The Toronto Blue Jays achieved another come-from-behind win on Monday, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 in extra innings.
The star of the show for Toronto was starting pitcher Trey Yesavage, who set a franchise record by striking out nine Rays batters over five one-run innings in his MLB debut.
With the end of the season just two weeks away and the Blue Jays’ position in the playoff picture crystallizing by the day, Yesavage may just be another piece added to the puzzle for the team.
ESPN’s Buster Olney joined First Up on TSN1050 on Tuesday to discuss the strength of the Blue Jays compared to other teams in the American League and what their playoff run might look like.
“The Blue Jays are in such an incredible position when it comes to depth in their rotation,” Olney said. “The New York Mets – there are six or seven different pitchers in the Blue Jays organization that would be the Mets’ number one or number two.”
Toronto has won seven of their last 10 games, and over that span, only one pitcher – Max Scherzer in a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees – has allowed more than three runs in their start.
Of Blue Jays pitchers to make at least one start for the team in September – Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Scherzer, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Yesavage – only Scherzer (4.31) has an earned-run average above 4.00 this year.
“With the way this is playing out, in the postseason you would assume Gausman number one, Bieber number two, then you can have a discussion about Scherzer or Bassitt third,” said Olney of the Blue Jays’ potential rotation for the postseason.
“There are going to be rounds if they advance where you might need a number four as you move forward, and now you have this guy who absolutely could come in, he could piggyback one of the veteran starters if they get off to a slow start in the game.”
On Yesavage, Olney pointed to a history of top pitching prospects making their MLB debut late in the season and going on to provide a significant boost in the playoffs.
“Baseball history is littered with guys who came up at the end of the year, who are really a formidable advantage,” Olney said. “In 2002 that was the difference between the Los Angeles Angels winning the World Series or not when Francisco Rodriguez stepped in and made an impact in the last weeks of the regular season and postseason. That’s what we’re looking at with that guy last night.”
On the offensive side, the Blue Jays have dealt with a knee injury for star shortstop Bo Bichette, whose timeline for a return has been hazy since he was placed on the Injured List on Sept. 7.
Andres Gimenez and Ernie Clement have split time at shortstop in his stead, and despite the drop-off in production at the plate – Bichette owns an on-base plus slugging percentage of .840, compared to .715 for Clement and .593 for Gimenez – the team has won seven of eight games without Bichette in the lineup.
Olney pointed to that fact as a major reason why the Blue Jays are a team to fear in the postseason.
“The consistency [has stood out for me], and maybe that’s based on the fact that they’re not a team built around one or two players,” Olney said.
“When Aaron Judge is out of the New York Yankees’ lineup, your thought is ‘Wow, this is a very different team.’ When Tarik Skubal had that little period with the Detroit Tigers the other day when we thought they were going to lose him, you just couldn’t imagine the Tigers winning a World Series without him,” said Olney.
The Blue Jays own the highest team batting average in the majors (.269) by almost 10 points, and they also lead the league in on-base percentage (.339) and have struck out the second-fewest times.
It’s helped in large part by contributions up and down the lineup – five lineup regulars have hit above .275 this season. All eight Blue Jays hitters who have played in more than 100 games are hitting above the league average of .246.
“The fact that the Blue Jays have this group of players that are all really consistent: They put the ball in play, they get on base, they play good defence – that has been impressive,” Olney said.
“And again, to get back to the rotation – good lord, every day you’re [starting] a guy that a manager would love to trust. What a tough decision for [manager] John Schneider. At some point you have to assume he’s going to sit down with guys that have accomplished a lot in their careers and say “Well, we’re going with this guy instead of you,” that’s an enviable position that just about every team in baseball right now would love to have.”
The Blue Jays continue a four-game series against the Rays before travelling to Kansas City to take on the Royals for their final road trip of the year. With 12 games remaining on the schedule, the Blue Jays play their season finale on Sept. 28 at home against the Rays.