Jays to celebrate ‘weird’ wild-card berth on Friday
TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays punched their postseason ticket without taking the field, so the celebration will wait until Friday night.
The Blue Jays locked up an American League wild-card spot a night earlier when Baltimore lost 5-3 at Boston.
“It was easy,” interim manager John Schneider said jokingly Friday before Toronto hosted Boston. “It was a little weird. You become a Boston Red Sox fan for about three hours and then you turn it off. Definitely different, but no matter how you do it, doing it is the most important part.”
Schneider said the Blue Jays plan to celebrate in the clubhouse together following the game against the Red Sox.
“We expect more, but we definitely need to enjoy this,” Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette said.
Schneider started out watching Thursday’s Orioles game on TV but, getting antsy in the late innings, decided to step out for a walk. That’s what he was doing when his wife and two sons called from the family home in Florida, with wife Jess providing play-by-play of the final outs over FaceTime.
“She was pretty much spot on,” Schneider said. “She even knew that Cedric Mullins had a hit through the shift.”
Outfielder George Springer spent most of Thursday afternoon playing with his young son but tuned in to watch the end of the Orioles game.
“Weird, but awesome,” he said of the experience. “It just allows you to breathe a little bit. Obviously, you might want to do it a bit of a different way but, at the end of the day, who cares? It’s awesome to say that we’re going to the playoffs no matter what.”
Springer had previous experience clinching away from the ballpark. In 2018, Springer and the Houston Astros wrapped up the AL West when, hours after beating the Blue Jays in Toronto, Oakland lost to Seattle.
“It was like 3 in the morning,” Springer said. “The whole team was sleeping.”
The Blue Jays last reached the playoffs in the 60-game pandemic season of 2020, but there were no fans in the stands when they beat the New York Yankees in Buffalo, New York, home of Toronto’s Triple-A team.
Toronto split its 2021 season between three sites: its spring training stadium in Dunedin, Florida, Buffalo, and Toronto.
A crowd of approximately 45,000 people was expected at Rogers Centre on Friday.
“It’s definitely different doing it in front of the fans and having had the fans through an entire season with us here at the park,” Bichette said. “Definitely excited to enjoy it with them and hopefully finish strong so we have an opportunity to play in front of them.”
Toronto (87-69) has six games remaining, three against the Red Sox and three in Baltimore. The Blue Jays lead the wild-card race ahead of Seattle (85-70) and Tampa Bay (85-71). The team that finishes atop the standings will host all three games of the wild-card playoff round.
“We have everything right in front of us, so the work does not stop,” Schneider said.
Last season, the Blue Jays went 91-71 but finished one game out of a playoff spot, making this year’s clinch all the more satisfying.
“It shows you that all the hard work, all the extra attention to the small things, it worked,” Springer said. “Obviously, there’s still a job to be done, but that’s something to hold our heads up high and say we accomplished our goal, which was to make the postseason.”
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Los Angeles Dodgers starter Blake Snell will back off his throwing program as he continues to recover from left shoulder inflammation, according to manager Dave Roberts.
“As he was playing catch, he just didn’t feel great,” Roberts said Wednesday afternoon before the Dodgers played the Chicago Cubs. “Right now, we’re going to slow play the throwing. Will probably get it looked at again when we get back home.”
Snell, 32, has been on the injured list since early April after making just two starts for the Dodgers. He signed a five-year, $182 million contract this past offseason.
Snell, who was set to throw a bullpen session Wednesday, felt discomfort in the shoulder while playing catch Tuesday. Roberts was asked how concerning the latest setback was.
“I wouldn’t say concerning because part of the messaging from us to Blake is, it’s about later on in the season and if there’s any type of discomfort, let’s not try to fight through it,” Roberts responded.
Snell is one of several Dodgers pitchers on the mend, including left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who pitched three innings in a minor league start Tuesday, his second rehab outing this spring.
“Velocity was good,” Roberts said. “Got into the fourth inning. He’ll make a start next week. Really positive stuff.”
The Dodgers also received positive news about right-hander Tyler Glasnow after he left his last start with leg cramps. His latest bullpen session went well, according to Roberts.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani is throwing again after missing time on the paternity list. He’ll have another bullpen session Saturday as he recovers from elbow surgery, though the team still doesn’t have a timetable for his return to major league action.
The team was also without catcher Will Smith on Wednesday after he injured his wrist on a play at the plate in Tuesday’s loss to the Cubs.
“As he made the tag, his [left] wrist turned in and so there’s some residual soreness,” Roberts said.
Smith could get imaging done when the team returns to Los Angeles, but Roberts wasn’t overly concerned about the injury.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Most players are happy to be done facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong might not be one of them.
The Los Angeles native has torched his childhood team this season, including Wednesday night at Wrigley Field when he went 3-for-4 with a home run, two stolen bases and a career-high four RBIs, helping the Cubs to a 7-6 win. It came one night after Chicago beat L.A. 11-10, with Crow-Armstrong contributing another home run.
He was asked Wednesday whether his production has special meaning coming against the team he used to root for.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I mean, they are regarded as the best, and I think we’ve enjoyed being able to show that we’re right there with them, and yeah, it’s always a little extra special for me getting to do it against the team I grew up going to see.”
Crow-Armstrong erased a 2-0 Cubs deficit with an opposite-field, three-run homer in the fourth inning, then added a run-scoring single an inning later, which turned out to be the final run of the night for the Cubs.
Overall, he had four home runs and nine RBIs in the seven-game season series against the Dodgers, which the Cubs won 4-3 after losing the first two games in Japan in mid-March. But that was before the Cubs’ offense took off. They’re averaging an MLB-high 6.3 runs per game.
Crow-Armstrong’s season took off as well, starting over a week ago when the teams met in Los Angeles. In the 10 games since, the 23-year-old is hitting .400 with five home runs.
“He needs to send me a bottle of wine or some golf balls with all the success he’s had,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts quipped before Wednesday’s game.
Roberts and Crow-Armstrong exchanged pleasantries before the first game of the series, as the second-year player is friends with Roberts’ son, Cole. The two played against each other growing up.
“I got a couple different connections to Doc,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s so great.”
That’s the same word Crow-Armstrong’s teammates are using about him as he continues to impress both at the plate and in the field. According to ESPN Research, he’s the fastest player in Cubs history to reach five home runs and 10 stolen bases, doing it in 26 games.
Plus, his pitchers love seeing him patrol center field.
“Defensively, I got to say he’s probably the best,” Wednesday’s starter, Matthew Boyd, said. “And what he’s doing at the plate is no surprise.”
Crow-Armstrong showed signs of breaking out late last year but then struggled early this season before locking in during the Cubs’ most recent road trip. He said he got “on-time” with his swing while learning how to deal with failure better. He was asked how satisfied he is with his game right now.
“If it comes out in a win, it’s very satisfactory,” he said. “It makes me feel very content. I love being able to impact it in any way I can.”
So does his manager, who called Wednesday a “wonderful game” for Crow-Armstrong.
“He made his presence felt in a big way for sure,” Craig Counsell said.
Crow-Armstrong is quickly becoming a fan favorite, as the Cubs faithful are taking to his aggressive style of play. He was asked what it’s like to hear his name chanted when he comes to the plate after producing in previous at-bats.
“I’ve tried to tune that out,” he said with a laugh. “I was actually thinking about it yesterday and I was like, I got to be 0-for-20 when they’ve chanted my name. But they continue to chant and they get behind every one of us and it’s the coolest thing.”
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