Welp..... here, we, go.

If Arrighetti just has one good outing for us this year, please let it be today.

gonna sneak in another OCD post for the homestretch....


Plausible Best Lineups using…


This Year’s Stats Only:

1. CF Bateman 88pa, .384obp, 127wrc+, 7.4war650
2. C Alejandro 238pa, ,.353obp, 115wrc+, 6.3war650
3. DH Springer 440pa, .330obp, 112wrc+, 1.8war650
4. 3B Okamoto 543pa, .306obp, 110wrc+, 3.0war650
5. LF Sanchez 288pa, .323obp, 109wrc+, 0.2war650
6. 1B Guerrero 520pa, .331obp, 93wrc+, 0.9war650
7. RF Lukes 364pa, .318obp, 101wrc+, 2.9war650
8. 2B Clement 535pa, .301obp, 93wrc+, 1.5war650
9. SS Gimenez 436pa, .286obp, 78wrc+, 3.7war650

B. UT Smith 187pa, .303obp, 76wrc+, 0.0war650
B. OF Straw 273pa, .289obp, 78wrc+, 1.4war650
B. IF Urias 59pa, .322obp, 123wrc+, 3.3war650
B. C Valenzuela 241pa, .304obp, 94wrc+, 5.1war650

X. UT Pinango 180pa, .306obp, 98wrc+, -0.4war650
X. OF Clase 25pa, .360obp, 154wrc+, 7.8war650
X. IF McAdoo 79pa, .278obp, 74wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C

X. UT Schneider 140pa, .295obp, 70wrc+, -1.4war650
X. OF Cameron 25pa, .200obp, 49wrc+, -5.2war650
X. IF Sosa 117pa, .207obp, 31wrc+, -3.9war650
X. C

X. UT Keys 37pa, .189obp, 25wrc+, -5.3war650
X. UT Barger 28pa, .214obp, 1wrc+, 0.0war650



Past 1 Calendar Year

1. CF Bateman 88pa, .384obp, 127wrc+, 7.4war650
2. DH Springer 559pa, .353obp, 132wrc+, 3.3war650
3. 3B Okamoto 543pa, .306obp, 110wrc+, 3.0war650
4. C Alejandro 317pa, .334obp, 109wrc+, 5.7war650
5. RF Lukes 447pa, .311obp, 98wrc+, 2.5war650
6. 1B Guerrero 632pa, .337obp, 98wrc+, 1.0war650
7. 2B Clement 625pa, .306obp, 95wrc+, 2.0war650
8. SS Gimenez 513pa, .278obp, 72wrc+, 2.9war650
9. LF Straw 308pa, .289obp, 77wrc+, 1.5war650

B. UT Smith 263pa, .319obp, 83wrc+, 0.7war650
B. OF Sanchez 358pa, .302obp, 93wrc+, -0.5war650
B. IF Urias 59pa, .322obp, 123wrc+, 3.3war650
B. C Valenzuela 241pa, .304obp, 94wrc+, 5.1war650

X. UT Pinango 180pa, .306obp, 98wrc+, -0.4war650
X. OF Clase 25pa, .360obp, 154wrc+, 7.8war650
X. IF McAdoo 79pa, .278obp, 74wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C

X. UT Schneider 194pa, .306obp, 71wrc+, -1.0war650
X. OF Barger 114pa, .281obp, 73wrc+, 1.1war650
X. IF Sosa 208pa, .237obp, 61wrc+, -1.6war650
X. C

X. UT Cameron 25pa, .200obp, 49wrc+, -5.2war650
X. UT Keys 37pa, .189obp, 25wrc+, -5.3war650
X. UT Santander 12pa, .250obp, 17wrc+, -5.4war650




Zips/Steamer Combined Projections

1. DH Springer 81pa, .338obp, 119wrc+, 2.4war650
2. 1B Guerrero 97pa, .368obp, 134wrc+, 3.4war650
3. C Alejandro 59pa, .352obp, 118wrc+, 6.6war650
4. LF Sanchez 69pa, .318obp, 109wrc+, 1.9war650
5. 3B Okamoto 94pa, .317obp, 113wrc+, 2.8war650
6. RF Lukes 75pa, .330obp, 107wrc+, 2.6war650
7. 2B Clement 90pa, .307obp, 96wrc+, 2.2war650
8. SS Gimenez 90pa, .306obp, 91wrc+, 2.9war650
9. CF Bateman 52pa, .330obp, 89wrc+, 2.5war650

