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For the 3rd straight year (not counting the 60 game season) we are most likely making the wild card.

This is an odd feeling, even though this has clearly been the best multi year stretch of baseball, I feel kind of blah towards it.

I feel like we are just good enough for the 1 game playin and maybe we'll get lucky there, but really don't have too much high hopes in terms of post season success for this year and moving forwards (I could be wrong here, and hopefully i'm proven wrong).

Team is giving me a bit of Derozan Raptors vibes atm (well tbh a lot of Toronto teams are).

In baseball, seeding doesn't really matter. Any team can win it all.

I just wish this team played more inspired baseball during the regular season. I don't like these high-stress games in September. We don't take the season seriously (players and coaching/FO alike), and that can burn us (as was the case in 2021).

Raps in 4 wrote:In baseball, seeding doesn't really matter. Any team can win it all.

I just wish this team played more inspired baseball during the regular season. I don't like these high-stress games in September. We don't take the season seriously (players and coaching/FO alike).

If true, we really don't have the post season record for this type of thinking.

We aren't the Heat or Bucks, going by NBA terms.

Also, i'd rather avoid the playin game if at all possible, so getting a seed to avoid that does matter.

Vampirate wrote:

Raps in 4 wrote:In baseball, seeding doesn't really matter. Any team can win it all.

I just wish this team played more inspired baseball during the regular season. I don't like these high-stress games in September. We don't take the season seriously (players and coaching/FO alike).

If true, we really don't have the post season record for this type of thinking.

We aren't the Heat or Bucks, going by NBA terms.

Also, i'd rather avoid the playin game if at all possible, so getting a seed to avoid that does matter.

At a certain point, there isn't much you can do. The Orioles and Rays will both have 95+ wins this year, and one of them will have to be a WC. In 2021, both LAD and SF won 105+ games, with LAD having to settle with a WC spot. Last season both Atlanta and NYM won 100+. And so on.

Having said that, I totally agree that we should be trying to win the division. Right now, the team treats the regular season as if it's spring training. If we actually showed some urgency and ended up with a WC spot, I wouldn't care. The talent is there for much better regular seasons. But idiotic management and a lackadaisical team culture combine for some miserable play throughout the season.

Raps in 4 wrote:

Vampirate wrote:

Raps in 4 wrote:In baseball, seeding doesn't really matter. Any team can win it all.

I just wish this team played more inspired baseball during the regular season. I don't like these high-stress games in September. We don't take the season seriously (players and coaching/FO alike).

If true, we really don't have the post season record for this type of thinking.

We aren't the Heat or Bucks, going by NBA terms.

Also, i'd rather avoid the playin game if at all possible, so getting a seed to avoid that does matter.

At a certain point, there isn't much you can do. The Orioles and Rays will both have 95+ wins this year, and one of them will have to be a WC. In 2021, both LAD and SF won 105+ games, with LAD having to settle with a WC spot. Last season both Atlanta and NYM won 100+. And so on.

Having said that, I totally agree that we should be trying to win the division. Right now, the team treats the regular season as if it's spring training. If we actually showed some urgency and ended up with a WC spot, I wouldn't care. The talent is there for much better regular seasons. But idiotic management and a lackadaisical team culture combine for some miserable play throughout the season.

Obviously if Alek Minoah didn't go from Ace to unplayable, that'd help too lol.

Outside Bichette, our hitting situation is pretty ugly, i'll give Vlad one thing, he's probably the most patient of our hitters, but it's sad what he's currently producing.

But hey, at least we aren't the Angels, that team has 2 superstars and yet is a perpetual .500 team, just like the Jays of old used to be.

Edit: or the Padres

John Schneider will probably destroy the Jays in any playoff game, but even bad teams win the WS. It really doesn't matter as long as you get in.

Any team can get hot in the playoffs, but it helps the chances of getting hot if your team is actually talented too. Scouts keep prognosticating the Jays as being better than they actually are, so maybe we have a chance?

That being said, IIRC it's been a long time since a truly average team won it all.

