TORONTO — Bo Bichette is not on the Toronto Blue Jays‘ roster for the American League Championship Series, with Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt the only two additions for the club’s clash with the Seattle Mariners.
Bichette’s absence isn’t surprising after he pulled up Saturday during his first attempt at running the bases since spraining the PCL in his left knee Sept. 6, grimacing after rounding second base, shaking his head before eventually dropping to the ground.
That session was the final hurdle he needed to clear for inclusion on the roster, which was due for submission by 10 a.m. ET on Sunday and announced shortly afterwards. On Wednesday in New York, after the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees, the star shortstop expressed optimism about his chances, saying he’s made “made some huge progress the last few days.”
Still, he hadn’t yet started running the bases and seemingly his knee wasn’t ready to withstand the pounding on the dirt and stress from tight turns necessary to play.
As such, the Blue Jays made no changes on the position-player side of the roster, sticking with Isiah Kiner-Falefa over Ty France, who finished the season on the injured list due to oblique inflammation but said he was “good to go” for this round if needed, and outfielder Joey Loperfido.
Their changes came on the pitching side, where the switch from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven series prompted the Blue Jays to add the length offered by possible Game 4 starters Scherzer and Bassitt, replacing Tommy Nance and Justin Bruihl.
Scherzer, who threw a five-inning, 95-pitch sim game Tuesday, was a surprising exclusion from the ALDS roster but used the downtime to work on some of the issues that led to him allowing 25 runs in 25 innings over his final six starts of the regular season.
During the sim game, Scherzer replicated “a long inning, really tried to tax my arm so that if I did get put on the roster for the ALCS, I at least kind of made a start and kept myself in rhythm to get back out there,” he said Saturday. “I didn’t finish the season well, I needed to pitch better, I needed to get some things right and that’s what I was trying to do.”
Bassitt, meanwhile, is in a much better spot physically than he was after the regular season, which he finished on the injured list with lower back inflammation. He threw three innings and 45 pitches during Tuesday’s sim game and Schneider said he’s built up enough to provide similar length versus the Mariners.
“He could pitch one inning, he could pitch four or five,” said Schneider. “I’ve said it before, Chris does weird well, and he understands that this time of year, whatever we need from him, he’s going to go out and give.”
First pitch of Game 1 goes Sunday at 8:08 p.m. ET / 5:08 p.m. ET with live coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