B. UT Cameron 25pa, .302obp, 100wrc+, 2.6war650
B. OF Straw 49pa, .299obp, 78wrc+, 1.3war650
B. IF Smith 36pa, .330obp, 101wrc+, 1.8war650
B. C Valenzuela 46pa, .286obp, 82wrc+, 2.8war650

X. UT McAdoo 25pa, .294obp, 91wrc+, 2.6war650
X. OF Schneider 4pa, .327obp, 103wrc+, 0.0war650
X. IF Urias 5pa, .323obp, 102wrc+, 0.0war650
X. C Stubbs 1pa, .250obp, 57wrc+, 0.0war650

X. UT Pinango 16pa, .298obp, 89wrc+, 0.0war650
X. UT Keys 3pa, .294obp, 88wrc+, 0.0war650
X. OF Clase 6pa, .295obp, 87wrc+, 0.0war650

X. UT Sosa 0pa, .276obp, 85wrc+, 0.0war650
X. UT Barger 0pa, .313obp, 107wrc+, 0.0war650

Tiedeman, Mantiply, Keys, and Josh Smith added to the roster; Daz Cameron DFAed.

On the bright side, Daz Cameron got more run & service tims than simply Vlad's concussion IL week.

Unfortunately, he didn't do much with it. Very small sample size of 25 PAs. But his 2026 Blue Jays slash line is pretty similar to his other MLB cups of coffee with other orgs.

All lefties added.

Mantiply's 3 AAA rehab innings: 3.0ip, 30.8k%, 15.4b%, 3.00era, 2.84fip

Ricky since being sent back down: 5.0ip, 30.0k%, 10.0b%, 0.00era, 2.91fip

any word on Urias coming back? I could see him bumping McAdoo.

With a deep/expanded and rested bullpen, look for Schneider to use a short leash in an all-out effort to win today. Cease and Soriano are starting games 2 and 3, so the manager can afford to burn through some bullpen capital tonight.

Straw in LF tonight despite a RHP starter on the mound and Sanchez being a career 1-3 with a HR off that starter. If they hate Sanchez's defense so much that they feel more comfortable starting a 70 wRC+ 5th OF in LF, then they should have moved on from Sanchez a lot time ago.

I'll join the club in also wanting to see Urias back and McAdoo sent down.

To be fair, Straw did have a wRC+ of 105 in 83 PA in August which is awfully solid when mixed with excellent D.

Agreed, SK in NJ, and kinda a bizarre decision. Did they keep Sanchez around just to PH?

This is the kind of weird decision that always paid off for the manager last year, so let's hope.

I think putting Straw in there is more about supporting who is on the mound than a pure offensive choice. I would bet they feel much more comfortable putting Sanchez out there for Cease and Soriano starts, vs a bullpen day or when the starter has fly ball tendencies.

Thing is Straw is legit hot at the plate and never had much of a L/R split.

The Guardians are a weird team to deal with.

They are 23rd in batting average and 29th in HR.
But they are average in OBP.

They have 4-5 switch hitters and they play 2 platoons.
That's a load of left bats for someone who throws a slider and it's difficult to take advantage of lefties relievers as they will pinch hit or just switch around.

They have good pitching and good defense.
Straw and Gimenez came from here.

Controlling the running game could be a huge thing.

This feels like a night a the Trop.
Lots of empty seats.

Didn't look like Okamoto went.

Spencer 100 Miles Per Hour

Okamoto took a 1-0 FB right down the middle. Looked like a pitch he could crush (albeit one thrown at 100 MPH). Then went down swinging on a series of breaking balls.

Not sure why Miles was limited to one inning. He’s probably a better pitcher than Tiedemann at the moment.

