Last Canada Day, John Gibbons was ejected for arguing a called strike with home plate umpire Vic Carapazza. It was his sixth ejection of the season, which wouldn’t be all that remarkable except for the fact that the season wasn’t even halfway over. John Gibbons has been ejected once every 13 games this season for […]
Author: Elie Waitzer
Kendrys Morales Versus the Shift
The most frequent target of a defensive shift is a slow-footed, pull-happy slugger. Think David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, and Prince Fielder. Since his power breakout in 2012, Edwin Encarnacion has faced more shifts every season. Encarnacion was shifted in 36 percent of his plate appearances in 2016 compared to just eight percent back in 2012. Part […]
Kendrys Morales’ Breaking Ball Breakout
One of the main knocks on last year’s Blue Jays lineup was its lack of balance. Plenty of power, but no speed, no versatility, and little situational ability. This was sharply contrasted in the ALCS against a Cleveland team that was one of the more balanced squads in recent memory. The Blue Jays epitomized this […]
The Blue Jays’ Most Suprising Heroic Moments of 2016
Everybody loves a Josh Donaldson walk-off. The anticipation as he rocks his front heel up and down, and the violent swing in which you have more faith than most things in your life. Then maybe you turn to your buddy, shake your head and smile in mock disbelief, and say something like “That’s just what […]
Toronto vs. Cleveland: ALCS Game 5 Preview
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Cleveland October 19, 2016 Written by Elie Waitzer and Dave Church The Blue Jays averted a soul-crushing sweep with a 5-1 win over Cleveland on Tuesday, which means that the Jays get at least one more day in their season and Jays fans get another chance to go to a packed Rogers Centre to enjoy playoff […]
ALCS Game 3 Recap: Cleveland 4, Blue Jays 2; Toronto Bleeds Out Slowly
Injury chased their starter early, but Cleveland’s bullpen continued to have an answer for every Jays threat. Toronto would never take the lead, falling 4-2 in the game and are now down 3-0 in the series. Cleveland drew first blood on a Mike Napoli double, but Toronto lashed back in the bottom of the 1st. After […]
Melvin Upton Jr. Solved Half of One Problem
When the Jays traded for Melvin Upton Jr. at the deadline, they knew what they were getting into: great speed, good defence, some power, and a ton of whiffs. All the whiffs. The defence and speed were put on display from the get go, but the whiffs were beyond what anybody could have expected. Through […]
Game Recap: Blue Jays 3, Yankees 0; Bautista Delivers
The heart of the order, the Donaldson-Encarnacion-Bautista combo that’s supposed to strike fear in the trembling hearts of the league’s poor pitchers, hasn’t been quite right for the past few months. Guys like Devon Travis and Russell Martin have carried the team through stretches, and the core three have gotten hot independently, but we haven’t […]
Being Selective Isn’t Working Like It Used To For The Jays
In Episode #28 of Artificial Turf Wars, Joshua Howsam and Greg Wisniewski talked about a cat-and-mouse game that pitchers play with ‘dangerous’ offences like Toronto’s. They speculated that since the offence was used to seeing so many breaking balls off the plate, they were being caught off guard by a lot of fastballs in the […]
West Coast Warriors: Mariners Series Preview
Toronto Blue Jays @ Mariners September 19th – September 21st Written by Matt Gwin and Elie Waiter Rising and Falling. If a team is a contender, it seems to only be doing one of those two things these days. For the Blue Jays, coming off a successive series loss and series split to two of the American League’s […]