The Jays will likely be winning 90+ games for the third year in a row in the toughest division in baseball which is a very difficult thing to (ask the Yankees and Red Sox). They’re set up with the pitching staff to continue to do so into the medium term. Any comparisons to the NBA are nonsensical just in the way that games are won and lost. They play 162 games because fortune has a lot more gravity in baseball than in the NBA which is a game won and refereed by and for all stars. The best way to win a World Series is by constantly making the playoffs. Job done, now it’s up to getting hot and riding the luck. I think that this team deserves more credit than given here.

I don’t see how it’s a bad thing, not many teams make the play offs.

JTT wrote:The Jays will likely be winning 90+ games for the third year in a row in the toughest division in baseball which is a very difficult thing to (ask the Yankees and Red Sox). They’re set up with the pitching staff to continue to do so into the medium term. Any comparisons to the NBA are nonsensical just in the way that games are won and lost. They play 162 games because fortune has a lot more gravity in baseball than in the NBA which is a game won and refereed by and for all stars. The best way to win a World Series is by constantly making the playoffs. Job done, now it’s up to getting hot and riding the luck. I think that this team deserves more credit than given here.

I couldn't agree more. I spent the first two plus decades of my life watching the Jays be the definition of mediocre (essentially averaging 80 wins per season from 1994-2014 and never quite making it over the hump in large part due to the division they're stuck in) with little to look forward to aside from the individual performances of guys like Clemens, Delgado, Halladay, Bautista, etc. The playoff run in 2015 was an unbelievable experience and we had the chance to win it all if not for some unlucky breaks against the Royals then we came right back and reached the ALCS the following year too. We're in a stretch right now where we will have (more than likely) reached the post-season in 5 of 9 seasons and 3 of the last 4 with a legitimate chance to go on a run if the bats keep producing. All it takes is one hot stretch of 3-4 weeks to win it all and we've at least had that opportunity to get hot in October lately whereas that didn't happen for 20+ years after winning it all in 1993.

Dont worry, John Schneider will make sure we dont even make it past the Wild Card series. Fully expecting him to make game losing decisions all series long, like pulling Gausman after 4 innings because he allowed 1 run on 4 hits or making Romano pitch 2 innings to get a save while having a broken finger etc. This guy has the lowest IQ ive ever seen while also having zero feel for in game developments in order to adjust accordingly. Only way we win any games in the postseason is if we take the decision making process out of his hands by blowing teams out.

pingpongrac wrote:

JTT wrote:The Jays will likely be winning 90+ games for the third year in a row in the toughest division in baseball which is a very difficult thing to (ask the Yankees and Red Sox). They’re set up with the pitching staff to continue to do so into the medium term. Any comparisons to the NBA are nonsensical just in the way that games are won and lost. They play 162 games because fortune has a lot more gravity in baseball than in the NBA which is a game won and refereed by and for all stars. The best way to win a World Series is by constantly making the playoffs. Job done, now it’s up to getting hot and riding the luck. I think that this team deserves more credit than given here.

I couldn't agree more. I spent the first two plus decades of my life watching the Jays be the definition of mediocre (essentially averaging 80 wins per season from 1994-2014 and never quite making it over the hump in large part due to the division they're stuck in) with little to look forward to aside from the individual performances of guys like Clemens, Delgado, Halladay, Bautista, etc. The playoff run in 2015 was an unbelievable experience and we had the chance to win it all if not for some unlucky breaks against the Royals then we came right back and reached the ALCS the following year too. We're in a stretch right now where we will have (more than likely) reached the post-season in 5 of 9 seasons and 3 of the last 4 with a legitimate chance to go on a run if the bats keep producing. All it takes is one hot stretch of 3-4 weeks to win it all and we've at least had that opportunity to get hot in October lately whereas that didn't happen for 20+ years after winning it all in 1993.

The 90s/00s were a tough time to grow up as a Jays fan. Those of us born earlier got to remember the Glory Years of 85-93 when we were arguably one of the best teams in baseball for that span. Those born more recently missed out on the doldrums of our 20 years of obscurity (and terrible logos).

But y'all, y'all grew up with a rough team.