Will The Toronto Blue Jays *SHOW UP* With The American League East On The Line? | Blue Jays Rumours

Will The Toronto Blue Jays *SHOW UP* With The American League East On The Line? | Blue Jays Rumours

An off day yesterday for the Toronto Blue Jays as they look to play their last six games of the season. Where does the injuries leave the starting pitching? What is going on with Bo Bashette? So much to talk about. That doesn’t even include how do people feel about the big celebration after clinching the postseason. You are Locked On Blue Jays, your daily Toronto Blue Jays podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Blue Jays. Thank you for making Locked On Blue Jays your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. As always, I’m Braden Wasco. He’s Carter First. You can invite us on Twitter, Braden Fabasco. Carter first, too, as well. Our main Twitter account, Locked OnJS. You can also follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok, locked on Blue Jays. And if you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button here on YouTube. We appreciate it a ton. It’s free. Might as well. You get your shorts, your podcast, the live streams, the videos, the whole ordeal, the whole shebang. So, hit that subscribe button. So much to talk about today. Uh we’re going to talk Bob Bashette injury probably right off the top here. Uh it is the most relevant. There is uh a lot going on there. A lot of discussion to be had as well. The starting pitching, I mean the just the injuries plaguing this team right now before heading into a playoffs into the playoffs is massive. Um what’s going to happen with this bullpen? And also how do people feel about the Toronto Blue Jays and their big celebration for clinching the playoffs? And not just the Blue Jays, but in general. Uh some people are getting a little upset over the fact that they’re celebrating getting into the postseason as well. Of course, series preview coming in the third segment. So, a lot to talk about Carter. I think let’s jump right into it uh with the Bobette injury update. I’ll sort of dive right into that of what uh sort of this comes right from Keegan Mat. I’ll sort of put this out. This is a couple days ago now. The Blue Jays u are still deciding on what to do with Bo Bashette. Obviously, he went with them to Kansas. Uh, but regardless, they play for him to be uh to be in Toronto for the home stand. Hitting and throwing will come first, running last until any of the starts. There’s still no solid timeline. Um, to me, Carter, that’s a little bit of a red flag as we head into, like I said, the last six games of this season. I don’t know. I I I to me that sounds like he’s coming back for the playoffs, but where, when, how will he be back for the first game of the playoffs? Does it depend on where the Toronto Blue Jays finish? That’s sort of where I’m assuming. I’m assuming if they make the wild card, he probably won’t be back for the first game, but if they get the buy uh and don’t have to play in that wild card round, then I could possibly see uh Bo Bashette making his start in game one there. That’s sort of the timeline in my head that I have going on right now. Well, with Bob Bashette and this is best case scenario. This is assuming that the Toronto Blue Jays can get a buy. The ALDS starts October 3rd and that’s an important date for a couple of reasons. Chris Bass has something to do with that as well. Bobett has less than two weeks to be recovered for that ALDS series. And that’s assuming that or hoping that you can be in an ALDS series. So hopefully you’re going to just avoid the wild card altogether. But if you’re looking for a Bobette to be ready for a wild card and hopefully again I want to preface this don’t want to be in a wild card series hopefully you can just avoid that to rest your pitchers Son Darl Bobette Chris Basset so many guys that would be that would benefit greatly from making the ALDS and avoiding that wild card series together or altogether but uh yeah it’s it’s a little murky and we’ve seen at least recently how the Toronto Blue Jays offense looks without Bob Bashette and in a playoff scenario when play and teams are throwing their best pitchers and they really don’t have a regard for rest whatsoever. Like if a one if their starting pitcher has thrown 130 pitches and he still looks good, they might keep him out there for another inning because it’s the playoffs, they’re throwing everything you can against the wall and not having Bobette on this team is definitely not going to help out whatsoever. Especially in terms of those clutch hits, in terms of driving in runs with two outs, with a runner on first and second, with a runner on third, it doesn’t matter what it is. Boba is probably the guy that I want in every scenario with runners in scoring position and him not being on this Toronto Blue Jays ball club would be detrimental to this Toronto Blue Jays offense. Just puts so much more stress on this Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff, bullpen specifically, a starting rotation obviously as well. You want this team to be healthy. You want this team to be as good as they possibly can going into the playoffs. And you’re going to obviously need Bob Bashette to be ready. So he is uh he was doing some fielding drills at Kaufman Stadium like he was just participating in some light baseball activity. This from Shy did some light hitting in a cage. Uh did some flips and tea work. That’s like yeah like working at SEC or shortar pretty much working on flips there and this an S on dare update as well. He’s been playing in TripleA hits a home run from both sides. You guys have gotten that as well. Timeline still unclear with him. It’s almost more positive with Anthony Son Dare now, which I mean, long time coming for him and you can’t really compare them. But if I’d rather have Bob Baette ready or Anthony Sandon Dere ready, I think a lot of fans will be on the same page as me. We’ve seen what Boba can do a lot more recently than Anthony Santon Dare. You want both of them. But Boba is obviously the the priority for this baseball team. Oh, he has to be. And you know what? I think it’s the way that not only he carries himself, but how much of a leader he’s become in this ball club. I mean, even talking to the media now, Carter, and the answers that we receive from Bobette now compared to even two years ago, um, I I think shows the maturity in Bobette so much. And actually, uh, this is