Jays Win the Yankees Series

 Holy this Jays team is a lot of fun. I watched every game this series and came away with a lot of thoughts, mostly around how unserious the Yankees are. For a team that was supposed to be a World Series contender, they have a lot of problems that if they don't address will spell their doom. That being said, the Jays played their game this weekend and they managed to come away with 2/3 games with the 1 loss being a real close one (and of course the game that I was at.) Lets get into it all!

Jays Are Built to Beat the Yankees

I was trying to come up with a comparison while watching the game yesterday and the only one that made sense to me is the Yankees are the Jameis Winston of baseball teams. Long time NFL fans know that Jameis once had a remarkable 30 TD 30 interception season, something I doubt we'll ever see again. The Yankees have a bunch of guys who can hit bombs, or throw 30 TDs. They also have a bunch of guys who absolutely suck on defense giving it all back, 30 interceptions. Last night's game was a disaster class example of how bad the Yankees defense is. 4th inning with the game tied 2-2 with 1 out, both Schneider and Springer reach on walks then advance on a wild pitch to set up 2nd and 3rd with Vladdy at the plate. Vlad hits a little dribbler up the third base line, the pitcher fields it and shovels it to the catcher to try and catch Schneider advancing on the play, the catcher can't come up with it, the ball dribbles away and Springer is able to score as well to make it 4-2. The very next play Bo hits a line drive and short stop Jazz Chisholm Jr makes a great leaping catch but then decides to try and double up Vladdy who was already back at first base and instead throws the ball away allowing Vlad to advance to second. The Jays wouldn't score again that inning but that's already 2 errors. Then in the top of the 5th Aaron Judge hits a 2 run bomb to tie the game negating the terrible defense we just saw and resetting the ballgame. The bottom of the 5th shows that Clement hit a triple, that's only because you can't rule an error on a play where nobody touches the ball. What really happened is Clement hit a routine fly ball to right field, Cody Bellinger loses the ball and has it drop 5 feet over his head.  I haven't seen a misplay like that in the MLB in years, incredible stuff. Clement scores on a double by Straw in the next at bat. Then after Straw moves to third on a sacrifice, Will Wagner hits a ground ball that should've been the third out but Rice can't come up with the ball at first base, he's safe and the Jays score another run. It's not even over! The bottom of the 7th Vlad hits a single to center field, he can't field the ball cleanly and then when he does he makes a wild throw to second base allowing Vladdy to take second on yet another error. It was hilarious how Vlad is now just laughing at the most tragic defense he's probably ever seen. The error here doesn't even matter as Bo hits a 2 run home run in the next at bat to score the Jays 8th run and put the game away. 

That was just 1 game, but it was really the story of the series, and the Yankees season. As I said in the title the Jays are probably built better than any team to beat the Yankees. The Yankees have a bunch of pitchers who can strike guys out, which does help to mask a bad defense. The Jays have a bunch of hitters who never strike out, which really highlights your opponent's bad defense. All series long the Jays were just putting the ball in play and the Yankees were making that work. The Yankees committed 7 errors in the 3 game series, and they're being really helped out by the fact that the rules say if nobody touches the ball it's not an error. The Jays have now won the season series against the Yankees which is great, but honestly if they just had a league average defense they would've swept the Jays in this series and probably have about 65 wins right now. That being said, as a fan of a Yankees rival I love watching Yankee games. You really have to see all 9 innings because you know they'll probably hit a bunch of bombs which is fun, then commit a bunch of boneheaded mistakes which is also fun. Famous Jameis has arrived as a baseball team and it's the New York Yankees. 

Shout-Out to our Psycho Pitchers

The game I got to go to featured Max Scherzer starting. Anyone who's watched baseball in my lifetime knows that Scherzer is a known baseball psychopath. He loves to compete and he prides himself on outthinking everyone on the mound. It's to the point where at the game we were noting that there was a base open and Aaron Judge at the plate. Most pitchers will see their manager signal for an intentional walk in that situation to avoid the big bat. My friend and the game noted though that you can't look Scherzer in the eyes and tell him you're not allowed to pitch to that guy, he was right and Scherzer handled Judge every time in that game. What a lot of fans might not know though is that Chris Bassitt is just as much of a psycho as Max Scherzer. In the 6th the Jays did their best Yankees impression and committed an error to allow Trent Grisham to get to safely take first and second base. With a base open and the Jays up 2, Judge came to the plate. Again, most pitchers here would be intentionally walking Judge to avoid this situation but Bassitt wanted the challenge. Unfortunately for CBass, Judge hit a homer to the opposite field and tied the game, but I love the competitiveness none the less. Even after a couple of mishaps Bassitt didn't get down on himself. He ended up pitching into the 8th inning allowing the bullpen to have some valuable rest and picking up the win thanks to the Yankees defense. Gotta love the competitors on this pitching staff. 

Bo-right Lights Merchant?

Bo Bichette is having a very weird season. If you look at his overall hitting numbers, as I've pointed out, they're below his career averages. He's slashing .281/.321/.448 this season which are all slightly lower than his career .289/.330/.464. What's absolutely insane is that Bo is leading the league in average with runners in scoring position in now 110 plate appearances. With runners in scoring position Bo is slashing .394/.436/.636. When runners aren't in scoring position Bo's slashing .261/.293/.429. His OPS+ with RISP is 188, without it's 103. Basically Bo is the best hitter in all of baseball when there are runners in scoring position, but when there aren't he's just an average hitter. As with most things in baseball there's a lot of luck involved here, but also when there's this big of a difference you have to chalk it up to this guy is just clutch. When Vlad got to second base on an error last night to set up Bo's 2 run home run, you may think that it didn't even matter because a home run would've scored Vlad from first anyway. I am here to tell you that Vlad getting to second was essential for unlocking RISP Bo, the best hitter in baseball. 

That's that! Really fun team to watch and I just love how they matchup against the Yankees. Keep pitting the ball in play and good things happen! Go Jays.