Tiedemann pitched his way out of trouble. Good job

Bad check call on Clement too.

The curve can be hard to pick up.
For most guys he's aggressive with the fastball and goes for a punch out with the curve.

For sluggers, he's curve heavy.
Okamoto hates the sweeper.

Shallow ball for Straw.

Line drive to Straw.

Well, I was happy straw was out there for that sinking line drive.

The decision to start Straw is looking brilliant so far. Couple of nice catches that Sanchez may well not have made.

Kwan is such a pest at the plate. He made Arrighetti work and lined an oppo near-hit off him.

That’ll work, Spencer.

Vladdy and his groundballs…sigh. At least it wasn’t a DP

Maybe JS should start giving Keys some starts at 1B? Give him a chance to do damage while letting Vladdy rest a bit…?

Arighetti looked frankly unplayable last time out. This is significant progress.

First blood on error and wild pitch.

Arrighetti is pretty good when he has fastball command.
He came back too soon from rehab because they needed him.

Sorry folks. My bad:( I jinxed that completely.

He was great for two innings but then started falling behind. Recipe for trouble.

Tough to exploit their lineup with lefties.

Blue Jays got nothing tonight. Let’s hope for better in games 2 and 3.

Keep our best relievers for Cease and Soriano.

Playoff type game where you need homeruns to win.

Jays are desperately in need of slug

Pinch hitting Sanchez for Straw with 0 on and down by 3 runs in the 8th, rather than in the 5th when it was a tie game and there were 2 on with 1 out is certainly interesting. I guess Sanchez (1-3 with a HR off Williams) is a better matchup against Gaddis, or something. Or maybe Schneider has already punted the game and doesn't care about what happens in LF the rest of the game.

If only there had been someone available on the waiver wire in the last couple of days who had 6 HR and an 841 OPS in August.

Jobu, Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball.

This comeback win gonna be legendary.

It’s wild to me how many people think Robert Jr. was needed to save our season as opposed to actually getting results from the players on the team.

Robert had one good month and could easily put up an 85 wRC+ this month or get hurt.

Anecdotally, the Jays seem to do very poorly after a day off.

So the Jays would have won if they had Luis Robert?

Hopefully Cease is in the zone tomorrow. If tonight is any indication, Cleveland is going to try to work him for walks and get him out after 5 IP or so.

Crazy how the Orioles spent all that money on Robert Jr. and didn’t even start him tonight… so curious how he’ll do this month.

I wish the Jays would really give Keys some rope. They need his pop.

"Anecdotally, the Jays seem to do very poorly after a day off."

11-7 if you count opening day.
7-3 since mid-June

Vladdy’s 2026 wRC+ is now 93, a full 39 points below his career average.

Clement’s offense is quietly hurting the team almost as much. His wRC+ is currently 92 (in August it was 33). Lukes and Valenzuela have also struggled of late.

I've spent most of the season thinking "Fix Vlad, get Barger back, and sign Suzuki" and most of your heave lifting is done.

But as we go on I'm more and more inclined to think that I was right last year - 2025 was peak-Ernie and we won't see his like again... which has me musing about whether they have the ability to trade for Abrams without losing JoJo. And short of that, maybe try to sign Brandon Lowe?

Ernie's value might be best employed in the utility role.

The Jays need to start Keys at 1B and Smith at 2B against RHP.

Keys probably does nothing against this level of pitching.

Teams now run 6, 7 or 8 left bats.
These guys has 4 switch hitters and 4 left bats.
And they will pinch hit.

It's good that miles only pitched 1 inning.

As previously mentioned, I believe Ernie was miscast as an everyday player. I think playing full-time has taken a toll on him. He was better when he was a utility player (2B/3B and occasional SS) who played a lot but not all the time. Preseason I suggested that deploying Gimenez as full-time SS and Clement as full-time 2B, without another middle IF bat to optimize matchups, was a mistake.

Even if I would do it, the Jays simply aren't starting Keys everyday at 1B and putting Vlad on the bench.

Would love to see them give him some run either in LF or DH though. Move Springer to the OF if needed. The team desperately needs some offence.

