The Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff push has gone sideways at the worst possible time, and the lineup picture for the final week is starting to feel a lot simpler.
A team that entered Monday with its postseason fate in its own hands has since dropped two of three to both the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers. The slide got uglier with Dylan Cease dealing with an injury scare after his shoulder had been fatigued over the last couple of weeks, which sent him back to Toronto for an MRI on Saturday.
Then came another hit. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. exited Sunday’s game in Arlington in the top of the fourth inning with lower back tightness, according to MLB.com, another issue he has dealt with on and off this season.
At this point, his season should be over. There’s no real runway left for him to snap out of a five-month slump, and the better move is for him to head to the injured list and reset for next year.
Guerrero isn’t the only veteran who should be shut down for the rest of September. Ernie Clement’s second-half drop-off has been severe, with his OPS sitting nearly 240 points lower after the All-Star break.
The good news for Toronto is that there are replacements waiting. If Guerrero is out, Sean Keys should take over at first base against a right-handed starter. If a lefty is on the mound, that changes things, because Josh Smith and Keys are both left-handed bats and can’t both be in the same spot in this setup.
Against a right-hander, Brett Bateman looks locked in as the most settled presence in the starting order, and Kazuma Okamoto’s bat has been good enough this season that the cleanup spot fits him naturally.
If a left-hander starts, Myles Straw would step in for Josh Smith, Davis Schneider would handle third base, and Okamoto would move over to first. The idea is straightforward: keep the players who are swinging it well in the lineup and give them regular at-bats.
That kind of reshuffling should have happened earlier. Instead, Toronto kept running the same group out there and got the same results. Guerrero’s injury may force John Schneider’s hand now, but the lineup needed a shakeup long before the final week arrived.
There’s nothing left to protect now. The Blue Jays might as well let the kids keep going, just like they did Sunday afternoon when they avoided a sweep in Arlington.
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Tigers Rotation Picture Just Got More Interesting With Their Newest Arm
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Across the AL, the rotation picture is shifting in other places too. Boston punched its postseason ticket even in a loss to Tampa Bay, while Detroit is turning to right-hander River Ryan, a recent acquisition from Los Angeles, for its upcoming game. It is the kind of late-season movement that can change how a contender lines up the final stretch, and Toronto will be watching closely as the pieces keep moving around them. [Read more 🡒]