again from Keegan Mat. There was a quote that came directly from Bobette on some of the guys and everything like that. So, I want to get into and talk about that right now as well. Bobette called this the closest team he’s ever played on and says the the Blue Jays have everything it takes to win a World Series. He gave special credit to Ernie Clement and Miles Straw for the work that they did bridging the gap between a lot of players. Um, and even in little things like this, right, I I think the maturity in Bo Bashette and and the leadership that he might not outwardly show on a day-to-day basis, I think what he means to this clubhouse, um, a and this team on and off the field is would be drastically missed. I’m not even talking about the production side. I’m just talking about the the you know in the clubhouse around the team around the guys he’s looked at as a leader now a guy that’s been here so long and and that’s not even talking about like I said what he’s been able to do on the field which is something special and a guy that probably the big one of if not him uh he’s the second guy you trust the most uh when it comes to a being in the box in a big moment right so that that that’s a big part of it yeah like we’ve both used these terms like who you trust the most and like this is the guy that you prefer to have on but unfortunately for us that it doesn’t work out exactly that way every single time. And if you have a lot of the guys that can drive in runs compared to just a few of them, that’s always going to bode better for you, especially against good pitching staff. So having George Springer, Vlatty, like these are guys that again, barring anything crazy, knock on wood, should be in the middle of your order. But if you can add Anthony Santere, you can add Bob Bashette, you have Daltton Vo in there, you have Addison Barry, you provide a little bit more depth and some guys that can really do some damage in the middle of that order. and the home run ball that we talk about all the time, specifically in the playoffs. Again, it matters in the regular season as well with how good the pitching is. It sometimes you only get that one swing of the bat where you can really barrel up a baseball. So, the home run ball is going to be massive. Not necessarily Bobette. He still does have the power to do that. Boet’s a guy that you probably want on base for somebody else to hit a home run. I know he’s probably still going to be hitting in that number four spot when he comes back, but you have Anthony Sonair behind him, Asen Bger, Daltton Bar, those are three guys right there. Assuming Sto can come back, that can definitely hit a long ball. So Bobette, Anthony Santander, I’m going to throw him in this now because it is looking a little bit more promising with him. What production are we going to get from Santandere? That’s a massive question. But if at least we can get these names back into the lineup, I think a lot of it’s just going to make the Toronto fan base and then John Schneider as well. Just feel a lot better about the clubhouse and the roster that he’s presenting in the playoffs. Oh. Oh, without a doubt. I mean there there’s a lot of stuff we could talk about here which is obviously going to lead us into a bigger conversation not only with the offensive side of the ball but uh obviously the pitching as well. I you know you’re missing you know we talk about how much this bullpen struggled in um in August and just how brutal they were. Um, and you know what? I I don’t want to place it on injuries because they weren’t good and and I’m not taking anything away from the fact that they weren’t good and this is not an excuse, but you’re missing two of your bigger pieces heading into this season. Yimmy Garcia and Nick Sandlin who just at this point are toes for this season. So it you we’re relying on a lot of guys right now that you didn’t expect to get this kind of production from offensively and in the pitching side of things. So, it it really is a masterpiece of what this team has been able to do this season coming off of what a horrible horrible season last year was. And I I hate to even talk about and bring up last year because I sort of want to forget about it, but the drastic shift of what this team’s been able to do really really is is exceptional. So, yeah, though having Sant Darren Bobette back u that’s going to that that could be massive. I I mean, you’re looking at like think about how scary that lineup would be. George Springer. You got a guy, we’ll say for now, I’ll throw Addison Barger in there. George Springer, Addison Barger, Vladimir Gro Jr., Bobette, Daltton Vo, um Anthony Santandere, Alejandro Kirk, that’s terrifying. Like, if you’re another baseball club and you look at that lineup, that is scary. And to to have Sonair back and in the middle of that, a guy that’s able to, like you said, hit the long ball 44 last season, I’d be terrified. I don’t care how bad he’s playing at the time or or what he hasn’t done this season. That’s a guy you know you he who could kill you at any point. So yeah, if they come back, I I’m I’m ecstatic, but I’m questioning it a little bit right now for sure. See, it’s hard for me to like fathom it going badly. I think it’s just because of the way things have gone this entire season for the Toronto Blue Jays. Like Bobett’s been hurt. He’s come back and he hasn’t missed a beat. George Springer when he got hit in the head with a fast ball is on IIL. Comes back doesn’t really miss a beat. whatsoever. Daltton Var show every single time he’s been out, he’s on pace still for like 50 home runs. Again, he’s not going to get there cuz he doesn’t have the games played. But whenever these guys go down to AAA, and you can even talk about like the guys that aren’t going down there because of injuries, like David Schneider when he’s been sent down there, Joey Lorito, when those guys come down go down to AAA and they come back up, they’ve been immediately as soon as you plug and play them into the lineup, they’ve been unbelievable. So with Anthony Sandere, if we can, you know, continue to follow suit, there’s way more wild cards with Anthony Sandon Dare. But maybe that’s setting me up for a false reality that we’ve seen it so many times happen in different scenarios. Why can’t Anthony Santandere do it as well? Maybe there’s some magic down there in in triple A Buffalo for uh some of these guys. But unfortunately now the uh the AAA season is coming to an end. So uh not a lot of