There’s so much to say about the end of the season and the season as a whole, but somehow, we’re all left speechless. A major lack of run production, poor baserunning, a staggering amount of runners left in scoring position, over/under management and an incredible lack of awareness from the coaching staff were all on display in this Game 2 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Jays fans, you have to be honest with yourselves, did you really think things were going to be different once October hit? This is a direct reflection of what we’ve seen all year out of this squad and this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

If we are to point the finger, for me, it boils down to the coaching decisions. When we look back to the bottom of the 4th when the Twins knocked in 2 runs after Schneider pulled Jose Berrios, who was absolutely dealing, everyone is quick to blame the managers, as they should. It can’t feel good as a pitcher, who is absolutely dialed, to see the bullpen warming up in the 2nd inning. But is this really Schneider’s decision? Or is this the game plan that was hatched two days in advance with Ross Atkins cramming his analytic based decisions down the throats of the entire staff? Yes, go ahead and be furious at Schneider as this was one of the most bizarre calls to pull a pitcher but we really don’t know how much control he had over the situation.

This is the same sort of scenario the Jays experienced last year when Gausman was pulled in the 5th with an 8-1 lead. Because analytics showed that the call was to bring in left-hander Tim Mayza, Schneider pulled Gausman at the first sign of trouble, which led to a wild pitch and a 3 run homer, leading to the squandering of a 7 run lead and losing Game 2 against the Mariners.

I will always refer to the interview we did with former Jays manager John Gibbons, as he discusses the difference between following the numbers as opposed to following your gut as a major league skipper. Check out the episode below.

At the end of the day, the call to take Berrios out of the game was what changed everything for the Jays. Yes you can blame the run production or lack thereof, yes Vladdy getting picked at 2nd was flat out embarrassing. There’s no arguing the fact that you can’t win a game without getting on the scoreboard, but when you make the call to bring in Kikuchi to play the lefty matchup, the trajectory of the game changed and the life was completely sucked out of the dugout. That is what directly effects the performance of the entire team, which plays a huge part in overall production. 

What’s even more confusing is the call to bring in Kikuchi who is not a bullpen pitcher and not a ‘clutch’ pitcher by any means. If you’re going to play that card, it would make a lot more sense to bring in one of your reliable lefties out of the pen that are built for this role and situation. To bring in Kikuchi looks like another spreadsheet decision as opposed to reading the game. Not to say you should stick your head in the sand and disregard the numbers because data-driven analytics have done so much for the game. But to yank your $131 million dollar pitcher in Jose Berrios tells me that you’re not confident enough in him and the coaching staff didn’t ‘gameplan’ for him to pitch the lights out in his revenge game against his former club.

@downbytwo

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Needless to say, there’s going to  be some big changes this offseason. Will Schneider keep his job? Wouldn’t be surprised as long as Atkins and Shapiro are behind the wheel. Kiermaier, Belt, Merrifield, Chapman and Hicks are all upcoming free agents so only time will tell what this roster and organization as a whole will look like come spring training.

As for the remainder of October, there’s so much exciting baseball to take in and you can catch me rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies. It even feels weird typing that but this is a club with heart, a boatload of talent and led by Sarnia native Rob Thomson who actually lets his pitchers pitch.