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Game Threads Jays at Yankees, August 21-23: Last of the Winners
The Jays finish their run of games against winning teams with three in Yankee Stadium. After this series the Jays play teams with losing records to finish the season. The Yankees have won four in a row and with the Jays taking two games in Tampa, the Rays lead in the division is down to four games.

SCHEDULE

Friday: Fluharty vs Schlittler

Saturday: Cease vs Weathers

Sunday: Soriano vs Rodon

The Jays have announced that Mason Fluharty will be the opener tonight. The Jays could activate Spencer Arrighetti before the game tonight and he could play a part in the pitching lineup. If Arrighetti is activated then the most logical player to go is Brendan Cellucci. At least temporarily Cellucci could join the list of players who were major leaguers but never played.

This series sees two repeat matchups from last weekend. The Jays opener plus bullpen won in the Schlittler game although the Jays beat the Yankees bullpen, not Schlittler. Then the Sunday matchup last week was a pitching battle that had to go to extra innings before the Yankees won.

Posted by Gerry on Friday, August 21 2026 @ 02:00 PM EDT.
Jays at Yankees, August 21-23: Last of the Winners | 45 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Gerry - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 04:26 PM EDT (#483177) #
Arrighetti activated, Cellucci optioned.

Smith to IL, Schneider recalled.
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hypobole - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 05:16 PM EDT (#483180) #
McMahon to the IL for the Yankees.
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scottt - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 06:41 PM EDT (#483182) #
Weird choice.
Fluharty opening, that's a bit weird.
Valenzuela at first, McAdoo at second.
Not ideal defense.
Sanchez at DH.

Playing with almost no bench?
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scottt - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 07:11 PM EDT (#483183) #
Lefty opener and 3 right bats at the top.
I have seen this movie before.
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Glevin - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 08:36 PM EDT (#483186) #
Schittler not having his best stuff. Leaving a lot of pitches in zone. Let's score some runs!
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SK in NJ - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 08:56 PM EDT (#483187) #
With Vlad coming back and the Jays possibly facing some roster decisions soon, I can't imagine they'd want to lose Cameron or demote someone who is actually contributing (McAdoo) just to keep a platoon DH with a negative WAR on the roster. Between the bad defense and the bat not compensating for it, I think I'm done with Sanchez.
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Nigel - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 09:20 PM EDT (#483188) #
With a lineup this thin, they needed to score in the early innings when they had a few half chances.
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Glevin - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 10:03 PM EDT (#483189) #
Should have scored more. Just couldn't cash runners in. Don't know how you let Straw hit there. Cameron isn't great or anything but he can run into one and Straw really can't hit at all. Oh well, always going to be a tough one to win.
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Gerry - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 10:29 PM EDT (#483191) #
1-14 with RISP on a night where they outhit the Yankees 9-4. Thats the story.
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92-93 - Friday, August 21 2026 @ 10:46 PM EDT (#483192) #
There isn’t much of a roster crunch when Vladdy can just take Schneider’s spot. Smith will come off the IL when rosters expand.

Sanchez had a lot of big hits for the team early in the season, and Keys didn’t do much with his brief opportunity.
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TamRa - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 12:34 AM EDT (#483193) #
Crappy Angels came within ONE STRIKE of beating Texas.

And didn't.
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99BlueJaysWay - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#483195) #
Quiet weekend over here! It’s like everyone took their summer vacations at the same time.
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Nigel - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#483196) #
It’s been a tough few days for long sequence offense:(.
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Glevin - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 03:36 PM EDT (#483198) #
Vladdy is exhausting. Just almost nobody else I'd less like to have up in almost any situation.
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Nigel - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 03:38 PM EDT (#483199) #
Repeatedly failing to score runners from 3rd with less than two out is tough on the psyche.
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SK in NJ - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:12 PM EDT (#483200) #
Hot take: an offense that can only hit singles isn't a good one.
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scottt - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:12 PM EDT (#483201) #
Miles pitched in high leverage!
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SK in NJ - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:13 PM EDT (#483202) #
Of course the Jays hit a home run seconds after I type that. Would have been nice for something like that to happen when they had 100 runners on base earlier, but a run is a run.
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scottt - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:13 PM EDT (#483203) #
Nice to see Lukes taking advantage of Yankees Stadium.
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Gerry - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:17 PM EDT (#483204) #
Is it a good strategy to bunt a runner over to third before Vlad comes up? I am not sure if it is, let Bateman hit away and Vlad can do whatever afterwards.
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Nigel - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 04:58 PM EDT (#483205) #
Style points are irrelevant at this point so - great win!!!
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Shoeless Joe - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 05:13 PM EDT (#483206) #
Brett Bateman keeps proving that tools, stuff and lists are cool but production brings home the bacon.
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hypobole - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 05:26 PM EDT (#483207) #
Jays lost their 4th in a row exactly one month ago today. They won the next day and haven't lost 2 in a row since.

Different sites have their own way of determining strength of schedule. Every site I've seen agrees the Jays have played the toughest schedule in the AL.
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TamRa - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 05:43 PM EDT (#483208) #
that was far harder than it needed to be
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June Northey - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 07:48 PM EDT (#483211) #
Of note: Since FG has records of it (2002) the most holds a Jay has had in a season is 30 (Brendon Little 2025). The most anyone has had is 41 (Joel Peralta Tampa 2013, Tony Watson 2015 Pittsburgh). Rogers is up to 27 so the Jay record is in sight. Manually checking BR for 1977-2001 the highest holds I found was 27 in 1998 by both Plesac and Quantrill (Johnson was ahead of his time in pen usage as the next year Graeme Lloyd led with 22, no one else over 10). Ward peaked with 24 in '92, Eichhorn peaked with 7 here (got 25 for the LAA in '91) to name 2 guys who you'd have thought would've been trusted with leads late a lot more often.

