NFL
By: Greg Rector
The Toronto Blue Jays have played great baseball since they started the season at 26-28 and didn’t look like a World Series contender at all. What happened? The Blue Jays went back to baseball basics. They started using the sacrifice bunt, and the players, to a man, stopped trying to drive the ball with pull hits.
When Dalton Varsho and Anthony Santander were both out due to injuries, along came Nathan Lukes and Myles Straw, who both play solid defense, but more importantly, they understand how to move the ball and keep the bottom of the order from being three easy outs. Addison Barger has included a hot-hitting left-handed bat. His 28 home runs and 102 RBIs were spectacular.
Notice how I didn’t mention Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and George Springer’s names. The big three might be only the big two if Bichette doesn’t play as he hasn’t since September, when he injured his knee. The key for me has been the fantastic play of Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, and the recently reacquired Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
In other words, despite Guerrero Jr’s outstanding October (.442, 6 HR’s, 19 RBIs) and George Springer’s great three-run home run in the ALCS Game Seven, which was watched by 11.8 million Canadian households, an outstanding number for Sportsnet in a nation of 41.5 million. The play of these lesser-known Blue Jays has been the key to the offense.
The Pitchers
Trey Yesavage will start Game One of the World Series. Who is this young man? He was drafted last year and went through four levels of baseball with the Blue Jays, and if you didn’t see him take apart the New York Yankees in 5 2/3 innings, he struck out 11 Yankees out of 18 hitters he faced, which set a new record for a pitcher in a Blue Jays uniform.
Kevin Gausman has been outstanding, and at 41 years of age, Max Scherzer has been great as well for the Blue Jays. Chris Bassitt came back in game seven of the ALCS after having not pitched in over 20 days and shut down the Mariners in the eighth inning.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen has not been great yet. Every time they face a big challenge, and this Los Angeles Dodgers team is certainly a challenge, they have managed to beat these teams.
My Prediction
As the song say’s “Okay Blue Jays, Let’s Play Ball.” I believe this team just doesn’t care who their opponents are. They don’t care about Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Shohei Ohtani coming to Toronto, and this team reminds me so much of the 1993 team that won the World Series because they led all of baseball in comeback victories like that veteran-laden team did. However, much like the 1992 World Series, when the Blue Jays were the heavy underdogs against the Atlanta Braves, the Blue Jays beat back the beasts, and I have them winning the World Series in six games.
This one is more special for me than those two World Series titles were in the 90s because this time I am back home in Canada, and when the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors move game times so all of Canada can focus on seeing the Blue Jays, it’s something special. I made plenty of easy money in the 90s, and oh yeah, I loved seeing that loud-mouthed old Howard Cosell stay in hiding because he said The World Series would remain in the United States, Howard, it’s called The World Series, it isn’t U.S. team only.
As well, I love the fact that Sportsnet has to air a precursor that the Blue Jays will swear after winning games, and they swore plenty after beating the New York Yankees and then the Seattle Mariners. I loved the fact that John Schneider, who has been with the Blue Jays for 24 seasons, understands the mindset up here. Good luck, George Lopez, “My Brother In Anger,” and our Los Angeles Dodgers fan and writer.