rehab starts unfortunately for a lot of these Toronto Blue Jays guys anymore. They’re going to have to do their own individual stuff and just hopefully be ready so they can just play with the Toronto Blue Jays and not have to worry about minor league affiliates. Well, and Carter, you know what’s something that we don’t talk about enough and and probably doesn’t get brought up at all really is the pitching machine that the Toronto Blue Jays have in their facility that mimics the pitchers they’re going to face and they can plug in anybody and can pitch that. So, you know, when guys do come back from injury, they can go and hit there and it’s like hitting against some of the the world’s best pitchers. It’s not that they got to be sent down to AAA and they just go and hit off AAA guys. No, they’re still putting in the work in the cage against this pitching machine that a lot of other teams don’t have the access to, don’t have this kind of technology. So, you know, when we talk about this um you know, Rogers and and the Blue Jays organization, I think a very under looked over component to all of this is is the technology that these guys have in their facility. So, you know, if even if Bobette does miss some time and can’t come back before the end of the season, at least he’s got the pitching machine. He can’t be sent down to TripleA, so at least he’s got the pitching machine, I guess. Uh that he can, you know, you can see at least what something of MLB pitching is like. Yeah, it’s it’s better than nothing. It’s better than not having it. Am I going to take a human being pitching to uh a player, you know, instead of, you know, this robot that’s doing it? Absolutely. like the you like for example like Chris Basset we’ll say his arm slots I I’m just going to throw out a random number it’s 35 degrees it’s not going to be 35 degrees every single time it’s going to fluctuate a little bit every single time like your pitches aren’t going to spin the exact same amount every time there’s going to be pitches throughout a start that are better than others so again when you see the release point there’s a lot of things that it can mimic and especially like I’d say pregame this matters a ton because if you can go and you’ll get some at bats against the starting pitcher that you’re about to face that’s definitely going to help you especially if he has like a specific pitch that’s absolutely absolutely disgusting. Like we’ll use Clayton Kershaw because of the retirement information, but like that his curveball. If you have the Clayton Kershaw curveball and you can see that a couple times, especially if you’ve never seen it before and then go into that game, you might save yourself some embarrassment because at least with that, you know, the robot where you’ve seen it, it’s not the perfect thing, but you’ve seen at least, you know, it mimics something what that pitch is going to look like. So, yeah, definitely a bonus that the Toronto ble do have it. I know a lot of other teams throughout the MLB have this machine as well. I mean, like the Miami Marlins, I almost bet my entire bank account, they don’t have this, but the teams like the Dodgers, any of the teams with the higher payroll systems probably have machines similar to this. It’s technology. It’s we’ve seen it since, you know, the 21st century really advanced. And it’s not just advancing in like our everyday regular lives, you know, helping us out with the podcast, getting more advanced technology wise, but it’s also helping them in the major leagues as well. Totally. And and you know what, we talk about why this Blue Jays team is so much better at home than they necessarily are on the road and this definitely could be part of it, right? You get to go see a couple of this similaresque pitches at least and what you’re going to be facing out there. So just an interesting thought. I had somebody had bring that up to me at work the other day ask me about this machine. They saw a Tik Tok on it and asked me what I thought and I said, “You know what? It can’t hurt, right? These these machines and getting that that preparation before a ball game, it it really can’t hurt.” So yeah, has it helped? probably. It’s crazy. We’ve talked a lot about the buy and we’ve talked a lot about the significance of a buy, but we haven’t really talked about the significance of that home field advantage. You know, not just having the robot at the Rogers Center. It’s playing at the Roger Center, having the fan base, having that environment for the Toronto Blue Jays. You look at the home and road splits for the Toronto Blue Jays. You look at any team’s home and road splits, they’re going to be a lot better at home because it’s a lot more familiar. Their routines they’ve been doing the entire spring, they’ve been doing a lot in the offseason for guys that have been here for a while. It’s something that they are familiar and comfortable with. And then you have the Toronto Blue Jays fans, you know, 40 to 45,000 of them obviously being very invested and loud and present at the Rogers Center. It puts some fear into other teams hearts. We know how loud the Roger Center can get and how that atmosphere can impact other pitchers. So, not just obviously the rest versus rest argument, you know, being in the best shape and just being the feeling the best that you can in uh, you know, 162 baseball game season, but just being at home, having that familiarity and then just having the fans behind you. That is something that is holds a complete like separate significance of just what the play is on the baseball field. Yeah. Yeah. I 100%. That’s something you’re right. We haven’t talked enough about. Maybe people don’t talk about it enough, but uh we we did have the big rest versus Russ conversation, so that definitely goes into it as well, Carter. So, good point there. We’re going to take a quick break. We’re going to come back. We’re going to talk some pitching, a whole bunch of stuff talking about celebrating playoffs and and making it there. And of course, we still got the series preview to come. So, a lot more on today’s episode of Locked On Blue Jays. Today’s episode is once again sponsored by Neutrifall. You’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, “Sure, like that actually works.” There are so many products out there and it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. And that’s why you should give Neutrifll a closer look. Neutrifll is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. And