There’s no easy answer to the team’s offensive woes. They need Vladdy (August wRC+ 56), Clement (33) and Lukes (81) to hit. That’s one-third of their lineup. Also, Vladdy is tied for sixth in the majors with 17 grounded-into-double-plays. He’s produced a lot of outs and very little power in 2026.

The team has been pretty hot at the plate the last couple weeks. I think they just ran into a great pitching performance.

Williams' hardest fastballs were thrown to Bateman who couldn't catch up to them.  He's covered 98 mph well in the past, but he'll need to work on 100 mph.  

Clement's offensive line is more or less the same as his playable 2025 - slightly below league average. His slash line & baseball card numbers in 2026 are pretty close to last year. Fangraphs OTOH has his offense about 5 runs worse.

The difference between 2025 & 2026 Clement is that his defensive metrics have absolutely collapsed somehow playing 2B everyday. The defensive slide has taken him from an elite 4 WAR defender with tolerably average offense to simply a league average player overall.

This certainly fits the eye test as well. Clement has had almost weekly miscues on defense at 2B that just didn't seem to be there last year.

There’s been theories as to why his defense has cratered: being exposed or tired playing everyday (though he played everyday in '25 and was measured as elite), being exposed at 2B with the acquisition of Okamoto when he may be more of a natural 3B, simply getting older as a late blooming big leaguer, etc.

Clement will be an interesting case in the off-season. He's going to be 31 next season, his defensive metrics have tanked, his sprint speed has slightly declined, and even at his peak he was a sub-100 wRC+ player. At his age and offensive profile, he doesn't resemble someone that will age particularly well. Second base is a very obvious position to fix. He shouldn't be an everyday player moving forward, but has the type of equity with the organization and fans that will make it hard for someone like Schneider to bench him. Curious what they do there. He's an ideal utility IF but the question is whether the Jays would use him in that role after essentially two straight seasons of starting him (also two years before free agency for him).

If the Diamondbacks are going to move on from Marte, which seems very likely given what's going on, then I think he's the move to make for the Jays. Maybe you use Clement in that deal (with prospects) so he lands somewhere that he can still conceivably start. I can't imagine the D-Backs are getting a haul anymore given the circumstances. If the alternative is keeping the infield status quo, then I really don't see the upside there.

Acquiring Marte would certainly test this front office's long-held public assertion that they value character, makeup & clubhouse chemistry more than most orgs.

Of course, it's easy to pay lip service to buzzwords until your supposed principles & values are actually tested with an opportunity IRL.

Has there been anyone with makeup issues that this front office has gone out & acquired?

The org dispatched both Yunel Escobar (although that was Beeston/AA) & Anthony Bass pretty quickly when off-field controversies arose. Though Bass was an easy cut given his terrible performance that year.

OTOH, Kevin Pillar was retained for several years by Shapiro & Atkins after uttering a slur during play in 2017. Pillar's contrition was accepted by corporate as genuine considering he was hired back to do colour years later.

Pete Walker was retained after his DUI during spring training years back. Both the executive & fans seemed willing to pretend that never happened.

I can't remember exactly what happened after the Reese McGuire incident. But he didn't remain a Jay long. Though the league accepted him back.

The team didn't allow Roberto Osuna to play for the team again after a serious allegation & criminal charge. Though Houston made the decision a lot easier for them by taking on the abuser & giving relative market value.

O's lost 2 of 3 in Colorado after blowing a 5-3 lead in the 11th.

VLADDO BLAMMO DEMOLISHED

Vladdy is back!

Wow it felt great to see Vlad hit that home run. About time.

Enjoying this game much more than the one yesterday.

Thank you Jobu, thank you. If you like what Jobu has brought us today please bring your offerings.

BAL and TEX lost btw.

Don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but tomorrow’s game is shaping up to be a big one. Will it be brilliant Soriano or kinda rocky Soriano?

105.9

107.8

Exit velos for vlad today.

Those sound like classic rock radio stations…maybe Christian rock for Vladdy?

That's actually pretty funny.

Vladdy's 8th hr of the year ties his total from last year....'s playoffs.

