In which the Blue Jays ended the 2023 season exactly how they played it.

It's truly remarkable when a team illustrates exactly how they are in must-win games. All year long, there has been excellent pitching, there has been questionable bullpen management and there has been disappointing offence.

That is exactly what the Blue Jays demonstrated in these two Wild Card games. When José Berríos was pulled from the game at only 47 pitches, a pall was cast over the team and their fans despite dominating his start. What was the point of any of this if there was a predetermined plan that was not going to be deviated from?

And it’s not just that Berríos was only at 47 pitches, it was that Berríos was doing magical things to the baseball. Jomboy had a breakdown, and you can see how the pitches are dancing in and out across the zone, keeping the hitters off balance.

It has also not been made known to me why Kikuchi was the choice out of the bullpen. Much like Berríos, Kikuchi had a bounceback 2023 campaign as a starter. Here, however, he was asked to come out of the bullpen with men on. Starters start innings cleanly and often depart the game after they have made a mess, and a middle-inning reliever comes in to get an out or two. To ask a mess maker to be a mess cleaner on the fly is just dumb. Also, from memory, Kikuchi needs a batter or two to get into a groove. Different pitchers have different skill sets, and are not interchangeable.

Of course, the real issue with the game was that they struggled offensively. Kikuchi only gave up the two runs, which is hardly insurmountable. Guerrero being picked off second with Bichette at the plate was inexcusable, but given the state of the dugout, and the mounting pressure to score runs, it’s not particularly surprising. Guerrero has been pilloried since the game on social media, with comments on him being everything from “spoiled” to “overrated” to “fat”. And while I agree the pickoff was bad, Guerrero’s 2023 campaign wasn’t especially terrible.

It was a down season but only because he has set such a high standard for himself. It happened at a very inopportune time but taken out of this context, it just isn’t that terrible. Also, the guy is 24 years old. Tossing Guerrero away, as some have argued, would be punitive and also monumentally idiotic.

The amazing thing about this entire season was that Atkins talked about how they had revolutionized the team at the start of the season. Baseball was going to be played in a new way in Toronto. There was going to be defence and there was going to be pitching. But it was all at the expense of offence, and the lack of balance that had become clear in May remained an issue into October. And for the talk of improvement, the Blue Jays ended up in the exact same place they did in 2022. Only now there may be a rift between the players and this management team.

How many of these decisions actually come down to John Schneider remains a mystery. His post-game comments distanced himself from the decisions and implied that it was the choice of many, and seemed all too ready to move forward.

“We had a few different plans in place,” Schneider said after the loss. “José was aware of it. He had electric stuff. Tough to take him out, but I think with the way [the Twins] are constructed, you want to utilize your whole roster. It didn't work out. … So, you can sit here and second-guess me, second-guess the organization, second-guess anybody. I get that.”

Electric stuff. Tough to take out. It was your choice and it didn’t need to be made. Why is “using the whole roster” necessary? What does that even mean?

“And it's tough. And it didn't work out for us today or yesterday. But that's baseball sometimes. There's 29 teams that are going to say the same thing when the season's over. But yes, a tough way to end the year.”

That’s baseball sometimes.

A few days later, Ross Atkins laid the blame, in a dispassionate kind of way, on Schneider. “[Pregame] meetings are [manager] John Schneider’s meetings,” Atkins said. “He has a group of individuals that he prepares with every day. … The group is the staff that’s on the field. It’s not the front office, I do not attend those meetings, and I certainly do not make those decisions. When that decision occurred, I found out about it when you did. When Yusei [Yusei Kikuchi] was getting warm in the first inning, it was obviously very clear that we had a strategy to potentially deploy.”

A strategy to potentially deploy.

He also said, “I expressed my faith in that turning based on history, based on some of the contact quality that we saw. Now, I can no longer rest on that belief. Now, I have to find a solution.”

You gutted the offence, and when it became clear early on that Guerrero was not going to be able to be the sole supplier of power, nothing was done to address that issue and it was that unaddressed issue that ended the season. If the solution doesn’t involve self-reflection, it won’t be any solution at all.

This isn’t going away.

Over the weekend I heard that my baseball friend, Liz Holmes had passed away. I first met Liz circa 2013 or so, and she became a loud supporter of this blog. Her trademarks, for me, were her warmth toward to her friends and her fervent support for the Toronto Blue Jays. She’d pick kids coming up through the ranks, and support and cheer for them, and, as a long-time season ticket holder who went to spring training every year, she’d pick new Blue Jays as her favourites. And they all knew it. Baseball was Liz’s heart. She will be missed.

She also would’ve never pulled Berríos after 47 pitches.