TORONTO — Myles Straw had just finished a press conference in which he’d used the word “love” six times to describe his teammates, and he was about to warm up in the same “OK Blue Jays, Let’s play ball!” T-shirt he’s been wearing every day since he found it unclaimed on a table in Toronto’s clubhouse earlier this season.
“Everything has just kind of worked out the way it should have,” Straw said, shortly before he headed out for batting practice, a day before the ALCS kicked off against the Seattle Mariners. “I have no complaints. I feel like I’m exactly where I should be.”
Nobody in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse would dispute that. On this tight-knit team that now trails Seattle 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, Straw is a “glue guy” if you ask both manager John Schneider and star shortstop Bo Bichette. Theirs is a clubhouse that frequently uses the term “Team First,” and associate manager DeMarlo Hale says “Myles exemplifies that.” Straw is even the reason Davis Schneider walks up to the plate to the tune of Pink Pony Club — it’s Straw’s oldest daughter’s favourite tune, and he told Schneider: “The fans would love it.”
Straw’s influence is big and wide-ranging, though he’s not an every-day player. This Toronto team contains not only heroes Bo and Vladdy, but a roster of guys like Straw who are ready to step up and play their roles. Straw pinch-hit in the decisive Game 4 against the New York Yankees and dropped a single into right field to cash an insurance run, his first career post-season RBI.
When the Blue Jays manager gave his now-famous post-game speech after Toronto advanced to the ALCS, Straw and Nathan Lukes were two names Schneider mentioned as he explained it took everybody, right before he yelled, “Start spreading the news, b——!” and sprayed a bottle of champagne.
Straw made his ALCS debut in the fourth inning on Sunday when Lukes, who started in right field, left the game after fouling a ball off his right knee cap during his first at-bat. Straw was a factor early, making a running catch close to the right-field wall to end the fourth inning after a well-hit ball by Victor Robles. Then he watched a Cal Raleigh home run soar over his head in the sixth inning to tie the game 1-1 in an eventual 3-1 loss.
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In six at-bats this post-season, Straw has a pair of hits, two runs, an RBI, a walk and a strikeout. His story — winning a Gold Glove in 2022 with Cleveland, fledgling in the minors in 2024, traded to the Blue Jays in January for $2 million in international bonus-pool space and then making the roster out of spring training — is well-documented. It has also helped the 30-year-old become one of Toronto’s most valuable role players.
“I think when you look back at his journey and where he’s at now, he’s accepted his role and he’s performing it very well,” said Hale, who was a bench coach with the Guardians from 2021-23, when Straw was on the roster. “In Cleveland, he was an every-day starting centre fielder and he won a Gold Glove. So, that’s still in him.”
This much was evident when fellow Gold Glover Daulton Varsho was injured earlier this season, and Straw stepped in and played centre field.
“To be able to fill in my shoes and do what he did to help the team win every day was great. Everybody loved him,” Varsho said. “He’s a great teammate. He’s a guy where he doesn’t do more than what he needs to do. And that’s what makes him so good is that he’s able to be himself and not have to try to be this superhuman guy, and just go out there and play baseball and do everything he can to help the team win.”
Like play all three outfield positions so well that his 18 defensive runs saved ranked sixth among all big-leaguers in the regular season. He also pinch-hit more than any Blue Jay this season, with a .316 average since the end of July, while running like lightning on the base paths. Straw’s 12 stolen bases ranked second on the team in the regular season.
“It’s shown not only there, but you talk about going first to third, first to home,” Hale said. “He creates that speed where defences have to be aware of it and they have to play up to that speed. It forces them to be very good.”
Hale figures if a 100-metre dash broke out featuring every Blue Jay, Straw would be a lock for the podium, and “he might win.”
Straw is the son of two athletic parents and his dad ran track, but you’d really have to work on him to race his teammates. “I hate running,” he said. “But in sports, it’s fun to use.”
Speaking of fun, it’s plain to see Straw is enjoying this post-season. He found out the Blue Jays’ ALCS opponent while enjoying a couple beers at a bar with Davis Schneider, which didn’t go unnoticed among Jays fans there. Ahead of a home playoff game in the ALDS, after he warmed up, Straw brought a ball over to a kid standing in the front row and signed it as per the youngster’s request, and then Straw signed a dozen more items that fans presented him before jogging off the field.
In Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, after Straw pinch-hit and came up with a clutch single into right field to cash an insurance run, he got to first and immediately looked at the dugout, smiled, clapped his hands together and pointed toward second.
George Springer has watched Straw become a leader in the clubhouse this season, and go about it in his own way. “He has a very unique personality, and he gets along with everybody — he’s also one of the only guys who’s allowed to make fun of everybody,” said Springer, who points out that Straw razzes him for just about everything. “He’s on my case all day,” Springer said, with a grin.
Straw not only loves the teammates he repeatedly makes fun of, though. “There’s nothing really to not like about playing here,” he said, of Toronto. “I mean, playing for a country is awesome, having a big fan base. I love it.”
The feeling is mutual. As the Blue Jays manager pointed out, Straw may be “an unassuming guy,” but there’s no question about his impact.
“He’s been one of the big reasons kind of we are where we are. Not just performance, but I think kind of just — I’ve said it so many times, this is a really tight group,” John Schneider said. “He is, I don’t want to say the ringleader in a lot of stuff, but I think he has the respect of everyone in the clubhouse by the way he goes about his business and the way he treats everyone.”
Straw said his trade to the Blue Jays in January kick-started everything moving in the right direction for his career.
“It kind of changed my perspective, and then everything just kind of took care of itself,” Straw said.
When the Blue Jays won Game 162, perhaps no player was more relieved than Straw, whose daughter Remi was born a day before the wild-card series began. “It was perfect timing,” he said.
Baby Remi hasn’t been travelling to games yet, and likely won’t be heading to Seattle as the series heads there for Game 3.
“I’m trying to keep her off the airplane as long as I can. But if we make it to the World Series, I think she’ll probably be able to make it,” Straw said, with a grin.
For Straw (and Remi), it would be a first career appearance. And it’s now just four wins away.