it’s not just the hype. This is a supplement clinically tested that targets the root cause of thinning and shedding with a proactive approach. Uh whether you are at work, out with friends, or even getting ready in the morning, Neutrifol gives you the confidence in your daily routine. Just having uh some things you’re thinking about all the time, whether it is your hair shedding, it could be something completely different. But having somewhere in your life where you lack confidence is definitely noticeable and people can notice that with you as well. You want to be as confident as you can possibly be. You want to be a confident being in every part of your life. And Neutrifol can definitely help you restore that confidence if your insecurities are stemming from your hair. See thicker and stronger hair with less shedding in just three to six months with Neutrifol today. For a limited time, Neutrifol is offering locked on MLB listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to neutrifold.com and enter the promo code locked on MLB. That’s neutrfol.com promo code locked on MLB. So Carter, we talked about how we were going to get into this a little bit today um in yesterday’s episode, just the fact that Chris Basset will be on the 15-day IIL and that’s retroactively to September 19th. Uh, so you’re without Chris Basset. Um, that that that’s a blow. I I mean, for a team that just moved Eric L. Well, not just moved Eric Lowour, but moved Eric Lowour and now Jos Burio to the bullpen, there’s going to have to be some more discussions that are had about who’s who gets where. Can you bring Jose Brios? Can he will be he be ready for another start this season? What’s going to happen with all of that? And how many games can you get guys like Traus Savage in? You probably at this point need Max Sherzer to get back on the on the hill and make up for what happened in the last appearance to finalize your playoff rotation and what that’s going to be. Again, you probably know who your first two are and Kevin Gosman and Shane Bieber, but who holds down that three hole? That’s a big conversation that still is up in the air for this team. When we talked about the starting rotation for the playoffs, like in early September, we always said, “Oh, like it would probably get more clear as we continue to get farther and farther down the schedule.” I think if anything that’s been reversed like you said other than the first two starters even if you want to flip-flop them like I think Shane Bieber and Kevin Gosman at this point are for sure your one and twos again whichever way you want to do it I don’t really care for me it’s Kevin Gosman Shane Bieber you want to flip that go for it but now you’re looking at the third spot and this is not even just the third spot if you want to look at like this team could do a threeman starting rotation and then do like a full-on bullpen day as their number four because the Dodgers did that pretty much exclusively throughout the playoffs especially in the World Series. They had that three-headed monster and then went to a bullpen day. Ours would probably stemmed with like a Jose Brios or Eric Lowour already. So there’s that decision. Do you want to go threeman rotation? Do you want to go with four with now Chris Basset? He is available for the first game of the ALDS, but being on the 15-day IIL just, you know, as soon as you activate him, do you want to throw him into a playoff start? Again, that is the first game. Do you want Chris Bass to pitch in the first game? He’s probably not going to do that either. So that’s an option. Jose Brios, do you move him right back from the bullpen to the starting rotation? Max Scherzer now with the blowups that he’s had over six RA in his last seven. That’s inflated obviously with the last start, but it hasn’t really been that good. We’ve heard about some injury concerns and maybe some, you know, conditioning stuff from that sher about the back. Some uncertainty there. Trey Savage only made two starts. Like, do you want him to be your number three guy? There’s a lot that goes into this whether it’s a wild card als el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el el elimination game like there’s a lot that we could talk about and a lot of different ways that this could unfold for the Toronto Blue Jays here like maybe Eric Lowry you just go with the bullpen day as your number three like where are you at least right now with everything considered stemming for a number three guy you got to make a decision with everything you know and everything that we have watched up to this point you have to make a decision who’s your number three guy K so uh interesting scenario. Thank you for throwing that at me. I appreciate that. Um, well, obviously it’s Kevin Gosman, Shane Bieber, that that has been and forever will be. Um, but where I’m at right now is Trey Savage into either Eric Lowour or Jose Bereos. And then what you do is you do whatever you don’t use on that day. So say you go Treya Savage, Eric Lowour. The next day you have the rotation of what could be Max Scherzer, Jose Bereos or Max Scherer, Eric Lowour. I a and that’s what you do for the the the three four. You do it as a split start almost, but dependent on how it’s going, right? It’s very short leash. These guys get in trouble, bang, you go to the next guy. Both starts. I I think that’s where this team is at. You have a guys that are very capable in both scenarios and some guys maybe that you don’t trust 100% to start a game or go, you know, do you want Jos Brio seeing the order twice, three times? Probably not, right, at this point. Same with Max Sherzer. Do you want him to see an order three times? Probably not. That’s probably where the guys take advantage. So, even twice, right, you have to make that call and that’s a judgment call. So, in those two games, do I trust John Schneider to make that call at the right time? I I don’t know right now to be honest with you because we have seen him mess things up in the past when a guy is going out there and throwing their best stuff. But for right now, yeah, I I think you go Trey Savage into somebody else game four, you go either Max Shers or Jose Brios into the other one. That’s that’s where I’m at. I I don’t know if that’s the right answer. I couldn’t tell you. Um but I bet you this team is just having as much problems with it as as me and you sit here today and talk about it. See, it’s it’s tough for John Schneider because I