It’s white-knuckle time for Toronto Blue Jays fans. A do-or-die Game 5 with the season on the line.
Coming into the ALDS against Texas, the heavily favoured Jays looked outmatched in Games 1 and 2, putting their season on the brink. Two Toronto wins later, and it’s anyone’s series.
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Win or lose, it should be an amazing game. But they’ll win. And here are five reasons why.
Stroman settled in
Young Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman was almost masterful in Game 2, throwing six strong innings. The problem is that he threw seven innings, and the first was a shaky one where he gave up two runs – ultimately the difference-maker in the eventual 6-4 loss.
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After that, he found his groove and shut Texas down, allowing just one more hit.
Stroman is a young and aggressive player, no doubt feeling some playoff nerves in Game 2. Now that he’s got his playoff debut under his belt, look for another strong outing to add to his sensational comeback story.
Hitters figuring it out
In the first two games of the series, it seemed almost every Jay – especially the sluggers like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion – were swinging for the fences with every at-bat. Crafty Texas pitchers Yovani Gallardo and Cole Hamels nibbled at the outside corners of the plate, and the big bats kept whiffing, especially when the team fell behind and every hitter seemed to be searching for a home run.
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In games 3 and 4, the hitters seemed to settle down. Sure, they clubbed three homers in Game 4, but they also scored half their runs with base hits and some aggressive baserunning.
All-around production
So far, Toronto’s big sluggers haven’t been the best hitters of the series. Centre fielder Kevin Pillar is quietly having a excellent series at the plate, batting .412 with seven hits in the number-eight spot. Chris Colabello is hitting .333 and both have more home runs than Edwin Encarnacion.
So if the top-of-the-order bats can pick up their game, the Jays are a pitcher’s nightmare. With many teams, there’s just the pressure of getting through one or two really good guys. With Toronto, there’s never a break.
Don’t care much about history
Anyone who’s followed the series has now heard about how history is against the Jays. Only two of 27 (or 29, depending on who you ask) teams have ever won a best-of-five series after going down 0-2, blah blah blah.
That’s interesting and all, but does it really matter? Edwin Encarnacion pointed out to reporters that a three-game win streak isn’t too much to expect from the AL East champs.
“We’ve won three games in a row before.”
In fact, this team had 10 three-game win streaks in the second half alone, and also recorded two 11-game streaks this season, the first MLB team to pull that off in 61 years.
Momentum moving north
The Rangers returned to Arlington this weekend ready to win their series and head to the ALCS. Instead, the dropped both games in front of disappointed fans, including an utterly deflating 8-4 beating on Monday, which included seven Blue Jay runs in the first three innings.
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Now they’re coming back to Toronto to play a team that plays very well at home, in front of 49,000-plus fired-up fans.
One team has serious momentum heading into this crucial game. And it’s the home team.
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