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We are still very much in contention to catch KC for the best record in the AL, which would give us a shot at facing the wild-card winner instead of Texas (as things stand now). This would also give us home field advantage for the ENTIRE postseason.

If we clinch the division next week do we start giving players a chance to rest for the postseason or do we keep chasing KC as long as we have a shot?

We should rest. I think we're good enough on the road to not worry about home field.

I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Can we please just clinch the division first before we ask all these questions? Still lots of work to do..

We might not clinch the division until the last series of the year. If we do, but all means give guys spot rest here and there (take them out in the 7th and 8th, don't let pitchers throw 90 pitches, whatever). But, you also want some momentum going into the playoffs.

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

sounds like when the raptors swept the regular season series against the wizards, but got swept in the playoffs.

JoeyBats wrote:

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

sounds like when the raptors swept the regular season series against the wizards, but got swept in the playoffs.

Agreed. Anyone has as good a chance as anyone in the playoffs, so matchups aren't really a concern with me. There have been teams that have dominated others in the regular season and then went on to lose in 3 when they met up in the playoffs.

I'm not too worried about who we match up with either. We have no control over it, so i'll take whoever we get and feel good about it.

Each of the 4 teams have their strengths - as do the jays. Good pitching, very good defense, and a great offense.

I already learnt that regular season means nothing. We dominated the wiz. And look what happened. Let's just keep playing and let the players dictate what they need.

They're the ones who know what kinks they have and they need to be fresh mentally to give this a go. I'm just excited this is even happening. I fully expected us to barely make it or just fight for a wildcard.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

I just think there are too many people, not on this board but in general, speaking as if the division is already wrapped up when a lot can happen over the next 10 games.

Raptor_Guy wrote:

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

I just think there are too many people, not on this board but in general, speaking as if the division is already wrapped up when a lot can happen over the next 10 games.

Well if we choke the rest of the games you can rest assured we'll have a bigger thread about it than this one anyway.

Raptor_Guy wrote:Can we please just clinch the division first before we ask all these questions? Still lots of work to do..

Why do people keep hopping into discussions to say don't have the discussion? If you don't like the topic, go to another thread or ignore the comment.

I say we semi-rest. Give certain people who haven't had a game off in ages a rest: Jose, JD, Pillar, etc

JoeyBats wrote:

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

sounds like when the raptors swept the regular season series against the wizards, but got swept in the playoffs.

Exactly. Except basketball teams don't have starting pitchers who can only go every fifth day. Maybe try a puck analogy next time.

Yes, we'll rest if we win the division before the end of the season. We're nowhere close to doing that any time soon, though, so it's a moot point.

kayliecee wrote:

Raptor_Guy wrote:Can we please just clinch the division first before we ask all these questions? Still lots of work to do..

Why do people keep hopping into discussions to say don't have the discussion? If you don't like the topic, go to another thread or ignore the comment.

I say we semi-rest. Give certain people who haven't had a game off in ages a rest: Jose, JD, Pillar, etc

Because this thread assumes they are winning the division, it says "after winning the division" not "if they win the division".

Raptor_Guy wrote:

gei wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:I would love to see Pompey play a little once we win the division. Rest Donaldson as well.

EDIT: honestly, doesn't matter what's our playoff matchup, let's just get there. Both Texas and NY are both dangerous teams. Just cause we had NY's number this season, doesn't mean they don't have talented players.

Um yes, it matters very much. Not only have we fared better against NY this season, but we would also get to face the winner of the wild-card match having already used their #1 pitcher. And again, home field advantage for the entire postseason.

I'm not sure why people are so uptight discussing this - it's not an issue for the distant future.. it could very well come up next week.

I just think there are too many people, not on this board but in general, speaking as if the division is already wrapped up when a lot can happen over the next 10 games.

That's not the real issue. People discussing it on a message board has no bearing on the outcome. If that were the issue, why would realgm posters so often predict negative outcomes in game threads? For some reason, Toronto fans seem fine with them. I've even seen posters here argue for the right to be negative. But when someone suggests something good is in the process of happening, people tell him/her to hush. For some reason, Toronto fans are way more comfortable predicting negative outcomes than positive.

There's not going to be any rest.

If the Jays play bad or just okay and NY does anything other than **** the bed, we're playing for the division 'til the final weekend. If we play well, even if NY bows out, then KC just has to do anything other than **** the bed and they're playing for first overall 'til the last weekend. No matter what, there's going to be a reason to win the games, barring at least one of the Jays, Yanks, and Royals doing something extreme the next 4-6 games. It's possible, but being in the middle of a 5-game swing with ten to play means I don't think there are going to be too many meaningless games in the next ten days.

Now, is it possible one of the games in TB the last weekend is scrub day? Sure, that could happen if it's all settled out by then, but there's not going to be any extended rest period.

Raptor_Guy wrote:

kayliecee wrote:

Raptor_Guy wrote:Can we please just clinch the division first before we ask all these questions? Still lots of work to do..

Why do people keep hopping into discussions to say don't have the discussion? If you don't like the topic, go to another thread or ignore the comment.

I say we semi-rest. Give certain people who haven't had a game off in ages a rest: Jose, JD, Pillar, etc

Because this thread assumes they are winning the division, it says "after winning the division" not "if they win the division".

Semantics!

Just let people talk about what they want to talk about. Fangraphs has us at 91.7% to win the division. I guarantee you if we were at 8.3% to make the playoffs, people here would be happy to discuss the season as over. In fact, go back tot Philly game thread when we were 50-51 and see what people were saying.

kayliecee wrote:That's not the real issue. People discussing it on a message board has no bearing on the outcome. If that were the issue, why would realgm posters so often predict negative outcomes in game threads? For some reason, Toronto fans seem fine with them. I've even seen posters here argue for the right to be negative. But when someone suggests something good is in the process of happening, people tell him/her to hush. For some reason, Toronto fans are way more comfortable predicting negative outcomes than positive.

Because we're so used to mediocre/losing teams in Toronto.

What have Toronto teams (NHL, NBA, MLB and MLS) achieved in recent history except for the back-to-back World Series wins in the early 90s? Fortunately, I was born in the early 80s, so I saw what winning a championship is like. However, there are many Toronto sports fans, born in the early 90s, who have NEVER seen a Toronto team win anything. For most of the last 15 years, Toronto teams have not even made the playoffs no matter what the sport.

I'm not surprised that people are negative and I fully support it, because odds are that a Toronto sports team is a losing/lottery team.

Sorry, I'm just telling it like it is. I know optimists hate this type of talk, but we need a dose of realism in these conversations. I fully admit that if I were a fan in Boston or LA, I would be much more optimistic about my sports teams based on recent history.