Remember how for a good decade or so there was all this hubbub about the Mariners and Phillies not making the playoffs, and then they expanded the playoffs and they did and now the next nearest playoff drought is, like...the Reds, who're probably gonna be in this year anyhow?
Yeah. It's less exciting now, I guess. It's not like the NFL where even if they keep expanding the playoffs there'll still be teams who've never won an NFC Championship or haven't won a playoff game since Clinton was in office or whatever. The MLB playoff format has made it easier for a mediocre team to not only make the playoffs, but go all the way. At the same time, though, the new playoff environment has still left behind a lot of teams that could be off to a promising competitive career had the expansion not happened.
The Toronto Blue Jays, who everybody got really excited for in 2019 when they brought up Vlad Jr. and Bo Bichette, have been to the playoffs in three of the last four seasons, and have yet to even win a playoff game. With everything they've built, and every great young player that's established themselves in Toronto, they have less playoff wins in that stretch than Minnesota, Seattle and Philadelphia. Ain't that something?
And you can point to several different factors when talking about this, because the Jays have only now reached a solid, winning manager in John Schneider, but until he gets them past the wild card round he's gonna just be that grey area type guy. He's better at it than Montoyo, it seems, but we won't know whether or not he's the answer until something happens. There's also the injury factor: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has struggled not only with injuries but the beginnings of bottoming out. Bo Bichette has missed time pretty regularly. George Springer has missed time every year pretty much. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alek Manoah famously had maintenance issues for them in the past few years.
Yet one factor that has to be said about the modern incarnation of the Jays? Last year they had 4 guys start 31+ games with a sub-4 ERA. You know how rare that it nowadays? Most people get to, like, 20 and get hurt. All of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi had solid, consistent seasons of 150 or more innings last year, with each throwing over 180 strikeouts as well. Gausman famously had a Cy Young caliber campaign, and would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling Yanks. All four of those guys are back this year, and though Gausman, for some reason, is having shoulder issues after pitching 32 games of the best material of his career, all of the rest of them look good this spring, especially Berrios.
Chris Bassitt, for the record, may be one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball right now, solely because he's consistent, makes all his starts and eats innings. The last two seasons he's won 15+ games, which, again, is rare in an era where most starters only go til the 5th. Last year he led the league in wins with 16, again, a sign of where we are in baseball history. I really hope he keeps it up, he's been a refreshingly strong presence in an era of overthrowing.
The Jays do technically have enough to compete this year, with Bo looking to lead again, the core looking healthy and strong, and enough new pieces like IKF, Turner and possibly Votto to sweeten the deal. It's still a very tough division, and a very tough Wild Card picture, so it's not a done deal yet. But if this can be the team that not only makes the playoffs but gets to the next round, that'd be pretty cool.
10 years after they pissed me off, the Jays are a team I can root for again. How about that?
I remember a few years ago thinking this young and super talented team were going to be the next Astros. Kind of crazy that they haven't won a playoff game together. But if they make the playoffs this year... I'll root for them too (assuming the A's don't make it... which they won't).
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