I would let Cease throw around 85-90 pitches then go to the pen (to save bullets for later in the season/postseason). But JS is a cautious manager. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him let Cease throw 100+ pitches to protect the lead.

They held him to 92 pitches last time out to prep him for 4 days rest this time around. But i think i'd rather cease throw 100 rather than put a good reliever out there.

But maybe this lead is getting big enough to risk putting out some of the lesser RP arms, even if they pitches yesterday.

How about 6 IP for Cease, then 1-3 lesser relievers to close out the game? Then Soriano, Fluharty, Rogers, Varland tomorrow (if need be).

If history is any guide, Varland will go two innings tonight:)

Happy they took Cease out a bit earlier. He’s so important for the jays and keeping him fresh is key. No issue with depth bullpen guys going an inning each.

I can't imagine the amount of restraint it must have taken Schneider to not use Fluharty tonight, but he was able to do it. Using Fisher when the opposition threw out a position player in the top of the inning seems unnecessary, but Fisher is better than Varland, Rogers, or Fluharty. I was nervous it was one of those "(RP) hasn't thrown in 2 days and we want him to get work" days.

Good to be on the nice side of a laugher. All high leverage guys available tomorrow in what looks like a massive game for the WC standings and for securing a tiebreaker.

If vladdy is back there's no stopping us.

Vlad's swings looked consistently good for the first time in weeks and weeks. Even the out on the pop up looked good.

I feel I must point out that Guerrero has now overtaken Gimenez for second place in team RBIs this year.

Baby steps...

Smith with a cool 150wrc+ in 35pa with us.

11-0 is the 2nd biggest win behind May 9th's 14-1 win over LAA.

WC standings:

NYY +9.5
Bos +4.5
Cle —
Tex 1.5
Bal 1.5
Tor 1.5
Minn 3.5
Sea 4.5

So today's game is clearly the biggest of the season given that whoever wins, wins the tiebreak.

Time for Vlad to keep it up and Soriano to deliver his best start yet.

Chris Black
@DownToBlack
·
10m
Re: Jays lineup today
Tanner Bibee's best pitches: Sinker & Cutter

>Kaz Okamoto's two worst pitches to face this year: Sinker & Cutter

>Jesus Sanchez: Hitting .347 w/ .551 slug vs RH sinkers & cutters this year.

>Sean Keys: .909 slug vs RH cutters in AAA this yr

Sanchez in LF  batting 4th, Keys DHing and batting 5th, Smith at 3rd and batting sixth, and Valenzuela batting 9th and catching this afternoon.  Thumbs up.  I worry about Sanchez in LF, but with Soriano pitching, the odds are working in favour.  It is a key game, but the club also needs to rest some players because of the stretch of games ahead and the day game after a night game.  

Hazel Mae
@thehazelmae
·
3m
John Schneider said Anthony Santander is making progress:

“He’s hitting off live pitching down in Florida “today and this weekend, and then optimistic me says if he can get into some rehab games in AAA next week,” Santander could be back before season’s end.

Keegan Matheson
@KeeganMatheson
·
31m
At this point, Trey Yesavage’s build-up is:

1. Throw off the mound tomorrow
2. Throw off a mound again
3. Face hitters at the complex
4. Pitch in a rehab game / sim game

If all of this lines up perfectly, John Schneider feels the #BlueJays can get him back in a #SuperBulk role.

His shoulder surgery was on Feb 11. I don’t think 7 months comes close to rushing it

JS is too conservative with the running game, in my opinion. Bateman should have been trying to steal sometime prior to the struggling Lukes’s GIDP. We’ve seen that happen a lot this year. Bateman has great speed and the team should be taking advantage of that to put pressure on the opposing team.

After a disappointing top half, and rough start to the bottom half, that was a heck of an effort by Soriano to get out of the jam!!!

Don't love sitting Springer and Okamoto in most important game of year so far.

Agreed about Schneider and stolen bases. The Jays don't do it nearly enough, and it's wasting elite skills from players like Bateman and Gimenez (although Gimenez has had lower body injuries so that may play some part). I'm baffled how someone who loves the bunt so much is hesitant with stolen bases. I guess it's possible to pick and choose which small ball tactics you like.

