Will the Toronto Blue Jays make the playoffs?

[Beyondthegrave07]

23 hours ago, diskdocx said:

I still think the MLB playoff format is the worst in all of sports. Season is waaaaay too long, with half the teams playing meaningless baseball for 50-60 games. I’d prefer to see à significantly shortened season with a few more teams making the playoffs and best of 7s throughout. It seems ridiculous to play 162 games to make the playoffs and be eliminated in 2.

That's always been my thought too. The season is way too long and having your season come down to 2 games is silly.

 

Personally, I think all division winners deserve a bye, not just the top two. I feel like the teams that win their division (all 6 of them) deserve the reward. I understand some divisions are just garbage, but if they are really garbage, they'll get killed by the best team from the wild cards, right?

 

Though, I'm not sure how exactly that would work... maybe have your 3 winners with a bye then have a round robin between the next 7 teams (in the AL/NL) and have the top 5 move on or have the top 8 play round robin and top 4 move on? Idk, haven't really thought it through too hard, but I would rather have more of a world cup setup (with possible byes) than the lose 2 and you're done.

 

Of course, baseball purists would absolutely hate that, but then again, I also think games should end after 9 innings in either a tie or a home run derby shootout between the team's best bats (and have anyone on the roster of their own team lob them balls for 3 minutes with 2 30-second timeouts) so yeah, I consider may takes on baseball to be a bit out there.

 

Hate this for the Blue Jays jn particular. I'm a diehard cardinals fan, but I ALWAYS cheer for the small market teams if the cards are out of it. Everyone loves a good underdog story!

Edited October 6, 2023 by Beyondthegrave07

[djb5f]

46 minutes ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

 

Hate this for the Blue Jays jn particular. I'm a diehard cardinals fan, but I ALWAYS cheer for the small market teams if the cards are out of it. Everyone loves a good underdog story!

Ha, I wouldn’t call Toronto a small market team, very large population and 7th highest payroll in 2023!

 

If you want a true underdog story, look to the Baltimore Orioles, 29th highest payrolls and the best record in the AL.  Only the Oakland A’s had a lower payroll and boy did it show!  The Orioles aren’t far removed from 100 loss seasons.  Just an amazing turnaround to win 100!  Hope they can take out the Rangers.  

[Beyondthegrave07]

11 minutes ago, djb5f said:

Ha, I wouldn’t call Toronto a small market team, very large population and 7th highest payroll in 2023!

 

If you want a true underdog story, look to the Baltimore Orioles, 29th highest payrolls and the best record in the AL.  Only the Oakland A’s had a lower payroll and boy did it show!  The Orioles aren’t far removed from 100 loss seasons.  Just an amazing turnaround to win 100!  Hope they can take out the Rangers.  

That's fair, but in the grand scheme of things... well, they got Boston and the Yankees in their division to compete with! Granted, Boston doesn't pay as much as they used to, but they definitely got money to spend. Blue Jays also haven't won it in 30 years and, like most in sports, I would rather read about the feel good Blue Jays vs the "Are the Braves starting a dynasty? talk." But hey, that's just me.

 

Not to mention that my favorite cardinals always end up on the blue jays (I really liked watching Jordan Hicks before Tommy John, he was such a beast and so fun to watch! David Eckstein, Aledmys Diaz, and Scott Rolen also got traded to the Jays at one point too back in the day). 

[PalaceOfLove706]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:25 PM, Beyondthegrave07 said:

That's always been my thought too. The season is way too long and having your season come down to 2 games is silly.

 

Personally, I think all division winners deserve a bye, not just the top two. I feel like the teams that win their division (all 6 of them) deserve the reward. I understand some divisions are just garbage, but if they are really garbage, they'll get killed by the best team from the wild cards, right?

 

Though, I'm not sure how exactly that would work... maybe have your 3 winners with a bye then have a round robin between the next 7 teams (in the AL/NL) and have the top 5 move on or have the top 8 play round robin and top 4 move on? Idk, haven't really thought it through too hard, but I would rather have more of a world cup setup (with possible byes) than the lose 2 and you're done.

 

Of course, baseball purists would absolutely hate that, but then again, I also think games should end after 9 innings in either a tie or a home run derby shootout between the team's best bats (and have anyone on the roster of their own team lob them balls for 3 minutes with 2 30-second timeouts) so yeah, I consider may takes on baseball to be a bit out there.

 

Hate this for the Blue Jays jn particular. I'm a diehard cardinals fan, but I ALWAYS cheer for the small market teams if the cards are out of it. Everyone loves a good underdog story!

I’ve been watching MLB my whole life and I must say, having a home run derby sudden death would be incredibly interesting. Probably save a lot of pitcher injuries over time too. I never liked the runner on second rule in extra innings. Of course, small ball / pitching teams would be at a disadvantage, but the home run in baseball is a huge thing in today’s game and would add value to players capable of it, but not so much for average. Great thought! Anything to keep people excited about baseball…