going to mean taking away playing time. I still remember back in I think he was on the team in May. He was on the team in May. Yeah, I still remember in May when the lineup was starting to cook and things were going well, but it was still an automatic out rally killer was Anthony Santandere and he was batting on that three in that in that four spot and I remember going live for the ball games and you know you’d see Bobic get on, you see Springer get on, you do something and then bang there’s Anthony Sandere with a three- pitch strikeout and I I do remember that and it didn’t feel good. So we have a stain right now. I I have a little bit of PTSD where he is concerned. That being said, I do still recognize and appreciate the upside of injecting a 44 home run hitter into this lineup. I just want to have some sort of I guess assurance that that power is still available and I suppose hitting home runs in in the minor leagues is a good thing, but so far he’s got two. He’s got an OPS of 790 down there. I would have hopefully liked to see that number go up. Like you said though, there’s not a whole lot of time left. you know, he’s got like 20 at bats, right? And then that’s the thing, too, is like you you’re looking for that insurance where you’re never going to get it unless he literally homers every single day from here on out. Like that’s the only insurance you get. Like he might just homer once more or maybe he comes up to the to the big leagues in in the last week and he doesn’t homer, you know, or he gets really close, but he still hits like four for 12 or something like that and you’re like, “Okay, like that’s something. We’ll see. It’ll pan out.” That’s why it’s really interesting because like Yeah. I mean, we don’t have much time. we got to kind of gamble on him right now if you’re the Toronto Blue Jays. So that’s the update there everybody and that’s the key concern regarding Anthony Santon Dare. Let’s move on and let’s talk about this series. Before we do though everybody, let’s give a shout out to Budweiser. Guys, batters up and it’s time for Budweiser. Uh the Buds are stepping up to plate and Budweiser’s encouraging all Buds to rally for October. October moments are better with your Buds and they’re priceless. Savor the feeling while cheering on your Toronto Blue Jays. It’s official partner of the Toronto Blue Jays and it’s also the official partner of Blue Jays today. Rally for October. Learn more at budweiser.ca. Let’s talk about that upcoming series. It’s going to be crucial because we kind of need to clinch some spots. I just I want to clinch now and be it you have it done and dusted. I want to see the uh the champagne interviews. I want to see the boys getting after it. That being said, it would be really cool to clinch at the Roger Center, but that’s why you can still clinch the division at the Roger Center, right? So, let’s let’s take this weekend, clinch the postseason, everyone can feel real good about it. And then we’re kind of playing for free. We get back home and then whether it be against Boston or whether it be against Tampa Bay in the following series. That’s when you get to have your home celebration clinch the division. Tonight you’re going to have Lorenzan on the bump against Max Sherer. Apple TV game along with Sports Net game along with Blue Jays today game that we are going to be live for. Mad Max with a 431 RA up against Laoren with a 491 ERA. This um Kansas City Royals lineup has certainly been cooling off. They haven’t been playing great. However, Bobby Wit Jr. is still a really good player. Pasquantino’s been having himself a pretty good year. So they do have some individuals over there who are capable of getting stuff done, but it’s definitely not as as lethal as it was last year for instance. Yeah. And like looking at the Blue Jay side of things, you know, you got Max Sherzer and Max Sherzer’s kind of falling into a role that he’s been pretty consistent. That’s the one thing about Max Sherzer. He’ll do something and he’ll do something consistently whether it be injured, whether it be good, whether it be going five innings and giving up two or third three runs every time. And that’s what it looks like right now for him. The one thing to note is because he can’t go that far in the game. We did just burn Eric Lowour yesterday. He threw 30 pitches on the bump. You burn Braden Fischer, 17 pitches, eight from Sir Anthony Dominguez. You do have a great performance by Kevin Gosman that helped out the bullpen. So, there should be some guys that can kind of, you know, staple their way through to the back end of the bullpen. But with all that being said, Sherzer should give us a good chance. And this is Lorenz’s game log. He actually came out in relief literally 2 days ago. Uh, so that’s something to note. But before that, he threw three innings, gave up 10 hits, six earned runs the game before that, four earned runs game for that. Two, four, three. So for me, I think Sherzer’s going to give us a chance. I think the Blue Jays are going to be fired up. They’re finally out of Stein Brener Field. Give me a W for the Blue Jays with Shers on the bump. It just feels like this is the type of pitcher to get the offense right. I get that everyone’s tired and I understand that Vladimir Ger Jr. needs to go home and and probably have a bit of a nappy, but you know, this is the guy to