TORONTO — Just like that the Toronto Blue Jays are underdogs again.
They must win three of their next four games to advance after losing 5-3 to Texas in the ALDS opener. The Rangers, on the other hand, can move on to the ALCS by splitting the remaining four games with Toronto. It’s safe to say the odds are now stacked against the Blue Jays.
Yet David Price doesn’t look at it that way. The left-hander, who allowed five runs Thursday, says the Blue Jays are just one game away from evening the series.
“This team is very mentally strong, we expect to go out there and win every single day, and I know we’ll expect to win (Friday),” Price said. “We’re facing a very good team, a very good pitcher in Cole Hamels but we feel like we can go out there and win.”
Catcher Russell Martin, a veteran of eight postseasons, says the Blue Jays can take some positives away from the loss.
“I liked our effort, I liked our intensity, it’s just the result we don’t like,” Martin said. “We fought hard all year, I don’t know how many series we lost the first game and still came out and win the series, but it’s good to have that in the back of our mind.”
As Martin says, the Blue Jays have shown resilience before. They were 50-51 on July 28 before going on an extended hot streak that allowed them to capture the AL East title. Having lost the opener, Game 2 looms large before the teams travel to Texas.
“Every game’s vital really,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “The thing we’ve got going for us is I think we’ve been resilient all year. We’ve lost some tough games and we don’t lose many in a row normally … one thing I know about it us is we always seem to respond.”
Bottom line, the Blue Jays lost their biggest game in decades, disappointing 49,834 loud fans in the process. Now they must overcome more than a 1-0 deficit. Josh Donaldson left the game early after taking a knee to the head and Jose Bautista left after irritating his right hamstring. Donaldson passed preliminary tests and Bautista expects to play Friday, providing the Blue Jays with hope that they may not have to get by without their top players for long. That puts the focus on winning Game 2 then taking at least one road game.
“We have to go to Texas anyways and win there, so it doesn’t change anything about our approach,” Bautista said.
Still, the Rangers have reason to be encouraged after beating Price. Despite arriving in Toronto as underdogs, they beat Toronto’s ace with Cole Hamels set to take the mound Friday. No wonder manager Jeff Banister has plenty of confidence in his team.
“They love playing the game of baseball together and they find a way to meet the demands of the game,” Banister said of the Rangers. “They don’t really listen to what’s being said about them. All they know is they want to go out and play baseball.”
Hamels, the Rangers’ biggest deadline acquisition, matches up well against just about anyone, but the Blue Jays are looking forward to playing behind their own Game 2 starter. In four starts since returning from a torn ACL, Marcus Stroman posted a 1.67 ERA while displaying frontline stuff.
“Marcus is a big-time pitcher. He’s an ace on most teams,” centre fielder Kevin Pillar said. “We’re fortunate enough to have two aces with Price and Stroman. We’ve been in this situation before, we’ve lost games before and we seem to bounce back.”
The importance of the outing isn’t lost on Stroman, who calls it the biggest start of his career, hands down.
“I’m ready for it,” he said. “This is why you play the game, I’m excited.”
Blue Jays hitters may not be excited about facing Hamels in what’s pretty close to a must-win game. Yet with Stroman on the mound and a history of responding well to adversity, the Blue Jays are still in this, rolling with their newfound status as underdogs.
