Blue Jays 2 Orioles 4
We are officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Stop me if you have heard this one, but the Jays didn’t score enough. And Pete Alonso hit a home run.
Max Scherzer had a very 2026 Max Scherzer type of start: 5 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned, 3 walks, though the 7 strikeouts were more than you would expect. I don’t know if he was putting on a push to get past Justin Verlander (Max is now just 4 short of Verlander for eighth on the all-time list, with the possibility of Max pitching in game
#162).
If that was his last appearance this year, he finishes with a 6.14 ERA and a 3-9 record. They said he was thinking of playing again next year. I don’t see much in his numbers from this year (or last) that would make me want to sign him again, but no one is offering me a GM job.
We had three relievers who pitched an inning each:
- José Rodríguez had two strikeouts in his clean inning. I’m liking the idea of him in our pen for the full season next year, but judging him on 4.2 innings is likely a bad idea.
- Brendon Little had a scoreless inning with a hit, a walk and a strikeout.
- Paul Sewald also had a scoreless inning. He’s been very good out of our bullpen, after have a very rough time with the Diamondbacks. Do you believe in his 13.1 innings with the Jays (0.68 ERA) or the 39 innings with the Diamondbacks (6.23 ERA)? The Jays obviously saw something in him they liked.
On offense, it was another one of those days.
We had 10 hits (with 4 doubles). But then 1 for 13 with RISP. It is important to be consistent right to the very end of the season.
Andrés Giménez, Brandon Valenzuela and Ernie Clement had two each. Okamoto and the five spot (Josh Smith, Davis Schneider and Sean Keys) had 0 fors.
I felt rather confident when Vlad doubled in the first inning and then last confident when he was stranded at second. We also had a one out double in the second, a leadoff double in the third, and a two out double in the fourth and none of those doubles were brought home. In the fifth, we had one out singles but a Vlad double play ball.
Our two runs came in the sixth: Okamoto started it with a walk. George Springer singled. After two quick outs, Valenzuela singled, and two runs scored, with the help of a throwing error by second baseman Jeremiah Jackson.
After that, we had just one more hit over the last three innings.
Jay of the Day: Valenzuela (0.10 WPA).
Other Award: Scherzer (-0.16) and Vlad (-0.16).
Game Two is a 6:30 start time. Both teams are listing TBD for starting pitchers. I would think there will be a roster move before then and CJ Van Eyk will get the start, but you never know.
As noted in the thread, there weren’t many people in the stand, which was understandable for a weekday, day game that was announce less than 24 hours ago, between two teams that were ‘all but’ eliminated.