get your swing right on. He’s 5 and 11. Win losses don’t mean anything. Well, when you have 11 losses, they mean something, everybody. The guy’s got a 491 RA and has been giving up earned runs left, right, and center. Hell, they don’t even know if he’s a a reliever or a starter at this point. They’re just trying to finish. They’re just trying to finish the goddamn season. Probably. So is Lorenzan, man. He’s he’s got to be, you got to imagine, mentally elsewhere at this point. So, if you’re the Toronto Blue Jays offense and you just went through 18 innings where you only got one earned run, this is the type of individual to get it back on. I think that Max Sherzer is going to be fine. I do think that he is going to give up a couple and kind of continue on with what it is that he’s been doing. Probably something like 5.1 innings of two or three run ball, which would be perfectly fine. The offense though, I think that we we get over the five run uh the magic five run number tonight. I’m thinking like seven or eight runs coming from the offense. I like it a lot. So that’s that. We win game one. Game two, we’ve got Bieber and it’s not clocking to you because Bieber in my opinion is going to come out and he’s going to be good again cuz he was good his last time out. He’s up against a weaker Kansas City Royals team. I think he’s going to do pretty damn good. He is up against Noah Cameron who has been pretty solid. Seven innings his last time out against the Phillies. And the Phillies are a damn good offense. Only gave up four hits. Only gave up six here in the last one against the Cleveland Guardians. Uh and then yeah, he’s just been a solid guy that gives them a chance to win. I think Beaver will be good in this one, but I feel like this is the one where we might drop a game in this series if we had to. I think it’s going to be competitive, low scoring. Uh I say we lose here. He’s a good pitcher. There’s no denying it everybody. 298 RA is nothing to scoff at. And seven back-to back inning performances of two earned run ball by the way against the Cleveland Guardians team that is like redot. And then also the Phillies who some might argue is is the team to beat this year. I mean that’s that is some solid performances. That being said though, I said that we were going to win tonight and I don’t think that we are going to clinch tonight, which then would mean I would imagine tomorrow a win would almost assuredly clinch for the Toronto Blue Jays. There’s a lot of mental gymnastics you got to go through, but if we win tonight and then also win tomorrow, I think that that will have done it. And we probably one of those team loses. One of those teams, one of those teams will lose. We will clinch. I think the boys are going to be fired up after winning tonight. Therefore, we’re going to want to clinch tomorrow and then everybody can have a nice Sunday off, watch football Sunday in the dugout and hang out. So, I think that we’re going to win this ball game on the back of a Shane Beaver start and they’re going to get to Cameron something like a solid 5 to2 win. That would give me a lot of confidence if they can get to Cameron, the boys and the bats are back one week leading into the postseason. That would feel if you’re one of those listen to this guys. If you’re one of those starters, if you’re somebody like a Vlatty, you want some time off. Monday is an off day. So if you can clinch on Saturday, get hammered Saturday night, John’s going to be nice. He’s going to give you the day off on Sunday. He’ll let you rest. So then you get two days off. You get to you get to be hung over in the dugout watching football Sunday. And then you get all the Monday off with your family back home to hang out and then you can walk into Tuesday feeling refreshed. So, if I was if I was the boys, obviously they want to clinch as soon as possible, but I mean, if we can clinch on Saturday night, now you get an actual weekend for some of them. Anyway, I know two days off in a row, that would be phenomenal for the boys. Now, on the Sunday game, everyone’s going to be watching this one as well as some football Sunday. I know that we will. Yes, Savage is on the bump yet again. He’s getting another nod. He’s up against Michael Waka who in the last little bit has been struggling. the last time out against Seattle. I mean, Seattle’s been hot as hell. They might be the best team in baseball in the last 10 games. They put him up for seven earned runs, nine hits. Not a bad performance against Mini, but they’re Mini. Detroit beat him up uh twice actually, back-to-back games. Um yeah, I feel like Michael Walker very very mid been getting mid, kind of falling apart again like he’s getting tired. He’s at the end of his ropes. He’s an old guy, but Savage is not young dude. I’m gonna feel very confident even though like I think at some point we’ll clinch and the blue jays roll out their B lineup but but being the Blue Jays even our B lineup is still really good because we are so deep I think we win this one right here and we win the series two to one Savage dominates yet again a Kansas City Royals lineup. Mhm. Yeah. And here’s the thing too. Okay, my prediction I’m saying that the Toronto Blue Jays they win on Saturday. They clinch on Saturday. Now some of you guys might be thinking to yourselves, hey Trey, you’re savage. The guy is a savage. He’s