think recently like within within the last couple of weeks, like we’ve seen John Schneider make a lot of strides this season, but there’s been some questionable things recently, especially with his pinch hitting scenarios. Not as much pitching wise. Like I’m sort of okay with what he’s done a lot of the time pitching, but he’s in love with Andre Smith in late inning scenarios. When you have Dave Schneider on the bench, you get separate argument, but I’m starting to lose a little bit of faith with John Schneider. That’s the overarching thing I want to include in this conversation because this kind of what you brought up is that with you and you got your two guys like this is kind of I’m focused on like the third and fourth guys here. Like I’m I’m penciling in Kevin Gosman and Shane Bieber personally. Uh you guys can leave like comments if you guys disagree with that and just what your scenario would be otherwise. But there’s there’s problems with literally everybody that you could throw in the third and fourth start. You can go down the line. You can kind of make a pros and cons list, which maybe we’ll have to do as we continue on down the stretch here. I don’t think we’ll do that necessarily in this episode, but this is where I’m at, I think, at this point. And this is uh assuming that everyone is available like down the stretch. Like, you’re going to be fine starting rotation wise. You’ll just kind of throw whoever honestly uh uh whoever you want for the rest of uh this regular season. You got like seven guys, I guess six with Chris Basset now out that you can throw on every any given day. But you have everybody available. I think it really depends on who you’re playing and I think it depends on the matchup because what we have seen John Schneider do is we’ve set we’ve seen him set this whole team up for success whether that’s lefties versus righties whether that’s you know hitting that’s pitching uh like every decision he’s made kind of been this platoon role and we’ve been really looking for someone to kind of separate themselves. We’ve been looking for someone to at least grab that third starting rotation spot and if you ask me out of anybody who has at least tried to do that the most, it’s probably Treya Savage and that’s where I’m at. Again, we talked about the scenario. If this if this is an elimination game, you’re not throwing Trey Savage. I’m sorry. You can’t like if it’s a wild card, it’s game three and it’s 1-1. Like, Trey Savage isn’t going. Like, you can’t do that to the kid, unfortunately. So, there’s also dependent, but you’re talking just like the guy that I trust the most at at this point. And we’re talking about the ALDS here. Scenario we used last time we did this, it was 1-1. For me, it’s still Trey Savage as the game three. But this is the system that I would be deploying if and this is what I kind of expect John Sher to do if I’m being completely honest here. I think it’s Treya Savage and then I think it’s probably Chris Basset as a piggyback. I think the Alicia are very short no matter who it is. It could be Chris Basset, it could be Eric Lowour, Jose Bio, Max Shur, or Trey Savage. Alicia for all of them are extremely short because you have every other one of those guys as an option in all of those games as well. So if you start to see some guys fluctuate with their performance, you’re yanking them out of there immediately. So, for me, it’s Trey Savage into Chris Basset, and then it’s probably Max Scherzer, which Max Scherzer has been very effective this year at getting right-handed hitters out. That really hasn’t been a problem at all. It’s been the lefties. So, if Max Sher runs into trouble, you probably want a lefty, a guy that’s better at pitching against left-handed hitters to go into that game. So, my piggyback for Max Scherzer is Eric Lowour. Then, Jose Brios is just your long line. He’s just that guy. If something happens, maybe you just, you know, you have extra innings. Kevin Gosman doesn’t have a best start. Whatever ends up happening, it’s kind of your Swiss Army knife where maybe you can use him as well as like a, you know, three-headed monster. Imagine like Trey Savage, Basset, Brios. I think if that happens, you’re probably screwed. Things didn’t go that well. But you kind of have him as a Swiss Army knife where you throw anywhere. So, I think like if you have a lineup with a lot of lefties, then maybe you have Eric Lowry in there sooner than later with Max Sher. So, it’s all dependent on the scenarios. But uh for me like it’s it’s Treyus Savage is my biggest upside guy in this scenario. I know it’s only been two starts, but I think at this point you got to throw the guy that you think has the best chance at giving you a chance to win for me right now. Your third guy is Trey Savage. Yeah. So you were pretty much on the same page in regards to this and and that’s sort of where I figured a lot of people will be because there hasn’t been that standout guy yet that’s like you said taken advantage of the opportunity given. Um Carter, just before we continue here, obviously series preview still to come. lot more to talk about, but I you brought up something to me today just before this uh we started doing the episode and that’s the celebration that happened when the Toronto Blue Jays made the postseason and you saw a lot of tweets saying um that you know people weren’t thrilled about it or whatever. Why don’t you why don’t you get right into that because I do want to have a little conversation on this as well. Yeah, so this happens every single year. