ALDS Game 2 - New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday October 5, 2025, 4:08PM

[JN]

Congrats to Louis Varland - he emboldened RangerOne to make a positive post about a Toronto Blue Jay after the Stanton strikeout.

This ended a streak of 47 consecutive negative posts that Ranger One had made regarding the Blue Jays. Not a single "good win" or "nice hit" or "nice catch" post or anything like that. His last positive comment was about George Springer, where he also speculated what he might be using. (this excludes 3 posts where he discussed the umps a few weeks back and defended the New York offices on the Varsho catch)

[Mehar]

My god. This lineup! Wtf It should be

Springer
Schneider
Vlad
Kirk
Santander
Varsho
Clement
Lukes
Gimenez

Right.

Santander and Lukes >> Straw and IKF

The thing about starting IKF is that he is hitting Lefties substantially worse this year than Right Handed Pitchers. Makes no sense to have IKF in there. Regardless of Lefty, I would still have Lukes in there over Straw. The bottom three hitters in this lineup is not what you want in a playoff game.

[WuTang_CMB]

Schnider needs to be on his toes today with the subs

[JN]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

[JN]

Schnider needs to be on his toes today with the subs

This will be the lineup until Fried comes out. Then he has lefty batters enter the game, when presumably WIlliams and Bednar pitch.

Although I suppose if we fall behind 3 or 4 midway through the game he could have Santander pinch hit for IKF/Straw if there is a chance for a 3 run HR.

[Randle McMurphy]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

Santander struggled with his righty swing so badly that he was feet away from hitting a line drive HR yesterday off Hill

No excuses for them

[Randle McMurphy]

This is the Jays’ front office stubbornly sticking with a pre-set plan/lineup they made up days ago and not caring whatsoever about what happened yesterday

It’s their M.O. and always will be

[Mehar]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

I know Fried is licking his chops seeing IKF, Gimenez, and Straw as the bottom three hitters in a playoff game. No justification of IKF when he is hitting Lefties much worse than Righties this year. I would still have went with Lukes over Straw (regardless of Lefty pitching).

This organization is so fixated on Lefty-Righty matchups though, that I am not entirely surprised with the lineup they put forward. No other playoff teams besides the Jays, are so fixated on Lefty-Righty Matchups when submitting their 1 to 9 Batting Lineup.

[Boogie!]

My god. This lineup! Wtf it’s like they want to give everyone a chance. This isn’t the peewee league. It should be

Springer
Schneider
Vlad
Kirk
Santander
Varsho
Clement
Lukes
Gimenez

This is what the jays have been doing all season depending on righty vs lefty… not sure why people are surprised…

[LLJ]

:P Santandar homers 3 times, Jays win 9-2

I still stand by my prediction!

[Randle McMurphy]

My god. This lineup! Wtf it’s like they want to give everyone a chance. This isn’t the peewee league. It should be

Springer
Schneider
Vlad
Kirk
Santander
Varsho
Clement
Lukes
Gimenez

This is what the jays have been doing all season depending on righty vs lefty… not sure why people are surprised…

Don’t think they’ve been benching Santander for IKF/Straw all season (and Santander is a RHB so I’m not sure how that changes things)

[JN]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

Santander struggled with his righty swing so badly that he was feet away from hitting a line drive HR yesterday off Hill

No excuses for them

It’s also Max Fried and not Hill

Santander/Straw is not getting their second at bat until the 5th or 4th inning. Then if you are behind a run when Straw comes up his second AB you bring Santander into hit. That is how I would play it. (Jays who knows)

You get the upside of Straws defence for 4 or 5 innings and you only lose 1 Santander at bat against a really tough pitcher. Net expected runs thats am advantage

[Randle McMurphy]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

Santander struggled with his righty swing so badly that he was feet away from hitting a line drive HR yesterday off Hill

No excuses for them

It’s also Max Fried and not Hill

Santander/Straw is not getting their second at bat until the 5th or 4th inning. Then if you are behind a run when Straw comes up his second AB you bring Santander into hit. That is how I would play it. (Jays who knows)

You get the upside of Straws defence for 4 or 5 innings and you only lose 1 Santander at bat against a really tough pitcher. Net expected runs thats am advantage

Santander has a HR in his career off Fried

Again, this reeks of the FO making this lineup days ago in their attempt to value defense above all else and not caring at all about the quality of the ABs Santander was having yesterday

Santander could have hit 2 HRs yesterday and he’d still probably be on the bench today

[Tripod]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

Santander struggled with his righty swing so badly that he was feet away from hitting a line drive HR yesterday off Hill

No excuses for them

Yeah Sant had 3 very good at bats yesterday. Should have let him build off those good feelings this game.

[Randle McMurphy]

I can sort of justify Straw over Santander... but can't justify IKF over Lukes.

They know they probably won't score much against Fried either way, so it seems like they will go with defence to try to keep it to solo homers and keep the runs down on the Yanks side.

I'm not too upset about losing Santander who apparently struggles with his righty swing right now. I'll go with the defensive upgrade in Straw, and hope he gets a clutch hit. I would have put Lukes over IKF though. Because there is no "defensive" value gained by that move, and IKF doesn't hit lefties any better.

Only positive at least is we know that we will have a "hot" pinch hitter at the end in Lukes, when presumably Williams and Bednar are pitching

Santander struggled with his righty swing so badly that he was feet away from hitting a line drive HR yesterday off Hill

No excuses for them

Yeah Sant had 3 very good at bats yesterday. Should have let him build off those good feelings this game.

And they didn’t care or believe it mattered at all.

This FO sickens me.

[JCP11]

It's going to be a tough one to win. This is where not having bo hurts the most.

[linery88]

:lol: I want a no hitter for trey with 90 pitches.

don't be so greedy now..

I'll be happy if he gives us 4 to 5 innings and then our bullpen can take over.

LET'S GO BLUE JAYS!

You have to be greedy when facing the greediest franchise on the planet lol.I know its highly unlikely that Yesavage pitches a no no.I,ll also take 7 innings of shutout ball,and 10 runs again lol.

[linery88]

It's going to be a tough one to win. This is where not having bo hurts the most.

We swept them here without Bo,and not much from Vlad in the 4 gamer earlier this season to take over first place.

[JN]

Saw that Pillar just threw out the first pitch.

I missed the first pitch in game 1 ... who threw that one out?

[Stromile12]

Saw that Pillar just threw out the first pitch.

I missed the first pitch in game 1 ... who threw that one out?

Russel Martin