TORONTO — Shortly before the Toronto Blue Jays took the makeshift stage set up at Rogers Centre for the about-to-be-crowned American League champions, Bo Bichette provided the first definitive update about his status for the World Series.
“I’ll be ready,” the star shortstop vowed before rushing up to join his teammates after Monday night’s 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
Earlier in the day, manager John Schneider said Bichette had made “significant progress” in his recovery from a PCL sprain in his left knee suffered Sept. 6, with “where he feels with his swing and how much more comfortable he feels kind of letting it rip.”
“The baserunning and the defence is something hopefully we can advance and we can check those boxes in the next few days,” Schneider continued. “He’s done some light stuff, but hasn’t been like full go at short. And he’s not back on the bases yet, but the running has picked up in the outfield, just in terms of the intensity and the build-up or the length of it, to be perfectly honest. So, yeah, we’ll see how he goes over the next couple days.”
All together, a Bichette return seems far more realistic than it was for the ALCS and perhaps even likely for the World Series, which opens Friday night when the Blue Jays host the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Still, his status is the primary question facing the Blue Jays and there will be cascading effects for the roster as they consider how to line up before the decisions are due Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
Here’s a look at some of the factors at play before the deadline hits:
Rules and context
As in previous rounds, each team gets 26 roster spots, with a maximum of 13 pitchers allowed. Players can be subbed out due to injury, pending approval by Major League Baseball. A pitcher can only be replaced by another pitcher, and a position player only by another position player.
Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander, subbed out for Joey Loperfido during the ALCS, is ineligible to play. Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott, replaced by Justin Wrobleski during the NLDS, can return for the World Series after missing the NLCS.
Last year, both the champion Dodgers and New York Yankees went with an even 13-13 split between pitchers and position players in the Fall Classic.
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Position players
Apparent locks (12): Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Andres Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider, Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Additional candidates (3): Bo Bichette, Joey Loperfido, Ty France
Ineligible (1): Anthony Santander
Factors to consider: As mentioned, everything starts with Bichette, who seems likely to be limited to DH and pinch-hit duties if active. The Blue Jays’ usage of Isiah Kiner-Falefa during their two previous series shows how much value they placed on a tight infield defence, and it’s hard to imagine them suddenly shifting Andres Gimenez back to second for a player who hasn’t had game-speed reps at short in seven weeks.
If that’s indeed the case and Bichette gets regular reps at DH, that means freshly minted Blue Jays October icon George Springer must play the outfield. Even if he wasn’t still working through the soreness from the Bryan Woo fastball that struck his right kneecap in ALCS Game 5, that would be a big ask. He last played the outfield Sept. 24, the last of only six defensive starts he made during September, and now would have do it on a badly bruised knee that left him hobbling at times in Games 6 and 7.
Still, Springer made his mindset about playing through physical ailments clear Monday.
“If I’m out there, I’m going to give you 100 per cent of whatever I’ve got that day,” he said.
“It’s not just you (that’s beat up). And at the end of the day, I don’t really think anybody cares. If you’re out there, you’re expected to play and you’re expected to perform to the best of who you are that day. So for me, it just kind of is what it is. I have a job to do, so I expect to go do it. It doesn’t really matter how I feel.”
So, if Springer is in the outfield and Bichette is at DH, that means Addison Barger is pushed to third against right-handed pitching, sending Ernie Clement to second with Kiner-Falefa on the bench while Daulton Varsho and Nathan Lukes likely cover the other two outfield spots. Against left-hander Blake Snell, Clement could play third with Davis Schneider at second and perhaps Myles Straw in left.
To protect a late lead, the Blue Jays could use Straw and Kiner-Falefa as defensive replacements, and it could make sense to have Loperfido run for Bichette if he reaches in a close-and-late situation.
Loperfido, however, may very well be on the bubble if the Blue Jays stick with 13 position players, as he played only two innings after tagging in for Santander. Still, there’s a legitimate case for carrying 14 position players to protect Bichette since Straw and Kiner-Falefa can’t pinch-run for a DH if they’re needed as defensive replacements later.
Pitchers
Apparent locks (12): Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, Max Scherzer, Jeff Hoffman, Seranthony Dominguez, Louis Varland, Chris Bassitt, Brendon Little, Eric Lauer, Braydon Fisher, Mason Fluharty
Additional candidates (3): Yariel Rodriguez, Tommy Nance, Justin Bruihl
Factors to consider: First things first — the Blue Jays need to be prepared for the Shohei Ohtani-Mookie Betts-Freddie Freeman-Will Smith gauntlet, with Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez and more behind them.
Given the depth of that lineup, 13 pitchers would seem to make sense, especially since matching up lefties is one way to limit some of Ohtani’s damage (.606 OPS versus lefties in the post-season, .898 in the regular season; 1.455 OPS versus righties in the post-season, 1.076 in the regular season). But during the ALCS, the Blue Jays concentrated 49.1 of their 62 innings — an astonishing 79 per cent — between six pitchers. Relievers Eric Lauer, Yariel Rodriguez and Brendon Little combined for just 2.1 innings.
While it’s probably too much to ask Louis Varland, who has appeared in 10 of the Blue Jays’ 11 playoff games so far, for more daily duty during the World Series, Lauer and Chris Bassitt could certainly provide more this round. Either way, the lefty options against the two-way wonder are Lauer and Little along with Mason Fluharty, owner of a near-impossible save Aug. 10 that included a strikeout of Ohtani with the bases loaded.
As for Rodriguez, he has the potential to get big outs, the way he did in the ALDS bullpen day against the Yankees, but he made only two ALCS appearances, both in the lowest of leverage, and struggled both times.
There’s peace of mind in carrying 13 pitchers, and that’s the norm this time of year, but if Bichette is on the roster there’s still a real case for a 14th position player.
