Happy off-day. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am happy to have an off-day.
I am happy we have meaningful baseball to watch in September. If you go back a month or so, I didn’t think we’d get that, so this is a bonus. It would be nice if we could be consistent, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. When people ask if we are going to make the playoffs, I’ve been saying ‘no’, but I’d be happy to be wrong.
So, what do you think? Do you think the Jays will pull it out? Are you just enjoying the ride?
Is it too much of a rollercoaster?
It has been a weird season—so many pitching injuries. We seemed to have too many starters at the start of the season, and now we are having two bullpen days every five. The team seems to be doing its best to be careful with the pitchers, but we have several older pitchers with a lot of innings on their arms. And a handful of young arms who are being pushed harder than they’ve ever been.
And, of course, so many guys not hitting. Too many guys not hitting, starting with Vlad, of course, and going pretty much down the whole roster. Other than Brett Bateman, it seems everyone has had long slumps (and he hasn’t been around long enough to slump). I have said before that I believe in changing hitting coaches every year. Not that it is fair. Not that it is the coach’s fault. And it would be a lousy way of doing business. But I believe players sometimes need to hear things a different way. Even if they are saying the same things, which they pretty much will.
But none of it is the coaching. The coaches didn’t get dumb over the winter.
I said, in the game thread, that I zone out when people try to tell me how easy hitting is. Anyone who thinks it is easy hasn’t watched a curveball with a bat in their hand.
Anyway, what do you think? Will the Jays pull it off and make the playoffs? And are you enjoying the ride? Or is it too much of a rollercoaster?
MLB Pipeline picked out a ‘breakout prospect’ for each time in the MLB. For the Jays, they picked Nolan Perry:
The 2022 12th-rounder missed the entire 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery and didn’t crack the Jays’ preseason Top 30 list as a result. He looked revitalized after rehab, however, and finished with a 2.50 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 117 strikeouts over 82 2/3 innings across the Single-A, High-A and Double-A levels, and he jumped into the Top 100 when it became clearer that he had the stuff to back up the results: a 93-95 mph heater with improved velo, two whiff-inducing breakers in a slider and a curveball and an improved offspeed option in his mid-80s splitter.
And Baseball America has graded all the MLB farm systems. They grade the Jays a B+. Of course they graded nine teams A+, A or A- so maybe they are easy graders.
Even as the major league team has been inconsistent, the Blue Jays have had a very successful year on the farm. They graduated several key contributors to the major league team, including Brandon Valenzuela and Spencer Miles, who have drastically outperformed their prospect rankings. Johnny King and Nolan Perry took major steps forward on the mound, and Sean Keys and Charles McAdoo did at the plate. Ricky Tiedemann also finally returned and reached the majors.
They traded their top prospect Arjun Nimmala, but got back a team-controlled starter. They also boosted their depth, acquiring Dasan Hill from the Twins and Brett Bateman from the Cubs. Bateman has been a revelation and has taken over the leadoff role that they’ve struggled to fill all season. Overall, the good far outweighs the bad with this system, and they are positioning themselves to bounce back in 2027.
Tomorrow we start the next ‘most important series of the season’. Three games with Texas. I’m thinking a series will would be good and a series loss might be the end of their chances. They have 9 games left. They are a game behind the Rangers, and 1.5 behind the White Sox, 2 games the Guardians. And they need to pass two of those teams.
Tomorrow Dylan Cease starts. Saturday José Soriano. And Monday, some version of Spencer Arrighetti and the bullpen
