The best team in baseball this season may just play north of the border, and the Toronto Blue Jays will now have an entire postseason to prove their worth.
Toronto technically clinched a playoff berth Friday night after its win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the team announced Saturday morning:
MLB's official Twitter feed congratulated the team:
There was some confusion surrounding whether the Jays would clinch Friday or Saturday; the American League standings indicate the team needed a win or a Los Angeles Angels loss Saturday to clinch, but a little luck with the schedule got the Canadian team in early, as Chad Thornburg of MLB.com explained:
Based on the standings, the Blue Jays can clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Rays or an Angels loss to Seattle. But based on the remaining schedules for the Halos, Astros and Rangers, only two of the three AL West contenders can finish 88-74. (The Angels and Texas currently have 74 losses, the same as Toronto.) If that result were to happen, one AL West team would win the division, another would win an AL Wild Card spot, and the third would be eliminated with at least 75 losses. Toronto is thus guaranteed of at least an AL Wild Card berth.
Because of the confusion surrounding the bid, the Blue Jays didn't celebrate breaking their playoff drought when it actually ended. Third baseman Josh Donaldson said the team wouldn't be satisfied with a simple wild-card berth, according to Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star:
Obviously we want to be able to get into the post-season, right? But the wild-card, that hasn’t been our goal the entire year. Our goal is to win the division. When and if that day comes when we clinch the wild-card for us in the clubhouse I don’t think that’s going to be something we’re that excited over ... We’ll celebrate if and when we win the division.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons had an interesting reaction to the news, according to Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet Magazine:
Jose Bautista took a more philosophical approach to the confusion, according to Zwelling:
This is Toronto’s first playoff appearance since it won the 1993 World Series in dramatic fashion over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Blue Jays’ unstoppable second-half charge helped them overcome the six-game deficit they faced in the American League East on Aug. 1 and snap the longest postseason drought in Major League Baseball.
One reason Toronto will play deep into October is the presence of its second-half additions.
The front office traded for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and starting pitcher David Price before the trade deadline, shifting the balance of power in the division. While Tulowitzki has dealt with injuries since he came to the Blue Jays, he provided another powerful bat and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop to an already loaded lineup.
However, Price has made the biggest difference and solidified the pitching staff. In fact, he posted a 1.95 ERA and sparkling 0.98 WHIP in his first 10 starts with the Blue Jays and led his team to multiple head-to-head wins over the New York Yankees.
Beating the Yankees was nothing new for this Toronto team, as MLB Stat of the Day pointed out:
That head-to-head dominance over New York was the main reason the Blue Jays overcame that six-game lead the Yankees held entering August. ESPN Stats & Info noted that when Toronto beat the Yankees for the final time this year in shutout fashion, it was the third time the team did so, which matched the rest of the league’s combined efforts against the Bronx Bombers.
While Price was critical in the showdowns with New York, the pitching staff also has veteran starters in R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. Buehrle won a World Series with the Chicago White Sox and will not be intimidated by the significant moments yet to come in October.
Don’t overlook youngster Marcus Stroman, either, especially since he pitched seven shutout innings over the Yankees in a critical 4-0 win in September. He has bounced back from the torn ACL he suffered in spring training and provided important depth to this staff. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports pointed out how important Stroman could be in the playoffs:
Some of the credit for the pitching staff belongs firmly in catcher Russell Martin’s corner. Toronto brought him aboard this offseason to provide more punch to the lineup and a veteran presence behind the plate capable of managing the pitchers throughout a long season, and he has done just that.
On offense, Toronto leads the league in runs scored by a wide margin and has a downright intimidating trio of bashers in Bautista, Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion. The group became the 14th trio of teammates to each hit 35 home runs in a season and the 12th to each hit 35 homers and drive in 100 runs.
The last trio to accomplish both feats was the combination of Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and Jim Thome of the 2006 Chicago White Sox.
If the Blue Jays keep scoring runs in the playoffs at the same pace they have all year, a World Series title is well within their grasp.
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