The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

[Jiggy_12]

KC clinging to an 11-9 lead over Detroit the 9th. Please hang on.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Suddenly the Jays have won 5 of 6 and are 7-3 in their last 10.

Shame the Bosox have won 10 in a row..if they were even just 7-3 in that time, this race would be great.

Still a week to go and Boston and Baltimore, but looks like they should be playing at home next Tuesday in the one game elimination game.

[Roof-Daddy]

Tigers lose!

[Enoch Root]

Watching on PVR so behind, but that was the best display of small ball from the Jays all year!

Also, Osuna gets the win by ####ing up - the way they choose the winner is so bad

[Jiggy_12]

Jays now 3 clear on the Wildcard cutoff, but those pesky Orioles are hanging around. Just 1.5 up on them.
Tomorrow the Jays play to even up the amount of games played, so we will either be 1 or 2 games up on Baltimore going in to our series with them which could play a role in determining if we are home or away for that wildcard game.

Detroit starts a 4 game set against Cleveland tomorrow, hopefully they lose a few as they end the season with 3 games against Atlanta.

Really really hope the Jays can host that WC game. That crowd will be insane.

[Enoch Root]

Still hoping the Jays are getting hot just in time, and the Bosox peaked too early!

[jayswin]

This isn't meant as a "could a woulda" thought, but I wonder what the difference in position would be (completely ignoring the future burden of such a large contract) if you swapped Price from the Sox to the Jays?

I wonder if it'd be enough to close that cap and have us winning the division in the end? I suppose Happ was the Price replacement, and if that's the case, we likely wouldn't\t be any better, but Boston might be worse.

[Inferno]

I think just still having Price in the dugout would have been a huge boost that might have been the difference. I still don't like the fact that they didn't even make him an offer.

[Enoch Root]

Pitching wasn't their problem. Certainly not starting pitching.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by jayswin

This isn't meant as a "could a woulda" thought, but I wonder what the difference in position would be (completely ignoring the future burden of such a large contract) if you swapped Price from the Sox to the Jays?

I wonder if it'd be enough to close that cap and have us winning the division in the end? I suppose Happ was the Price replacement, and if that's the case, we likely wouldn't\t be any better, but Boston might be worse.

If the Jays sign Price they dont sign Haap. At least in the regular season thats been the more economical move. Really its Porcello thats been the season changer for the Red Sox.

[Roof-Daddy]

If Chavez, Storen and Cecil weren't absolute garbage the first couple months of the season the Jays are right there with Boston right now and among the teams with the best record in baseball.

Starting pitching has been awesome, and save for a few stretches here and there the offense has been more than adequate. Not as good as last year obviously, but way above average.

Luckily Jays management went out and got Grilli and Benoit, and they worked out. Totally saved the bullpen.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by browna

Shame the Bosox have won 10 in a row..if they were even just 7-3 in that time, this race would be great.

Still a week to go and Boston and Baltimore, but looks like they should be playing at home next Tuesday in the one game elimination game.

As much as the Blue Jays blew the division lead the Sox flat out grabbed it

[Machiavelli]

BoSox won again, farewell division

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by edslunch

As much as the Blue Jays blew the division lead the Sox flat out grabbed it

Yeah, I think the Red Sox were going to win the division with this late season surge even if the Jays were playing very well straight through.

This last quarter actually reminds me a lot of last season's AL east race with Toronto and New York, with Boston now playing the role of Toronto. You had that same feeling where a team that truly built a contender starting firing on all cylinders and the baseball world went "yep, these guys are taking the division regardless of the current division standings.

I got that feeling when the Jays were up a game a couple weeks ago, and the same could be said about New York when they were up a couple games but Toronto had entered beast mode last season. Every expert and fan was like "Yeah, they'll pass them soon and not look back".

[GirlySports]

Glad the Jays pulled it out yesterday. Those blown saves can be a real killer. A week ago the Yankees were in the race. They were up by 3 on the Red Sox going into the 9th and a win would have tightened the race 1st to 4th in the East separated by 3 games. Red Sox score 5 in the 9th and haven't lost since, and the Yankees pretty much haven't won since.

Detroit blows a 2 run lead in the 9th on Saturday and got killed yesterday. They might lose for a week. A Jays loss yesterday might have really hurt for the next few days.

Happy that they have momentum going into today

[Roof-Daddy]

Any body know what the Jays are going to do with the rotation next time through?

I guess it depends on if/when they clinch but here's how it shapes up the rest of the way barring changes:

NYY - Happ
BAL - Sanchez
BAL - Liriano/Dickey (Dickey missed last time through)
BAL - Stroman
BOS - Estrada
BOS - Happ
BOS - Sanchez

Jays are set up nicely to have their three best go in the final series, but if they can clinch during the Baltimore series they can easily slide Dickey and Liriano in there for the last two against Boston and then take their pick of Estrada/Happ/Sanchez for the wild card game.

[cross16]

I don't think Price makes a different, like at all.

Keep in mind that up until June Price was pretty terrible (his own admission). He was 8-5 with a era over 4 and Happ easily outpitched him. Price is better now, no question but the Jays problem now is not starting pitching its their offence.

I maintain that if you need a David Price to give your offence a shot in the arm your problem is not missing David Price, its your offence/players.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Any body know what the Jays are going to do with the rotation next time through?

I guess it depends on if/when they clinch but here's how it shapes up the rest of the way barring changes:

NYY - Happ
BAL - Sanchez
BAL - Liriano/Dickey (Dickey missed last time through)
BAL - Stroman
BOS - Estrada
BOS - Happ
BOS - Sanchez

Jays are set up nicely to have their three best go in the final series, but if they can clinch during the Baltimore series they can easily slide Dickey and Liriano in there for the last two against Boston and then take their pick of Estrada/Happ/Sanchez for the wild card game.

Given the WC race and how tight everything is, I can't imagine they'll reach a point of resting guys that final series as they'll want to secure home field for that game.

Even though the WC game has historically been won by the visiting team, each of Baltimore/Detroit/Seattle/Houston have been merely .500 on the road and excellent at home.

I think it'll be very important for the Jays to grab home field for that game and take their chances with the better odds.

[Jiggy_12]

I think the most likely scenario, although not the most ideal, is skipping Sanchez's start on the final day of the season and using him as the WC starter.

I say not ideal, as my preferred scenario would be to have Happ go. But at this point, if they are starting him tonight, I see no way they can stagger it so he would be able to start the WC game - unless the Jays sweep the Orioles and clinch homefield before the Boston series even begins.

[Jiggy_12]

And to add to the discussion, certain pitchers (Estrada comes to mind) have really struggled this year when they have had an extra day of rest.

It's a risky venture to start a guy off his usual routine. So that makes this harder to plan as well as you can't ignore those numbers. Sanchez has been good this year on extra rest, as far as I can recall.