ST: Blue Jays @ Red Sox - July 28-30

[Graham's Cracker]

We might not be gaining ground on the Orioles, but we're starting to open a gap in the Wild Card race. Not that I actually expect the Rangers to hang on to their lead, but Seattle, Cleveland and Kansas City are getting a bit wobbly back there.

If we keep winning games, everything else will sort itself out.

Agreed, but shaking a couple of those teams off the back means that I need to have fewer blinking Gameday windows open at any given point, which will be a relief.

Multiple devices my friend. At least the O's game was on TSN2 tonight. That meant more clicking and less...clicking. If that makes sense.

[Michael Bradley]

A one game playoff is a crapshoot. The Jays could easily win a JA Happ vs. Garrett Richards match-up. It depends on luck, who is hot at the time, etc. If the Jays want to upgrade, then by all means upgrade (they should), but they shouldn't do it for the one game playoff.

Plus, the last time the Jays faced the Angels, Dickey threw a shutout and Stroman couldn't make the 5th inning. It's really a crapshoot.

[Mehar]

We might not be gaining ground on the Orioles, but we're starting to open a gap in the Wild Card race. Not that I actually expect the Rangers to hang on to their lead, but Seattle, Cleveland and Kansas City are getting a bit wobbly back there.

As long as the Jays play meaningful baseball in September for the first time in 21 years, i would be ecstatic if this team just takes the second wild card spot. I never thought the Orioles would be playing this well after the All-Star Break. It goes to show that you can never predict one week from the next in MLB. I never thought after losing to the Red Sox 14-1, the Jays would win every single one of their games except for one in New York. Just hoping that the Jays can ride this momentum into Houston. Hopefully by next week, one of the team's regulars can come back as well.

[Black Watch]

I agree they got the review wrong, but the rule is just wrong, it's impossible as written. Yes, it doesn't come up very often, but with this rule in place where should the catcher stand if a throw is coming from the outfield and is on the money?

Think the idea they said was one foot in fair territory and one foot by home plate.

This is exactly the kind of wishywashy nonsense that makes zero sense. For their entire lives Baseball players are taught how to catch a ball and that includes their body position in relation to the incoming ball.

Now, suddenly, for no real discernible reason other than Buster Posey got hurt and Joe Mauer's a bad first baseman, catchers have to get their feet set with their left foot in, their right foot out, do the hokey pokey, then lunge around to catch a throw to the plate?

You cannot write some objective ironclad rule here. If you want to tell umpires that they need to call blatant catcher obstruction and in exchange tighten up unnecessary roughness calls on runners, then fine, but if they're trying to write uninterpretable rules to govern all permutations of positioning on plays at the plate, then every last person associated with that attempt is stupid. Stupid.

edit: And whatever, it's fine, there are far stupider things that exist in the world. I just got a little ranty.

No, I hear you. It's a stupid rule. I agree with you. Thing is, many catchers have begun setting up with one foot in and one foot out, and this new rule is likely here to stay.

[Black Watch]

Koji used to pitch for the Tokyo Giants?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPbWk0llFoQ[/youtube]

[LLJ]

In my mind a wildcard is hardly exciting at all. It's just an extra game tacked onto the regular season with the the POSSIBILITY of a playoff appearance as a result. This is not what we waited 21 years for.

The O's haven't really had one major slump this season yet. Every team has them, you can only count on luck for so long. Even the O's of 2 years ago had a major slump mid season. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a major one near the end of the season. Let's just hope the Jays don't also slump again at the same time.

[Michael Bradley]

In my mind a wildcard is hardly exciting at all. It's just an extra game tacked onto the regular season with the the POSSIBILITY of a playoff appearance as a result. This is not what we waited 21 years for.

If the Jays can't catch Baltimore and end up holding on to the 2nd WC, then we would all be thanking our lucky stars that Selig made the change. Winning the 2nd WC takes you from having a 0% chance of making it to one extra game with essentially a 50% chance of making it. I'd take the latter over the former, and I'm someone who hated the 2nd WC implementation. If anything, the WC this year is a disservice to the Angels, who will probably finish 5-10 games better than whoever wins the 2nd WC.

Obviously catching the Orioles should be the goal, but I'd rather have one extra game than watch another team have that chance.

[BigLeagueChew]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/probability.jsp?ymd=20140731

Neat little graph for postseason probabilities...currently O's %75, Blue Jays %61.