Reds 1 Blue Jays 5
If I were Max Scherzer, that’s how I’d want to end my career. He threw seven innings, allowed six hits, one earned run, one walk, and seven strikeouts (which would finish him with 3,557 strikeouts, three fewer than Justin Verlander). Max threw 114 pitches. That’s just amazing, especially on short rest.
If Max doesn’t sign with someone for next year, he will finish with 225 wins, 126 losses and a 3.29 ERA in 3047.2 innings in 501 games—a sure first-ballot Hall of Famer.
And George
Springer doubled to lead off the third inning and was taken out of the game. That is also a great way to end a career, if he decides that’s it.
Springer has a .365/.351/.472 batting line, 272 doubles, 25 triples, and 308 home runs, with 850 RBI and 1041 runs scored. Not a Hall of Fame career, but a Hall of Very Good career.
He’s 37 and really can only DH. I don’t know if a team would sign him to do that. If he wants to play, I hope he gets to.
Beyond that, we scored 5 runs, which, if we’d done that more often this year, the season wouldn’t be over.
We scored:
- Two in the second: Davis Schneider led off with a walk, and Brandon Valenzuela homered (his 9th of the season).
- Two in the third: Springer started it with a double (should have been a single, but left fielder JJ Bleday had it bounce over his head). Sean Keys replaced Springer as a pinch runner so fans in the ballpark could give Springer the ovation he deserves. Brett Bateman singled. Kazuma Okamoto walked. Charles McAdoo hit a sac fly. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. And a Schneider groundout scored Bateman.
- In the eighth, McAdoo homered (his third MLB homer of the season).
We only had five hits. Bateman had two, finishing with a .329 BA. Springer, McAdoo, and Valenzuela had the extra-base hits.
The defence was better than yesterday, but there was still a moment when three fielders watched a foul ball land between them. One thing that has to happen next year is they have to play better defence.
Jays of the Day: Scherzer (0.20 WPA), Valenzuela (0.16) and Bateman (0.10). And let’s get an honorary mention to Springer.
No one had the Other Number.
Thanks to everyone who joined us in the Game Threads and other threads. You all make the games so much more enjoyable.
We will have Game Threads for the playoff games (starting on Tuesday) and the usual off-season stuff, along with some, hopefully, free agent signings. I’m hoping we get baseball again next year and that it isn’t delayed.
