Over the weekend the Toronto Blue Jays gave their fans something many have been waiting their entire lives for.
With most franchises those type of moments are reserved for October, but making the playoffs for the first time in 22 years was an enormous event for the Blue Jays. Its significance was underlined by the passionate impromptu celebration the players engaged in on Saturday evening.
As to the series itself, it had a little bit of everything. The Blue Jays won via a strong R.A. Dickey performance, an unexpected shootout and a Josh Donaldson walk-off. Scripting a better final home series for the year would have been difficult.
Here are five takeaways from the Blue Jays’ sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Josh Donaldson made the most of hitter-friendly Rogers Centre one more time: In the final home series of the regular season Donaldson was absolutely deadly.
The leading MVP candidate was on base constantly with five walks and hit his 40th and 41st home runs of the season — including Sunday’s walk-off shot.
Moving to Rogers Centre has played a significant role in Donaldson’s offensive breakout this year. He’s now hit 24 of his 41 home runs in Toronto.
David Price showed the importance of winning the AL East: It’s almost impossible to criticize what Price has done since donning a Blue Jays jersey. In 11 starts he’s posted a 2.30 ERA, 2.23 FIP, and a team-leading 2.7 WAR, bolstering a Cy Young case that’s gaining momentum.
However, on Saturday he looked very human giving up four earned runs in five innings. More often than not, that kind of performance would be a losing effort in a wild card game.
Price is usually exceptional, but a dud is always possible even for aces. That’s why leaving the fate of a season to the result of a single game is a scary proposition. Luckily for the Blue Jays, barring a disastrous run to the finish they won’t have to worry about it.
Cliff Pennington is slumping defensively: It’s a common misconception that defensive performances are far less variable than offensive ones. Players can go on hot or cold streaks with either the bat or the glove.
Right now Pennington is having trouble with his throws. On Saturday he tossed the ball to absolutely no one and on Sunday he airmailed it in dramatic fashion. The veteran has been dependable defensively in the past, and will be again, but right now something’s off.
Kevin Pillar is rounding into form: Because of his superlative defensive work Pillar’s bat is rarely questioned, but he was going through a dry spell offensively through August and early September.
Against the Rays, Pillar seemed to break out of the funk. The centre-fielder went 7-for-12 in the series with a home run, two steals, and a game-tying hit on Sunday.
When players at the bottom of the order such as Pillar are producing, the Blue Jays are even more dangerous.
Aaron Sanchez has his feet back under him: It’s never a good idea to make too much of a couple of relief outings, but Sanchez needed to put up some zeros.
Prior to the series he had given up runs in four of his last five outings while struggling with his command. No one is going to give him a medal for pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless ball, but it’s a start. A couple more stress-free appearances and he should be back in the good graces of manager John Gibbons.