Clement since June 1 has a 0.0 WAR and 73 wRC+ (307 PA). Since July 1, it's -0.2 WAR and 61 wRC+ (212 PA). It will never happen with Schneider as manager, but might be time to consider a Smith/Clement platoon at 2B.

Thankfully the leverage arms are rested they are only going to get 4-5 innings out of Soriano.

Don’t love that the Blue Jays hitters had such a short top of third (for example, Bateman swinging at a 1-0 pitch and grounding out). The team needed to give Soriano more of a breather after two tough innings.

Despite the pre-negative doubts around these parts the Jays have prevailed and pulled ahead. Jobu likes his Guyana rum.

Vlad's body language is entirely different from what it has been all season. Hopefully that's a good sign for September.

Some here were asking about Luis Urias. He is playing for Dunedin tonight. He could be back early next week.

yanking soriano to put fluharty against righties was not my preference there.

Urias was taken out of the lineup just before first pitch.

Yanking Soriano was good. Miles was the better choice but c’est la vie. Very few first year players have impacted tge Jays to the extent Bateman has.

Meet the new Vlad, same as the 2026 old Vlad…

The Guardians pitched to Vlad with 2 runners on, 2 out, and 1B open, with Straw on deck. If anything describes how bad Vlad's season has been, that might be it.

The Guardians have to be frustrated with how this game has unfolded, but the Blue Jays have missed some big opportunities too, including a bases loaded, one out situation with Gimenez up against a changeup/FB reliever. This game isn’t over yet. One more insurance run would be great.

Gimenez with another late-inning leverage hit.

Clement getting warmed up for another big postseason!

erndog

boom goes the dynamite.

I came. I saw. I clobbered.

Big series win. Pull to within half a game of WC3 and win the tiebreaker. The difference between a loss and win today was massive.

that game felt very playoffsy.

Jays win Jays win. Half game out with the best rotation and bullpen of the bunch. Let's all focus on how bad Vlad is, apparently.

Huge win.

-Closing in on WC3
-Secure tiebreaker against Cle
-Key players get some rest
-Positive injury updates on Trey and Santander

Hold up… our rotation is Cease (amazing), Soriano (been average), Max… and TBD/TBD essentially.

How on earth is that better than the Guardians or Mariners SP?

Last 39gms: 24-15, .615w%, +22 rdiff

Since Deadline: 18-11, .621w%, +17 rdiff

Last 25gms: 16-9, .640w%, +20 rdiff

"Very few first year players have impacted tge Jays to the extent Bateman has."

Miles being one of them.

Well we're in the big mess for third wildcard now. Huge series win. Just got to keep going and hopefully improving.

"Hold up… our rotation is Cease (amazing), Soriano (been average), Max… and TBD/TBD essentially.

How on earth is that better than the Guardians or Mariners SP?"

Seattle has Logan Gilbert. Woo, Miller and Kirby have all struggled. Hancock is hurt. Do you think Gilbert and Anderson are better than Soriano and Cease?

Cleveland has Bibee and Williams. Williams has been very good lately but still hovering around a 4 ERA his last 7 starts. Bibee is good though not in top form. Cantillo is great, but I think Williams, Bibee and Cantillo is worse than Cease, Soriano and Scherzer and that's assuming no return from Bieber or Yesavage + bullpen days.

What about Parker Messick on Cleveland who is likely to come 3rd in CY Young and Foster Griffin who is 15-4 with a 3.21 ERA?

They have way more depth given Bieber and Trey out.

Yeah can't argue that but the bullpen favours Toronto and Cease and Soriano are far and away better. Just have to like the Jays rotation and bullpen better overall for 30 days.

For SP, Fangraphs projects the following for the remainder of the season:

Mariners: 2.0 WAR
Rangers: 1.8 WAR
Guardians: 1.8 WAR
Orioles: 1.5 WAR
Blue Jays: 1.5 WAR

You're not including bullpen or fWAR of any returning pitchers that can make a big impact like Yesavage or Bieber. You're also using fWAR to predict future performance. Just look at the last month and a half of performance.

