TORONTO — The downtime from a bye during the wild-card round served the Toronto Blue Jays well during their American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, allowing them to balance varying needs of players ahead of the four-game victory.
“We know it can be an advantage or disadvantage,” Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said on the field at Yankee Stadium during Wednesday’s clinch celebration. “The way that we creatively set the time up to balance recovery and some much-needed rest for some key guys, along with ramping back up and remaining competitive in those two intrasquad games was just about perfect. It played a big role in allowing some guys to get healthy who had some nagging injuries and our ‘pen that was gassed down the stretch to get some rest that was needed.”
They’re getting three days of rest rather than five this time, but it will be no less valuable for the Blue Jays, who host Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday night versus the winner of Friday’s Game 5 between the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.
Bo Bichette is the primary beneficiary of that runway as he tries to ready himself for a possible return from a left knee sprain, although he’s far from the only one.
Chris Bassitt and Ty France, who also finished the regular season on the injured list, have had more time to build back up while Max Scherzer stayed sharp with a five-inning, 90-plus pitch simulated game Tuesday.
They’re all in play as the Blue Jays consider their roster for the ALCS, which is due 10 a.m. Sunday. Some of their considerations this time will be different as the best-of-five divisional round, “a little bit of a Wild Wild West shootout,” in the words of pitching coach Pete Walker, gives way to a best-of-seven, 2-3-2 format. “The days off, how you use your starters, it’s a little bit different — the best of seven is a little bit more traditional sometimes,” Walker added. “But we’ll think things through and come up with the best group to give us a chance to win.”
No doubt, and while the Blue Jays do that, let’s take a look at where the key decisions on the roster are and how they shape up:
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RULES & CONTEXT
Same as in the last round, each team gets 26 roster spots, with a maximum of 13 pitchers allowed. Players can be subbed out due to injury, but is ineligible for the next round, meaning they’d miss the World Series if their team advances.
Last year, the four LCS teams rostered either 12 or 13 pitchers, with the two New York teams opting for the extra position player.
Yankees, Mets: 12 pitchers, 14 position players
Guardians, Dodgers: 13 pitchers, 13 position players
POSITION PLAYERS
Apparent locks (12): Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Andres Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, Anthony Santander, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider
Additional candidates (4): Bo Bichette, Joey Loperfido, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Ty France
Factors to consider: Barring a surprise, the Blue Jays are likely to carry 13 pitchers meaning there’s only one position open here and if Bichette is ready to go, the discussion ends right there. The star shortstop, out since sliding into Austin Wells on Sept. 6, raised hopes for a return this week when he faced Scherzer and Bassitt on Tuesday and then did some light running Wednesday, when he said, “I’ve made some huge progress the last few days. I’m really optimistic about where I stand.” The comment was notable since Bichette isn’t one for hyperbole.
The key test is if he can run the bases, of course, and worth keeping in mind is that before the ALDS round, manager John Schneider set the bar for Bichette’s roster inclusion at regular usage, meaning they didn’t want to carry him as a two-move bench bat. Might that change now that he’s shown enough to stability in the knee to face major-league pitching? Is there more utility there than in Kiner-Falefa’s defence?
Kiner-Falefa was in the lineup for the two ALDS games started by lefties — Max Fried in Game 2 and Carlos Rodon in Game 3, subbed out once the latter left the game — and came in late for defence in the others.
The Tigers have one lefty in their rotation in ace Tarik Skubal and two in their bullpen for the ALDS — Brant Hunter and Tyler Holton. The Mariners have only two lefty relievers on their ALDS roster — Gabe Speier and Caleb Ferguson — so beyond late-inning defence, there appears to be less pathway to playing time for him this round.
Does that make France a better fit for an at-bat in a situational spot, or even a start against Skubal if Bichette isn’t ready? Or under that scenario, is an extra left-handed bat in Loperfido, who worked out daily with the big-league team last round, more useful?
Everything starts with Bichette and how much work his left knee is ready to handle.
PITCHERS
Apparent locks (11): Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, Jeff Hoffman, Seranthony Dominguez, Yariel Rodriguez, Louis Varland, Brendon Little, Eric Lauer, Braydon Fisher, Mason Fluharty
Additional candidates (4): Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, Tommy Nance, Justin Bruihl
Unavailable due to injury (1): Jose Berrios
Factors to consider: The Blue Jays got creative by working a bullpen day into their plans last round and while whole-staff outings are typically more demanding in the LCS round, the Dodgers used two of them last year while dispatching the Mets in six games.
Regardless, it would be surprising for Scherzer to not be on the roster this time around as the Blue Jays return to a four-man rotation. John Schneider said he would have been on the roster had they faced the Red Sox instead of the Yankees and their six lefties, and for what it’s worth, the right-hander had one of his best outings of the season against Detroit on July 27, when he struck out 11 while allowing three runs in seven innings. He didn’t face Seattle but notable is both clubs can line up as many as six lefty and switch hitters, and lefties hit 13 of the 19 homers he allowed.
Bassitt threw three innings and 45 pitches during Tuesday’s sim game, which would appear to set him up for a bulk relief type of role. He’s adaptable enough to do it and there could be some utility in having that length in case another starter has a short outing, the way Bieber did during Game 3, when he didn’t escape the third inning.
Adding both would mean subtracting two pitchers and based on usage versus the Yankees, that could leave Justin Bruihl and perhaps Tommy Nance on the bubble.
Bruihl was added as a fourth lefty to help counter the Yankees and while both the Mariners (Josh Naylor, J.P. Crawford, Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley plus switch-hitters Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco) and Tigers (Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry, Parker Meadows and Colt Keith plus switch-hitter Wenceel Perez) have a number of lefty bats to contend with, there would seem to be fewer lineup pockets for him.
Nance, meanwhile, made two low-leverage appearances during the DS and while he saw some leverage work during the regular season, the length and adaptability Bassitt has to offer may fit better in the LCS, with the potential of five games in six days.
