Nick Ashbourne
Blue Jays at Sportsnet and Leafs at @mapleleafshotstove.bsky.social
🎧 Talking Leafs on the MLHS Podcast and co-hosting Blue Jays Happy Hour (https://www.patreon.com/BJHH)
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- The 2026 Blue Jays lineup has plenty of quality, but it's full of players whose production is tough to predict: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- The Blue Jays lineup may not be in desperate need of another bat, but it could accommodate one without any of the projected regulars losing too much playing time. I took a look at how: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- Just recorded an episode of Blue Jays Happy Hour with @stoeten.bsky.social, largely on the Kyle Tucker/Bo Bichette market, so if those could remain relatively stable for a bit, that would be excellent. Thanks, baseball (contract) gods.
- With the Blue Jays spending big, the Yankees hardly spending, and the Red Sox standing on the sidelines, Toronto no longer seems structurally disadvantaged by sharing the AL East with the two traditional powerhouses: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
- It's always tough to know what you're going to get from a high-profile international star. But a combination of how much the Blue Jays have invested in Kazuma Okamoto and his early projections can help set some reasonable expectations: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- Kazuma Okamoto is a fascinating signing. Stoeten and I talked about a player who isn't the easiest fit, but seems likely to improve the Blue Jays lineup in the short term — and possibly their fortunes in Japan in the long run.
- Kazuma Okamato seems likely to hit at the MLB level (Steamer projects a 110 wRC+). The bigger question will be his defensive fit on a team with a locked-in 1B and few DH at-bats available. Clearly, there's some optimism in his ability to handle some 3B/OF innings, but the role is a bit opaque.
- Kazuma Okamoto has been an extremely consistent power threat in NPB with between 27 and 41 HR in each of his 7 full seasons before an injury-shortened 2025. His 2025 was truncated, but impressive. He posted a 210 wRC+, and his K rate dropped to 11.3% without a power dip.
- The Blue Jays have been active in free agency, but there are other avenues for setting the team up for the future. I looked at some of the contract extension candidates on the roster: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
- 2025 was a heck of year in Blue Jays land and @stoeten.bsky.social and I have the month-by-month review:
- From the Mark Shapiro extension to the Tyler Rogers signing, there's plenty to talk about this week.
- The Blue Jays made a big bet that Tyler Rogers has staying power deep into his 30s. What we've seen from MLB submariners in recent decades suggests they may be onto something: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- The high-end RP market is moving fast, but there are still a few guys who could help the back end of the Blue Jays bullpen: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
- Apparently, I'm the only guy out there visiting the FanGraphs pages of Blue Jays legends like Aquilino Lopez, Chad Jenkins, Joe Inglett, Gustavo Chacin, Randy Ruiz, and Danny Barnes.
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- FanGraphs' Roster Resource depth chart has Cody Ponce in the Blue Jays rotation and José Berríos in the bullpen... That isn't anything definitive, but it's not an unreasonable snap judgment considering the level of investment in Ponce.
- Cody Ponce is a high-variance option, but he's a totally different pitcher today than the one who flamed out of MLB in 2021. Just set the KBO single-season K record (252), his fastball has some juice, and his curve & splitter should both generate whiffs.
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- I didn't think we'd be having an exciting massive transaction pod less than a month from the end of the World Series... but it's time to talk Dylan Cease.
- Dylan Cease has produced a strikeout total that would rank among the top 10 in Blue Jays' history in each of the last five seasons.
- Dylan Cease does two things extremely well: he misses bats and doesn't miss starts. His contract with the Blue Jays is bigger than I would've guessed, but the organization has continuously put a premium on durability, and he combines that with stuff.
- It's tough to predict what precisely the Blue Jays will do in free agency, but there are some players available with similarities to the guys they've gone for in the past: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- One of the many benefits of a deep playoff run is the additional time you get for internal evaluation. Here are some things the Blue Jays learned about their own guys in the postseason that could affect how they move through the offseason: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...
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- Stoeten and I did our best to sort through this bittersweet moment in Blue Jays history:
- You genuinely can’t get much closer to winning the World Series without doing it. That Blue Jays run was incredible, and nothing that came before today was invalidated by that result — but a win sure could have elevated it.
- One thing that's in play for this chaotic game is a home run that trumps Joe Carter's (impossible to beat Game 7, extra-inning walk-off). That's wild considering Carter's is one of the most important/iconic in the sport's history.
- When the World Series is on the line, you want the ball hit to Andrés Giménez.
- This game is an instant classic. It's got everything.
- I'm sure folks don't want to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but there's no guarantee he's going to be effective on no rest whatsoever. As good as he is, this is a serious gamble by the Dodgers.
- There's no way Addison Barger has that at-bat against an elite LHP a couple of months ago. He's matured so much as a hitter.
- Players with 30+ hits in a single MLB playoff run: Ernie Clement That's it.
- The Blue Jays only needed 8 more outs to win the World Series when Freddie Freeman stepped up to the plate and Vladdy took care of 25% of them.
- No one's ever had more hits in a playoff run than Ernie Clement has in 2025. That sentence is pure lunacy.
- Between spring training, the regular season, and the playoffs, Louis Varland appeared 99 times and pitched 100 innings. With Chris Bassitt in the game, he can finally rest.
- By coming into this game, Louis Varland sets the MLB record for pitching appearances in a single playoff run (15).
- That may have been the last time we see Max Scherzer in the MLB playoffs, where he’s been an institution. He’s appeared in 11 playoff runs with 157 IP (8th all-time), 182 Ks (5th), 2 World Series Game 7 starts, and 2 World Series rings (and counting).
- That Daulton Varsho catch was on a 109.8 mph liner with a .660 xBA. Critical play from the Gold Glover.
- Gotta go to Dominguez here. That's the best right-on-right option you've got.
- Plenty of ballgame left, but so far one team is swinging it and one team is not.
- Bo Bichette's first home run in almost two months is the biggest hit of his life.
- One possible outcome tonight is that a team that went 74-88 last year will try to bring a World Series to a country that hasn't had one in over 3 decades, with a 41-year-old legend on the mound backed by a lineup no playoff team has ever outscored. That'd make for a good story.
- 12 teams have World Series droughts longer than the Blue Jays: CLE (77), MIL (57), SD (57), SEA (49), PIT (46), BAL (42), DET (41), NYM (39), A’s (36), CIN (35), MIN (34), COL (33). Plenty of teams haven’t won it for a generation, if they ever have. These chances are special.
- Time is the most valuable resource any of us has, and it is downright idiocy to wish away a single, precious second of your life under any circumstances. That said, I'd be OK skipping to the first pitch of Game 7.
- When Max Scherzer signed with the Blue Jays, he said: "I’m not just playing to play. I’m playing to win. I really feel like Toronto offered that." There was reason to be skeptical. Surely there was a safer bet out there. Now he's starting GM 7 of the World Series. Turns out Scherzer knows ball.
- The Blue Jays have played 179 games now, but it all comes down to one ballgame on Saturday night. Won the division on a tie breaker, won the ALCS in Game 7, will need to earn a World Series in 7. Everything has been a tooth-and-nail fight.
- Really unfortunate sequence for Addison Barger after such an important hit. That ball wasn't particularly close to dropping.
- The Blue Jays' pitching has been outstanding tonight. 12 Ks, just 4 hits allowed, nothing over the wall. You can't ask for much more.
- George Springer may be held together with duct tape at this point, but he's still a guy you want at the plate in a big spot.
- That Andres Gimenez groundout was 103.5 mph with a .660 xBA. Good positioning and a solid play changes the shape of the inning.
