Less Like Kicked Dogs: Blue Jays Down, But Not Out
I don't have much analysis to offer on the topic of the Blue Jays and their play over the series with the Angels. The Blue Jays need to play less like they are kicked dogs and more like the team that led the division for a good chunk of this season. It's ugly.
The pitchers are pitching tight because any mistake means a loss because the hitters can't bail them out.
The hitters are tight because they are trying their damnedest to get something, anything, going.
How they go about fixing this is a tricky thing, because if it were easy they wouldn't have sucked for most of September. It's not lack of heart. It's not because they are revealing who they really are.
Here we are.
All I have to say by way of analysis is that it would be prudent to ignore so many talking heads that came out today and said the Jays should forget about the Division and also the ones who said they aren't even going to make the playoffs.
It is ridiculous to write them off so early, especially given the schedule which has the AL East teams playing each other the last few series of the season. Also, Boston goes out on the road until the last series of the regular season. They play much better at home than they do on the road.
This is Boston's remaining September schedule:
This is Baltimore's, who play the AL East plus the Diamondbacks:
And finally, the Blue Jays:
They need to beat a hot Seattle team and let Boston and Baltimore duke it out. The division is within reach and so is the Wild Card. Somebody ahead of them has to lose.
Yes, the Jays have backed themselves into a corner, but to completely dismiss them is shortsighted and sounds a hell of a lot like a hot take. It's not early, but it's certainly not too late.
Get. It. Going.
See this Instagram video by @tos_bor20 * 8,711 likes
"Different fabrics and everything....."
There were bees at yesterday's game.
There are many great bee references on The Simpsons. This is the best.
"I can't live the button-down life like you. I want it all: the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles."
Smoak and Saunders used to be Mariners. Now they are Blue Jays.
Tweets about playoff teams I found interesting earlier in the day.
The suffering of other teams
Grant Brisbee writes about how the injured Indians makes a great underdog story.
Jeff Passan on the free fall of the San Francisco Giants. It's not just us.
By the way, Kevin Barker, at the All Star Break, picked San Francisco and Toronto to face off in the World Series. So we can collectively blame him.
You look a little kicked dog here, Coltrane. Less kicked dog.