Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “.
The Toronto Blue Jays begin post season play this afternoon in a best of 3 at Tampa Bay against the Rays.
The Blue Jays qualified for the 2020 post season as the # 8 seed in the American League last week, making the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Honestly…………….I don’t think they’ll last long.
First, you can make the argument that in this truncated season with expanded playoffs, the Jays wouldn’t be a playoff team under the normal circumstances.
Second, after Hyun Jin Ryu, how deep is the Jays pitching staff, especially in a condensed best of 3 series ?
And three, most of all, when I’ve watched the Blue Jays this season, almost without fail, they’ve been sloppy, far below the standard that generally exists for Major League Baseball players.
They drop fly balls.
They lose balls in the sky.
They over commit on defense and thus are out of position
The catcher doesn’t always get the pitch he calls for.
The pitcher doesn’t always throw what he’s supposed to, especially with a runner on second base.
They………………
Again, watching the games, the announcers, Dan Shulman and especially Buck Martinez, are exasperated at times by what they’ve seen unfold.
I don’t expect the TV guys to be overly critical, but so often that pair have been almost speechless, dumbfounded by what’s transpired on the field.
Of course the counter argument goes like so;
1) It’s a short series & if a dominant Ryu wins his game, the Jays would need just one additional victory to post an upset and advance.
2) It’s the post season, so the regular season is virtually irrelevant.
& 3) in a short series, especially in baseball, anything can happen.
So maybe the Toronto Blue Jays will advance this year in the Major League Playoffs….but I doubt it.
I’m Fred Wallace