It's strange to live by predictive stats like fWAR to project future performance but NEVER bring them up when discussing real hard evidence whenever it fails like when fWAR didn't predict Vlad's 2026 performance. Not directing this to you personally, just in general the over-reliance on these stats which of course are helpful, but never good to base an argument on for baseball imho.

I see some of your point although those projections do include a few innings for each of Trey and Bieber which might be optimistic.

They also project the Jays bullpen to be 15th going forward which I think is too low given how rock solid they’ve been lately.

At the same time, I’ve constantly said I disagree with all projections for Vlad because they constantly say he’s a 130 wRC+ bat for the remainder of the season when the eye test wouldn’t agree in the slightest.

Have not being impressed by Jose Soriano so far - very mediocre.

The Jays caught a lot of breaks today but a lot of those were “create your own luck” type things. Bateman’s wheels on the bunt comes to mind, but Vlad’s hustle to stay out of the double play was also impressive as was his glove all game.

I also noticed the ump missed a lot of calls all around the zone. If not for the new review system, I think the game probably ends up going the other way today. This was a lot closer than it looked by the final score- I’m glad to see it and the little components that led to the W.

A while back the Blue Jays were at about 6% playoff odds. Now they’re at 33.1% according to Fangraphs.

We are likely seeing the worst version of Soriano. Still putting up strong peripherals and results. He's very very good just isn't optimized yet under Pete Walker.

Soriano's been decent, but shown flashes of dominance.

6gms, 5.5ip/gm, 105era-, 93fip-, 102xfip-, 2.1awar/32

Seems to be having trouble out of the stretch i think.

I think that calling Soriano’s time with the Jays mediocre is tough. What he does struggle with is throwing enough strikes to keep him in the game beyond 4-5 innings. That’s an issue that would ultimately limit his value but I think some time to adjust is in order before it’s determinative.

Soriano fields his position well.
He's also good at preventing stolen bases.
The stuff is excellent.

Home run for LRJ in tonight’s game (he’s 1/2 so far). O’s up 3-1 in the fifth

IKF ties it up!

Love IKF! Love the red sox!

IKF with a clutch two-out RBI single in the seventh to tie the game 3-3.

Soriano has been OK and it's easy to see how he can improve enormously with a bit more control.

Red sox!

So far, Sogard in this one

Cal Quantrill and the Rangers are beating TB 4-0.

Sogard is having an under-the-radar decent season as a utility player. 121 wRC+ after the HR. Has played all four infield positions this year in 45 games.

Pesky O’s make it close but go down 6-5 in the end.

I hope we are all cognizant of the fact that this weekend will be ...challenging.

I'm hoping for payback but accepting the potential for disappointment.

We miss the Royals best two starters so hopefully that helps a bit but I agree, this series is no slam dunk.

Interesting that the Orioles pinch hit for Robert Jr. last night despite a homerun in the game.

The Royals are saying the same thing.

Since the deadline...


Gausman 6gms, 5.8ip/gm, 107era-, 93fip-, 78xfip-, 2.9awar/32
Soriano 6gms, 5.5ip/gm, 105era-, 93fip-, 102xfip-, 2.1awar/32

Hoffman 11gms, 0.9ip/gm, 1.05gmli, 89era-, 66fip-, 102xfip-, 0.9awar/65
Sewald 7gms, 1.0ip/gm, 0.48gmli, 0era-, 81fip-, 136xfip-, 1.4awar/65

Macko: 3gms, 1.1ip/gm, 198era-, 96fip-, 129xfip-, -1.1awar/65
Arrighetti: 3gms, 3.7ip/gm, 158era-, 147fip-, 126xfip-, -2.7awar/32


Varsho 109pa, .205babip, .248obp, 59wrc+, -0.6war/650
Bateman 102pa, .429babip, .380obp, 122wrc+, 6.4war/650

xxxxx
Smith: 40pa, .313babip, .368obpp, 153wrc+, 8.1war/650



not bad, Shapitkins.


and arrighetti is only getting substantial innings due to the Yesavage/Bieber injuries.