probably going to get after it Saturday night and then he’s going to be feeling a little bit on Sunday. But here’s the thing. I think he’s a good boy. I think he’s Yeah, I think he’s a good boy. And even though I mean he’s going to want to have a couple with the gentleman on Saturday night to celebrate, ultimately his mental is going to be thinking about Sunday afternoon taking on Michael Walk. So, I think he’s still going to be locked in regardless of what happened Saturday night. And therefore, I’m saying that Trey Savage and his strikeout numbers continue to rise. Toronto Blue Jays win this one. we sweep the Kansas City Royals. That would give us 92 wins. That would have us assuredly in the playoffs. And then at that point, you’d be looking at that Boston series to clinch up the division hopefully. And then you can rest easy against Tampa Bay and have it mean absolutely nothing, which is exactly what I want. I don’t want those Tampa Bay games to mean anything because if they actually meant something, one, that means that we’ve stumbled over the over the last couple series. And two, if they meant something, you already know that those Kansas City or sorry, the Tampa Bay Rays, they are gonna be playing spoiler ball better than anyone. I know. I know. Yeah, I want to I want to clinch the division against the Boston Red Sox. That would be so so good. But you guys let us know your thoughts about our series predictions in the chat down below. Let’s give another shout out to Pizza Pizza. Everybody, where are those in here? What’s going on? Oh, there we go. Pizza. We’re doing another pizza pizza stream tonight, everybody. So go get your pizza pizza ready for 7:00. Meet your new game time favorite. This stramoli and drink combo. Oh, I cannot wait to have the strobo. It was actually Yeah, it was honestly very very good last week. Yeah. So good. Can’t deny everyone. It was top tier. Best thing that we’ve had uh send to us so far on the Friday night pizza stream. Yeah. And we’re going to get uh the chance hopefully to try all these four mouthwatering flavors. We had the pepperoni. I want to try that pesto Mediterranean. That sounds good. That’s going to slap. That’s going to slap real good. Four meat isn’t bad. And I can’t You can’t go wrong with a smoky barbecue chicken roll up with pizza today. Don’t wait. Swing by Pizza Pizza today or order on the pizza pizza app or online at pizza pizza.ca. Pizza pizza because everyone deserves pizza. We’re going to get to our mailbag right now. I saw a couple guys with some questions in the chat. If you have a question, I put the link right there at the top of the chat and it’s in the description. So, if you want to ask a question, please submit down below. I already see we got a uh a Drew Gamer uh question in here. So, I’m going to get that in there right now. Everybody, give me a couple seconds. Also, JF, I just caught a glimpse of your qu I have no idea what the that is going on here. I mean, maybe we’ll maybe we will end up asking the chat about that, but the Mole River shuffle, what the Mole River, that sounds the most East Coast thing I think I’ve ever heard in my life. Like, tell me that you’re from Nova Scotia without telling me you’re from Nova Scotia. The The Mole The Mole River. What the [ __ ] is that? What is that? I don’t know. Okay. My My thing is glitching right now. It won’t actually let me edit. This has been a weird thing. I don’t know if you noticed this. Like, it’s it uses like the hand and it doesn’t change back to the other. I don’t know. It’s glitching. So, we’re going to have to read it off like this. So, sorry guys. We can’t actually read it off off the screen and show you guys, but Drew Gamer uh in here with the question saying, “I am so proud to be a fan of the most under doggiest team to ever be underdog. Our pitching staff and our bullpen isn’t elite by any means, but our offense is way better than how it looks on paper. We are going to win the division. Knock on wood. And we we did it because everyone on this team contributes.” So, he’s talking past tense right now that we are going to win the division. Um, everyone has their role to do and they do it perfectly. Whether it’s a barbama or a simple base hit for clat everyone’s doing make it work perfect. Okay. So, where’s the question here, Drew Gamer? I think yeah, unselfish baseball. No hero ball like judge with the Yanks. Listen, I’ll I’ll just say something to that. Okay. I mean, there’s so many and I I’ve brought this up a couple times. So many people have said the comeback wins. We We can’t be sustained by the comeback wins, okay? That we can’t do that. That’s not a winning formula in the postseason. and it’s not going to work. It’s not going to happen. Well, when you look over at every other every every team’s got an identity, okay? Whether it be uh you know, playing great fundamental defense, whether it be like the New York Yankees having the home run ball, whether it be uh you know, over there on Seattle now, now they’re also hitting the home run ball, but for a long time they’re they’re starting pitching. That’s their identity, right? And you can always say, well, hey, if Seattle’s starting pitching’s not good, they’re not going to go far. or hey, if the Yankees aren’t hitting home runs, they’re not going to go far. I think that there’s something to be said for