The Toronto Blue Jays were swept in the AL Wild Card Series for the second straight season, failing to win a playoff game despite a combined 181 regular season wins across both seasons. Last year's Game 2 collapse – which saw the Blue Jays blow a seven-run lead in the final four innings and get eliminated by the Seattle Mariners – felt like rock bottom for Toronto. It's almost like they forgot to show up, as the Blue Jays mustered together only one run in 18 innings with their season hanging in the balance.
Regarding the last two postseasons, it seems like the Blue Jays aren’t coming out with the intensity you need to win in the MLB playoffs. Toronto was shut out in its opener last season and couldn’t get the offensive juices going this week against the Minnesota Twins. Sure the Blue Jays were the road team in this best-of-three series, but the road team has won five of the first eight wild card series since the MLB added it in 2022.
It's easy to play the blame game after the fact, but everyone on the Blue Jays had something to do with their eventual demise. Toronto was 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position during the series, a recipe that will not turn out in the Blue Jays' favor any way you put it together. These performances might have had the most significant impact on Toronto's loss though, that's why they're to blame for the Blue Jays' season ending in dismal fashion.
2. Kevin Gausman
There aren’t many pitchers better over the last three seasons than Kevin Gausman. The strikeout specialist has a 3.10 ERA in 95 regular season starts since 2021 and only Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes have struck out more batters in that span.
The playoffs have been a different story however as Gausman laid an egg in each of his last three postseason starts, the latest one coming in Game 1 against the Twins. Gausman didn’t pitch poorly per se, but he certainly didn’t pitch well and two of his mistakes cost the Blue Jays.
The Twins got on Gausman from the jump as Royce Lewis served the 14th pitch Toronto's ace threw into the stands to put Minnesota on the board. Gausman walked two batters in the first inning and three through his first time in the order. Lewis again took Gausman deep to lead off the bottom of the third, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead and as many baserunners as outs recorded after their first batter of the third inning.
Gausman finally settled down after that and retired the final six batters he faced in order, the last three via strikeout. The damage had been done though and with the way Toronto was swinging it, three runs was plenty for the Twins to come out with the win.
Kevin Gausman allowed a home run to just 2.4% of the batters he faced in the last three regular seasons. He gave up two to the same player in the span of two innings. The start was tied for Gausman's second-shortest outing of the season.
1. John Schneider
Managerial decisions are often criticized during the regular season, but they are amplified to a completely different level in the MLB playoffs. Every move is looked at under a microscope and typically the manager is the first one to blame when things go south for a team.
Schneider has been under fire before since taking over as Blue Jays manager in July 2022, but perhaps no move will catch him more heat than the one he made during Game 2 on Wednesday.
Jose Berrios was tabbed the Game 2 starter for the Blue Jays and had pitched fairly well during the final month of the season. Toronto gave him $131 million as part of a seven-year deal he signed after the 2021 season and with that contract comes certain expectations.
You'd think one of those expectations would be to pitch deep into playoff games and that's what Berrios seemed to be doing on Wednesday. He struck out five Twins batters across three shutout innings and did not allow a runner to reach second base. As Berrios trotted to the mound for the fourth inning having thrown just 39 pitches to that point, surely he thought he'd be out there for at least another two innings if things continued to go well.
You can imagine the pure shock from him and the rest of the Blue Jays players when John Schneider emerged from Toronto's dugout after an eight-pitch walk to start the inning. Schneider pulled his nine-figure pitcher after just nine outs recorded and without him surrendering a run.
One Blue Jays player said he hated the move. Schneider said he understood people criticizing the move and accepts he made a mistake in hindsight. Berrios basically said it is what it is and acknowledged he pitched well.
The aftermath
Yusei Kikuchi came in to relieve Berrios with a runner on first. The Twins then got three straight on base with a pair of singles and a walk, taking a 2-0 lead after a double play. Kikuchi didn’t pitch poorly but did allow the runners to move which ended up scoring.
John Schneider likely won’t lose his job, but he will have this hanging over him early next season if the Blue Jays start out poorly. Toronto is too talented to lose in the wild card round and should be making deep runs in the postseason. Instead, the offense went quiet and couldn’t produce when it mattered most.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt went a combined 0-for-10 in Game 2, contributing to Toronto's 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
The Blue Jays have a lot to think about this offseason. Will there be changes in Toronto?
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