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t get to have this conversation last year cuz we didn’t make the playoffs. So, we didn’t get to have this argument, but every single year this falls true is that when MLB teams make the playoffs, they pretty much party in the clubhouse, whether they’re at home, they’re away, they celebrate. They celebrate their long season together and they celebrate the accomplishment that it is to make the major league playoffs. And every year without fault, you have people that are on board with it. They’re like, “Oh yeah, let the guys do their thing.” Playoff’s a big achievement. Obviously, very long season. you play 162 games, like you should let these guys celebrate. And then there’s the other side of the fence where it’s like especially with the Toronto Blue Jays, I think this year this comes into play a lot. It’s is the playoffs the goal? Like with a lot of these teams, especially like for example the Dodgers that are almost like a staple to make the playoffs every year. And that’s where a lot of these teams get hate. It’s like, hey, we made the playoffs nine years in a row. Like is it worth celebrating? Like that’s not the goal at this point. And for the Toronto Blue Jays, making the playoffs is not the goal anymore either really. It’s it’s winning the American League. that’s getting the buy and going on a deep playoff run. But a lot of people say like, “Hey, like why are these guys celebrating? The job’s not finished. Like this doesn’t make any sense. Like I I’m not on board with this whatsoever.” For me, like just breaking down what a major league season is. It’s 162 baseball games. Like these games are about two and a half hours. Well, that’s just strictly games. You’re not talking about the practice time. You’re not talking about the meetings in these in spring training. You’re not talking about the travel time on the plane. You’re not talking about the dinners. You’re not talking about the warm-ups like they’re like these guys are spending way more times together than they are with their entire families and the like the MLB season is twice as long as the NHL season. Like the NHL is 82 games and MLB season’s 162. Again, there’s difference with the physicalities and the toll in the body and things like that, but the major leagues you play every single day. You don’t get days off often whatsoever. You can go on stretches where you play 14 days straight of baseball and you’re not really seeing your family that often. And there’s a lot more outside things that kind of go into this. So, I think this is a massive achievement. And I never understand why people get mad at teams celebrating this achievement because it is very hard to make the playoffs and things can go ary very quickly. Injuries happen. There’s over expectations, there’s underexpectations. We definitely saw the underexpectations in 2024. So, you really saw it when they were celebrating as well. Max Scherzer was one of the most fired up right away. John Schneider, a guy that’s kind of been around major league clubs and just around baseball for a long time, knows how important it is to make the playoffs. A lot of the starting pitchers, Chris Basset, Kevin Gosman, they haven’t made the playoffs every single year they played. So, they know how important it is to make the playoffs. So, the side that I’m on is that let these guys celebrate. Who are we to hate on these guys that putting their blood, sweat, and tears day in and day out in the game that they love? Who are we to hate on them saying, “Hey, like we’re going to take something away from the achievement that you guys have dedicated your entire lives to.” Carter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came out uh after obviously clinching the playoffs and he says, “The job’s not finished. We want to win the division.” That was a statement from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and right on. Celebrating making the playoffs doesn’t change that, right? In No, absolutely not. In the same vein as of what you said, you’re right. Maybe it loses some of the the finesse and the sparkle when you’re there every season, but from the depths of hell that this team was coming from last season to getting to this point, probably where a lot of people didn’t have them making the playoffs or some people sniffing the playoffs for this team to succeed in the way that they have done it so far this season. Let these guys celebrate it. Carter, I celebrated it. People texted me being like, “The boys did it. They got in. You know, a couple more and they’re going to win.” whatever, right? Go all the way. This team has a whole country behind them. Let the boys celebrate a little bit. Take the Maybe it takes the pressure off. Maybe it dims the lights a little bit for them. I I don’t care. You know what I mean? Like, this is a long season and and I think it would be different for me. Maybe I don’t think I’d have a different reaction. But in seeing now where this team has been and you know, me and you, Carter, we watch aund almost 162 games a year and we get tired. Like imagine how we we were like, “Heck yeah.” Like, “Let’s go.” Oh, like we were pretty much popping champagne, never mind being in those games and all the big moments there with your teammates. And then for you guys to come from the season you had last year into this year and having that success, let the boys party it up a little bit. They have an off day. It sort of came at the perfect time like you know the boys will be a little hung over uh or you know yesterday and and they’ll come to the ballpark. They’ll be ready to play because they know like Vlad said they still have work to do and they still got a job to get done. So that that doesn’t take away from the fact these boys are going to probably try to put the body and the life on the line a little bit here for uh for this team. Yeah, Vlatty said it, John Schneider said it literally in the locker room right before they pop the champagne bottles. This is the first stepping stone on the things that we want to accomplish this year. And you’ve said it best is that the argument would be a lot of the time is hey like you still have if you have these bigger goals like you don’t really want to be hung over for those bigger goals. Well the Toronto Blues have an off day. So luckily for them, the schedule gods were in their favor and they are definitely going to get after it tonight. And just saying that backtracking a little bit as well, just in terms of like looking at the season when they swept the Padres’s, when they swept the uh the Mariners, when they swept the Yankees for a four game series, do you think they weren’t getting after it on the plane after that? Do you think they weren’t celebrating after those massive wins? There’s miniature celebrations throughout the entire season. Yes, they’re not popping champagne bottles in the locker room after these wins, but there’s boats of celebration throughout the entire season, especially when you have an off day and you’re in a pretty good spot, you know, have this celebration. They’re definitely going to enjoy themselves. I don’t think we’re in a place to take anything away from this baseball team. So, yeah, shout out to them for making the playoffs. Uh, but like we said, this is why we didn’t really react on the Monday episode that much, like we didn’t make this big, oh my goodness, Toronto Blue