the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays don’t have a big time hero in the lineup and that it is so deep, such a balanced offense and they’ve done better a better job than anyone at staying in the game, staying in the There’s something to be said for hanging around, hanging around, hanging, you know what I mean? If you’re in a boxing match right now, okay, like if you can get knocked out in round three, but if you give yourself a chance, if you keep making it through, handling the punches, handling the punches, making it deeper and deeper into the ball game, keeping it close, then you will have a chance to come back. That’s what the Toronto Blue Jays are better at anyone than doing in MLB. So, for me, the fact that we don’t have a hero, I do think it’s awesome. I think that it’s it’s just a such a balanced offense that allows this team to have the most comeback wins in all baseball. And I do think that it’s a sustainable way of winning because that’s what they’ve done all season long. And just like the Yankees need home runs to win or the Seattle needs good pitching to win or whatever, we need the comeback to win, which we have done again. Yeah. And that’s all because of that deep lineup. I saw a stat that was like crazy. It was like OPS again. It’s the whole OPS plus thing where the Blue Jays are by far way more deeper than any other team according to OPS Plus. And I believe there was another graph in that tweet I saw that was also comparing them to war. The Blue Jays have more players over two and a half war than anybody in baseball in their position players. That’s just elite and that’s our bread and butter. We need to rely on getting those pitchers wear down and beating them later on. That’s the thing. I just I don’t understand how people can say it’s not sustainable when we’ve seen it happen all season long. In fact, like I think it’s more sustainable because you have more guys. Okay, if one guy’s doesn’t have a good night, okay, like Vlatt’s not having a good night. Bo’s not having a good night. Well, Bo’s not even here. Vlatt’s not playing well and they’re still six and two since Bo got injured. Yeah, because everybody else is having a good night. That’s the point. Whereas Judge doesn’t have a good night, you lose, you know? Oh, your starting pitcher doesn’t have a good night, you lose. Like, that’s it, right? That’s that’s the Yankees. Whereas, we could have guys take off days, you know, in terms of their performances and still win. That’s why that’s why they’re better than most teams in baseball. Also, uh I see GG in here with a question cuz we don’t have any uh things in the mailbag right now. People are still submitting them saying you guys don’t think clitching the division is way more important than just the postseason. Oh, I do. I think it’s way more important. Yeah. I mean, I at this current juncture of time, we’re so um we’re honestly blessed uh in in the spot that we’re at right now because it feels like clinching the postseason has been a given for about a month of time now. Like that’s just I I’ve got that in my brain that it’s going to happen. and it’s definitely going to be a thing, which is honestly the truth. I mean, when you look at the statistics, no one in the AL has clinched the division with the Toronto Blue Jays have a 99.99% chance that they will do. So, it would take not only them to lose out every single game, but then also some wild and wacky other [ __ ] would have to happen on top of all of that for them not to make it. So, we’re going to make the postseason. And for that reason, that is why I look at the division as being that much more important because we’re so grateful. However, I also do want to take a moment and step back and just go it is an awesome spot to be in where I’m I’ve been thinking that we’re going to the playoffs now for over a month. It doesn’t even feel like anything. It doesn’t feel like news when it happens. It’s going to be like great, got that done. Let’s go win the division. Yeah, division’s the next uh big goal for the Blue Jays. And obviously, it’s way more important because you need to get the buy, too. I mean, at this point, the Blue Jays, if they win the division, they’re getting the buy. Like, it’d be very, very tough for them to lose out on that buy. And I don’t want to play in a wild card series. And we’ve never had the opportunity with Vlad and Bo in this new wild card format to get a buy. This would be more crucial. You get to play all your guys out there, all your starting pitchers that you want in a series. And you don’t have to feel bad and being and ask yourself what if what if we had another game to go come back. Well, and specifically as well that I think the buy is is crucial to get that number one spot because one, if you guys didn’t watch the video that I put out yesterday, I highly recommend that you did. I took all the statistics. I took all the standings. I took all the team trends. I plugged in the chat GPT and I said spit out, use your brain because my brain’s not smart enough to comprehend this. Use your AI brain and tell me what are the three most likely scenarios. It had the Toronto Blue Jays finishing as the number one seed every single time. And only in one of those scenarios, only in one of those scenarios was Seattle on the same side of the bracket as us. So, it’s predicting that Seattle’s going to end up