Enjoying this team. Didn't expect to say that in late August, but there you go.
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scottt - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 09:10 PM EDT (#483212) #
The offense has been better lately.
They are getting hits, although not scoring as much as they should.
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greenfrog - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 09:28 PM EDT (#483213) #
LAA is on the verge of beating the Rangers.
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hypobole - Saturday, August 22 2026 @ 11:52 PM EDT (#483214) #
Sunday is the last of the "Last of the Winners".

One team in each league are the hottest in baseball, 8-2 in their last 10. In the NL, it's the Phillies. In the AL it's you guessed it, the team we face next, the KC Royals.

Luck has been a cruel mistress.
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TamRa - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 12:14 AM EDT (#483215) #
when this challenging stretch began I started keeping up with the daily outcome for all the contenders.

The Jays are 10-5 in that stretch.
Cleveland went 7-7
All the rest are one or two under .500 except Detroit who went 5-9

As of tonight Texas and Cleveland are 0.5 up on the Jays with the Twins and O's one game behind.
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Mike Green - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 08:32 AM EDT (#483217) #
The public scouting evaluation on Bateman at the time of the trade was poor.  He's got good instincts, athletic, very good speed and a very good arm.  So far, he's been performing as the best defensive centerfielder in the American League.  I don't know whether he will be able to keep that up, but there is every reason to believe that he will be above average defensively in centrefield.  Here's his Statcast line which tells a pretty clear story:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/brett-bateman-703520?stats=statcast-r-fielding-mlb

And here's an article with scouting comments on Bateman as of August 3, 2026:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-cubs-land-a-potential-playoff-starter-in-kevin-gausman/

The comments about his bat were more guarded, and may or may not turn out to be accurate.  But the bar for a good defensive centrefielder is much lower than for one that barely scrapes by.  

In my view, his arrival has been transformative for the 2026 Blue Jays.  
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Nigel - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 09:17 AM EDT (#483218) #
I agree Mike. The eye test so far suggests that Bateman can be at least an above average defender. In particular, his jumps look excellent - there was a play on a tough liner into the gap when he was in RF where he got an exceptional read and made a difficult play look easy (ish). A league average bat leaning heavily to the OBP side also seems entirely plausible to me.
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92-93 - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 01:24 PM EDT (#483221) #
Straw in CF today with Bateman in RF.
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Nigel - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:40 PM EDT (#483222) #
Bringing Little in with the bases loaded is an um “interesting” choice.
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Nigel - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:41 PM EDT (#483223) #
With a sadly predictable result:(
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BlueJayWay - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:42 PM EDT (#483224) #
Little never came in...
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TamRa - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:46 PM EDT (#483225) #
I'm loath to participate in the bullpen management discourse but I'm mystified why John let Jose stay in for three batters to load the bases. I'm not sure I'd have sent him back out at all but the leash would have been REAL short.

I also don't get why Fisher, who was almost out of it, would try to paint the corner on a full count. Keep it in the zone.
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chris_jays - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:52 PM EDT (#483226) #
It was Flu that came in Nigel, not Little…

I struggle to understand why they left in Soriano to face the lefties though.
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92-93 - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:55 PM EDT (#483227) #
I would have liked to see Bateman attempt to catch that big two run single.
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Nigel - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#483228) #
Sorry. Following on Gameday from overseas. Gameday had Little in the game:(
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BlueJayWay - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 04:23 PM EDT (#483229) #
I wish the Jays could do that thing where they hit the ball over the wall. It's a strategy I've noticed some teams employ and it seems to be an efficient way to score.
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BlueJayWay - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 04:38 PM EDT (#483230) #
Not a bad road trip all considered.
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dalimon5 - Sunday, August 23 2026 @ 05:23 PM EDT (#483231) #
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
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hypobole - Monday, August 24 2026 @ 09:58 AM EDT (#483232) #
Bryce Miller and the Mariners with a dubious achievement. Miller lost his last 2 starts 22-0 and 19-2. No pitcher had lost consecutive starts by at least 17 runs since 1890.
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Mike Green - Monday, August 24 2026 @ 11:31 AM EDT (#483236) #
I agree, 92-93. In that particular situation, with a 3-2 count, 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th and the Jays down 1 run already, even a low probability effort is worthwhile.  It was not a situation to concede 2 runs.  I don't know what happened there- had Bateman lost touch with the situation, misjudged the ball, or did he really think he had no chance at all? 

It does appear from the Statcast that Bateman's standard positioning in right-field is deep, and towards right-centre, and I didn't see where he started out in this particular case.  That may be the reason why there was even a decision to make about going for it.  
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hypobole - Monday, August 24 2026 @ 11:55 AM EDT (#483238) #
The 2 GM's that worked with AA in Toronto and again in Atlanta have now both lost their jobs. Less than 2 months after the Angels dismissed Perry Minasian, Dana Brown has been released by the Astros.
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Jays at Yankees, August 21-23: Last of the Winners | 45 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.