Jays made the playoffs, blah blah blah. Because one thing it’s been almost expected since like the trade deadline like sort of what last season where the season felt lost at the trade deadline. It was almost the opposite where as for sure you’re nervous in every single game like the games mean more and more. This team felt like a shoe like I called this team as a playoff like they made the playoffs after they beat the St. Louis Cardinals. I think this was in like May or June in a series like you just tell the vibes were different. Yes, there are bigger goals in mind but yeah it’s it’s a big accomplishment obviously to make the playoffs. And before I forget, this is uh completely off topic, but this has to go into our fantasy stuff. I did forget about this on Monday. I wasn’t just salty that I did lose in our fantasy semi-finals, but the lock on league is in the finals, and I just wanted to give a shout out to a couple of the guys or the people that are in there. So, Jim Holler and Haley Holler. Yeah, Brandon hasn’t cared about this fantasy league in the last, you know, it’s it’s been like a 2024 Toronto Blue Jay season. I’ve been like 2025 Toronto Blue Jays, just absolutely whole and none league. But Jim Holler and Haley Holler, the only uh two co-owners in the league, absolutely beat the brakes off of me. I didn’t even start Noah Cameron on Saturday because I was just I I have no chance whatsoever here. And then we have uh Ryan Scott as well. Uh he I like your strategy. Braden’s not a fan of it. Uh you just kind of you rotate the pitchers. You go all in on the position players. You see you try to play matchups and you get some of the guys that aren’t as proven. Brad’s not a big fan of that. I respect it. I respect the grind. I’m fixing it next year. We’re not doing that. All right. That’s all season I’m like, “Oh, I I drafted some guys that know ball.” That’s just what it is. Oh my god. I drafted some good pitchers and I’m like, “Oh, I’m rocking with these boys.” Then I see like a million ads and drops all year. I’m like, “Okay, well.” Then you see somebody start Simeon Wood Richardson against the Yankees and he strikes out 11. You’re like, “Okay.” Like, “What what are we doing here?” I don’t want to hear it. No, congrats to everybody. It was a fun year. We’re going to do it again next year. We’ll try to get more of you guys in. Maybe just uh Yeah. Good luck to you guys in the final as well. Yeah, we might set up uh next year we might do a double where a Carter’s in one league, I’m in the other and I don’t know. We, you know, we announced two or something like that to make it more. I don’t know. We’ll figure out something. It’ll be a good time. We’ll get more of you guys involved. We know there’s a lot of people at the beginning either that wanted to join that couldn’t. Um but next year maybe we’ll figure something out depending on sort of how much people liked it. We’ll switch things up. We’ll make the league a little bit better every year. But to all those that you participated and to those two uh those three of you, I guess in the finals, um we hope that you guys uh have a good time and and hopefully one of you pulls it out and you can brag to the rest of us. In saying that, one of you pulls it out. Yeah. Just there’s not going to be a winner. There’s going to tie. Yeah. Universal tie. They’re going to get it perfectly on the Daunt. We have no tiebreaker in place. It’s just the first inaugural lock on Fantasy League. It’s going to end in a tie. Exactly like that. What like 156.2 to 156.2. I think like in all of my years playing fantasy in like all sports, I’ve seen a tie like twice and I was actually part of a tie last year in baseball and it was it was interesting. It was uh not a fun scenario. You’re just always thinking about like, oh man, this guy, you know, got one more strike out or didn’t give a bad hit. I wonder how to tie a baseball game. But I mean, that’s completely separate. Yeah, shout out to you guys for obviously making the finals. And shout out to everyone that joined and specifically participated. Shout out for you guys for joining, but obviously we prefer if you guys were active the entire season. There’s going to be some opening spots to those for some people that weren’t as active in this league. But, you know, besides the fantasy stuff, good luck to you guys. This is for me, and I think probably for you as well, for everyone in Toronto Blue Jays Nation, the most important series of the year with there only being six games left and it being against the Boston Red Sox with the Yankees only two games, I guess technically three. The tiebreaker games back. This a series that you really want to win. It really is going to be a good test for the Toronto Blue Jays that may end up playing the Boston Red Sox at some point in the playoffs coming up. Bunch more that we want to get into and we will preview this series against the Boston Red Sox after this break. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. You guys know how much I talk about FanDuel. I love FanDuel because I’m a better I’m a sports better. I like to do it. And NFL is where it’s at for me. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with can’t miss offers right now. New customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. The 300 bucks in bonus bets is like mindboggling. I wish I would have waited to set up my account to get the $300 because all you have to do is win that first $5 bet and it’s like you can get free money off of using those bets. It’s it’s unbelievable. Take advantage of this offer now. Uh bet on NFL. I’ve been going crazy on the bets. I’ve been doing okay. I’m I’m very middle of the road right now, so don’t listen to me when it comes to how to bet. But make sure you know if you guys like it, you enjoy it, you want to add a little flare to watching whatever game it may be, throw on some money. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. So, Carter, massive series, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox. Um, you know what you said? Very important. I’m saying mustwin series. My second of the year, a must-win series for the Toronto Blue Jays. Uh, are you sort of with me on that one? Yeah, absolutely. I do not want to leave this to the last series of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays. Let’s let’s lock it up now. Let’s let’s just put ourselves in the best situation possible to have as many games against the Tampa Bay Rays not matter. That is the goal of this series. Even though you do have some playoff caliber pitching matchups to start these these ones out. So, in the first game of the series, you got Lucas Gilito versus Kevin Gosman. Second game of the series, you’re going to have Garrett Crochet verse Max Scherzer. And then the third game, you got Ryan Beo vers Shane Bieber. Three game series, the sixth, fifth, and fourth last games of the year. You said it, must win series. I don’t know if I’ve said it this year. I’ve definitely thought it. I might not have communicated that on the podcast, but yeah, this is by far the biggest series of the year. Like the only other ones that like really come into my head are both series against the Yankees. Like the one that we swept them in the four game and the most previous one where we lost two out of three. So yeah, this this one’s very important, especially with the scenario that you are in. This could go multiple different ways. Like you could put yourself in a very good spot. You could maybe even lock this up for yourself and have the American League East and the American League locked up for going into that Tampa Bay Ray series. Or we could look be looking at this a whole lot differently. I’m not even going to go into how that could look because Toronto Blue Jays are going to take two out of three. I don’t care what the numbers are ever going to be for Brian Beo. I think he sucks. I don’t care what it is. Baseball Savant will tell you that exact same thing. You got to win that game. That third game of the series is crucial. Garrick Crochet, I mean, it’s a playoff caliber pitcher. He’s very good, obviously. But I I want to see something from the Toronto Blue Jays in that game. I I’m going to go with kind of what you said uh in the last series where they lose the first game and they win the next two. I really want them to see I want to see them do some damage especially offensively against Garrett Crochet a very good pitcher a playoff caliber pitcher a pitcher that you might see uh in a first game whether that is AL wild card or an ALDS series do some damage against a very good pitcher and Garrick Crochet and win yourself a series Carter I’m taking uh I’m taking you know obviously series win as well but I’m going Kevin Gosman Shane Bieber it’s I’m going with our best options our best pitchers leading into the playoffs these guys are going to put their stamp on why they’re one and two uh Garrett Crochet. I I I think the Blue Jays can get to them, but I’m a little bit concerned about what Max Sherzer is going to give you at at this point. I hope he does well. I really do. But it’s concerning. And you know, you said it best. It’s uh we’re at this point of the season where it doesn’t matter who’s on the mound. You got to do some damage. So, I don’t care who the names on the other side of the sheet are. Um show up, bring the bat, get, you know, get in there, use the uh you know, use that robot or whatever, and you guys can hit some baseballs and and hopefully lock up the AL. But we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Obviously, a lot more drama to ensue in the next bunch of days. So, we’ll keep you guys updated on scoreboards, everything, standings as we continue on uh each game that we go. Um, and stay tuned for, you know, Tik Tok shorts, reels, whatever they’re called at this point. Every app calls them something different, but there will be videos postgame. Um, for the most part, we’re going to try to get them out to you guys. A lot going on this week as well and in the weeks to come with the Toronto Blue Jays heading into the playoffs. a big big massive couple weeks here for the boys. It’s going to be a ton of fun. We always appreciate you guys uh throwing in your two cents into the comments section or or more if you got it. Um so yeah, appreciate all you guys, all the comments, all the likes, all the subscriptions lately. You guys have been absolutely killing it. Uh Carter, any last words from you before we kick out of here for the evening? Yeah, big series against the division rival. really going to assert yourselves on whether you are a contender or a pretender going into the playoffs and really will be that deciding piece for the momentum that you take not just into the Tampa Bay Ray series but into a playoff scenario as well. The biggest series of the year only six games left going to be nailbiters every single time whether the Toronto Blue Jays are up 10 runs or down 10 runs. Every single game matters and every single game is very important and we’ll be breaking it all down the entire week right here on Locked on Blue Jays. Just wanted to say it for one more time. Thank you guys for watching. All the sport, like Braden said, has been crazy recently. We appreciate you guys sticking along for the ride. Lot more baseball to come. We’re excited for it. Hopefully you guys are as well. We’ll talk to you guys again tomorrow.

The Toronto Blue Jays are in their most important stretch of the season, as these games will determine where the Blue Jays place in the American League. Things are going down to the wire, and the Blue Jays are leaving people with questions going into the playoffs. With injuries and players over and under exceeding expectations, the Blue Jays will have to fight their way to an American East title. Standout performances may be the key to making those tough decisions down the stretch, as we talk about the standings and what the Blue Jays situation could look like going into the playoffs. We provide clarity and shed light on some of the unknowns within the Toronto Blue Jays organization and preview the Red Sox series right here, on Locked On Blue Jays.

Your current Toronto Blue Jays roster: Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Kevin Gausman, Yimi Garcia, Anthony Santander, Alek Manoah, Jeff Hoffman, Yariel Rodriguez, George Springer, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Andres Gimenez, Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, Brayden Fisher, Max Scherzer, Leo Jimenez, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement, Jake Bloss, Nick Sandlin, Bowden Francis, Joey Loperfido, Orelvis Martinez, Ricky Tiedemann, Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Seranthony Dominguez, Christian Bethancourt, Louis Varland, Tommy Nance, Jonatan Clase, Tyler Heineman , Myles Straw, Shane Bieber, Easton Lucas, Paxton Schultz, Mason Fluharty, Eric Lauer

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