2021 Season Ends Earlier Than it Should Have

I originally started writing something to mark the end of the regular season, but I never completed it.

I then was going to write something about the postseason, which was a rather strange one, but then that got away from me, too.

In any case, this is what I started writing on October 5, 2021

I don't know how to start talking about this season, and not just due to the fact that I didn't write very much about baseball this year. It was also just an odd season.

It was a season of such high standards and then also such lows that and such frustrations that I don't even know how to contextualize it.

Before the season, most analysts and fans probably assumed that 91 wins would be easily enough to get into the playoffs.

The Blue Jays got the 91 wins, the theoretical magic number to October baseball, but was actually only good enough for fourth place in the AL East. Yes, Tampa Bay, Boston, New York, and Toronto finished with over 90 wins.

The remnants of COVID-19 hung over the season, the Red Sox and their COVID-denying, vaccine refusing players; the Blue Jays spending a portion of their season in Dunedin and Buffalo.

Looking at this season, I'm thinking often of the 2015 season which was obviously the biggest, most dazzling season of my blogging career. And I find it really interesting that that was a season that had 91 wins, and an MVP candidate (actual winner Josh Donaldson) and a top finisher for the Cy Young (David Price), and this one had two potential MVP candidates in Vlad Jr. and Marcus Semien, and a top finisher (and likely winner) for Cy Young in Robbie Ray.

This season was a lot of fun. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put up MVP numbers; Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray had a career years; George Springer, when healthy, was exactly as advertised; Teoscar Hernandez mashed; Alek Manoah and Bo Bichette were dazzling.

I just can’t shake the feeling that this was a lost season.

Blue Jays Bludgeon Boston

I was all ready to write about how frustrating the struggles of the Blue Jays’ bullpen has been after the ‘pen blew a 5-1 lead late, and ended up losing 6-5.

It should probably be discussed because the situation is untenable and so many winnable games are getting flushed away. The Red Sox dancing on the field like they had won the World Series after a few innings of this type of pitching:

It was a bad time. I don’t know what’s happened to Chatwood, but it’s rough to watch. The injuries have piled up, and those remaining seem lost and confused.

Charlie has noticed:

#BlueJays Charlie Montoyo said he felt confident going to Chatwood after he'd looked sharper in recent outings, but:

"It seems like he somehow lost it again. I don’t know where we go from here. We have to see. I’m sure Pete Walker will work with him, but that was tough to see."

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) June 12, 2021

The pitching coach will work with him. As opposed to shooting him like a lame horse, I suppose.

Guerrero Jr. noticed, too.

About right pic.twitter.com/RQ7pcqJPjq

— Dustin Saracini (@DustinSaracini) June 12, 2021

I like the photographer casually moving his camera out of the way.

It’s rare to see someone who is this joyful be this outwardly frustrated, but it goes to show how close these guys feel to actually being good. Guerrero is putting up an MVP season and they had 16 hits in Friday’s game. One can’t go to the playoffs with that kind of ‘pen. They won’t even make the playoffs. The AL East is that ridiculous.

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After the crushing loss on Friday, it was remarkable how the Blue Jays dusted themselves off. It didn’t hurt that they have absolutely BANGED in Fenway in the series, even in the first game.

Saturday’s game relied on the bullpen a little bit, and there was still some doubt:

Only this team can make me nervous about a 5 run lead in the 8th...

— Joanna (@HumandChuck) June 12, 2021

But today, they just obliterated the baseball.

The barrage, in general, was impressive, but I like how Gurriel tucked his hands in to adjust to the pitch and send it out into the Monster. My favourite sound is after Vlad’s. The crowd in Fenway moans, like they are worn out. Sort of impressed, but worn out.

The Red Sox currently sit in second place in the AL East, having spent a good chunk of the season in first, but I’m wondering if they are a bit of a paper tiger. They still might split this four game series with the Jays, after taking two of three back in Dunedin a few weeks ago, but their starting pitching is majorly suspect.

The Blue Jays, sitting in third place, 7.5 games back of the Rays, a team that killed them in Dunedin at the end of May. And it’s very clear what the problem is.

This plays in the playoffs:

As does this:

This is a team with a more than serviceable starting rotation; a bludgeoning offence centred around a 22 year old who is putting up MVP numbers; and a bullpen that is prone to collapse.

And the last thing will cancel out the first two. Every time.

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Special shout out to @thechrisws for the image he tweeted yesterday that I used as the header and @aalyssacohen for finding and sending me the “helmet in the dugout” video of Vlad.