in the other bracket more times than not, which is honestly a very good thing because I don’t want to deal with Seattle at all. On top of all of that, five games in the ALDS, correct me if I’m wrong, it works out like this. The first two get played at home for the uh the higher seed, then the following two get played at the opposing ballpark, and then the last one gets played at at the the the favorites team, you know, at at home. Well, playing at home is so much so bloody important. As we can see, we’re 500 on the road and we’re an animal team when we’re at home. So, the more opportunities we get to play at the Roger Center, the the better. Yeah. Being the number one team, you will be able to play at the Roger Center more time than not through the entire postseason. And then two, consider this as well. When you get to the World Series, all depend on who you’re matched up with. I mean, the NL is pretty damn good. The only teams that are better than us at home or um excuse me on the overall year is the Phillies and the Brewers right now. So yeah, if we’re a match up against one of those two teams, we don’t have the advantage, but if we we could easily get the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Padres’s. Maybe not the Mets. They kind of look like they’re collapsing right now, but like if we’re match up with those guys, we have the advantage yet again. Yeah, 100% man. So being that number one squad is that much more important just because we’ve been so good at home and not great on the road, so therefore give me more times to be at home. We got one final question here and then we’re going to wrap things up. Leah Herring asking, “Most important question, did Adam fix his toilet yet?” I haven’t. I’ve still lazily shut it off every time after I flush it. I just shut it off. So, for those of you who are keeping up, Adam’s toilet is uh is broken beyond repair, but uh soon it will get better. I’m going to have to do it. Honestly, if they hit the buy, that’s a great time for me to do it. We’re just going to be waiting around for like basically our season series to start. So, if you think about it, I mean, the toilet’s kind of like Vlatty in a way. And I I do feel bad for the toilet, right? Like, it it never gets an off day. No, it never That’s the thing. I mean, think about it, right? How many times do you go a whole day without using your toilet? Something’s probably pretty wrong, you know, on the insides if that’s not happening. So, I understand that thing’s been going after it for about 10 years without an off day. You know what, guys? I’ll post on our community page from the toilets fix. I’ll I’ll post it. You know, I’ll show you the insides for those. Uh, everyone was everyone was really into the toilet on Wednesday on uh, was it Tuesday? They’re very interested in following along with this story. I can tell you that it has not been fixed yet, but we will make a point of trying to go after and and get that done. Maybe after they clinch, I’ll be after they clinch the uh, fixing. We’ll pop champagne ourselves and I’ll be kind of half drunk like fixing my toilet. That’s the best time to do it. Uh, guys, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below with everything we talked about whether it be Santon Dare, Clinching Division, as well this Royal Series. Again, we’re going to be live tonight for the pizza pizza party having that stromboli. I can’t wait to enjoy it with y’all tonight. Please make sure to hit that like, smash that subscribe button, $4 a month become a YouTube membersh. And thank you to all of our current YouTube members. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much for watching and as always, go Jay
The Toronto Blue Jays are looking for a boost in that line up. And one big boost could be coming from the bat of Anthony Santander. Blue Jays recieved an encouraging update about Anthony Santander, which could lead him to coming back to the Blue Jays sooner rather than later. However… There’s still one big issue. Do you inject Santander in a line up that has been so good all year without him? As well, we need to breakdown this upcoming weekend series against the Royals as the Blue Jays look to clinch the postseason soon.
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3 comments
Karen's will always be not satisfied! Keyboard warriors that expect perfection while having low standards in their own life. Save your complaints until they screw up. Not while there still leading. Besides it's only been months that we knew our competition had the easier schedule. Stop catering to the minority that screaming the loudest trying to say they have a clue. They don't! Furthermore fans trying to say what's wrong. Remind who you are again and why just a fan? Exactly! Have an opinion but someone who's hitting 300 and OPS of close to 900. Give it a rest! The numbers say your Karen/Boomer! We all want to win but get a grip of reality!
I'm sure I'm not alone for this:
Just a quick Thanks to you guys for providing a solid and consistent outlet for the fans with a passion who would otherwise drive their loved ones nuts.
Last year was rough and I know you guys took a gamble for the podcast, only to watch the team crater – yet you remained consistent.
You deserve this season, the following and the connections that are allowing you to reach more people.
Go Jays.
Vlads a bum