Decisions are made when entering the Struggling Blue Jays Stretch Run

Late Thursday, after the Toronto Blue Jays had been boating for the third night in a row from behind the New York Yankees, Charlie Montoy walked around his team clubhouse with a message for everyone on his team.

“Man, this is good. We won nine consecutive series – or a tie. So, all right – we lost one. Here we go. Go ahead, ”said the Blue Jays manager. “I’m sure they know I ‘ll play well. We’ ve lost some tough games against the Yankees – that’s good, it’s happening. It’s happening to every team in this league. So, we go ahead and get ready for Phyllis.”

It’s all about perspective, isn’t it? One week ago, the Blue Jays beat the same Yankees – who scored 10 runs in a single innings at one stage – New York pitchers complained about the conditions at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, ulating that Blue Jays had stolen their signals. . (Very rich from the club with .925 OPS at home this season. On the road .667 – but this is another day’s thing.)

Two weeks earlier, the Blue Jays had won 14 of 19 games, rising above the .500 and building a standing buffer, allowing the weather to turn negative this week without much worrying about the aftermath of the season. Two weeks before this, the Blue Jays were on the verge of a late night lead, after the game had slipped out of their grasp to win all three of their first 13 games of the season.

Disassemble any small piece of this little season into a vacuum and the Blue Jays will be like a resilient pull-up or basically a defective circus act. Low-key deep lineup of big-powered awkward hitters or punchless batting order falling down the hill after the first-third. Unexpectedly effective bullpen leverage is a collection of highly working hands that are growing or not finding the zone consistently and giving up tough contact while they do.

All of those things came true at one point. No matter how young you are, it’s still baseball season. A lot happens. Returns and crashes and blown leads and walk-offs. First time and bruises and shocks and let-downs. Provocations and shutouts and deep drives and mischief. This year, it has been concentrated in two months rather than six.

So, whether it’s worth it to get into the weeds of how cool Blue Jace is this week, Friday will lose five rows, including both ends of the double header – 7-0 and 8-7 – with Philadelphia Phyllis. Probably not. It was not worth being overcrowded at the club when the club was rolling a week ago.

“Honestly, the guys can hit a little harder,” said Robbie Ray, who started the first game that day. “I think the boys need to rest. I mean, we’re a good team. We’ve got guys who can hit and pitch, our bulpen are great, they’re great all year round. I think everyone wants to relax and go out and they know how to do it. It’s big because we lost a few here in a row, but if we stay calm and take the pitch to pitch both sides of the ball, we’ll be fine. “

“I noticed the same energy in the last four or five days I did when we got here while we were rolling,” added Ross Stripping, who opened the back of the double header. “Someone doesn’t seem to be crying in a corner, sad for me.

“Until there’s a lack of energy or confidence, I can not see. I only have 10 days or two weeks with these guys. But, as far as I can tell, it feels like we’ve been there since we first clicked like we did.”

Phyllis starter Zach Eflin, who entered the day with a 5.01 ERA, started the wrong end of the shutout on Friday, keeping the Blue Jays seven strong for four singles and two walks. The four-out save attempt by Rafael Dollis ended in a mistake thanks to a two-run double by Bryce Harper and a defensive abuse at first base by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was off the field when he crossed the run-winning plate too far into his distance.

And it hasn’t changed much. For the Blue Jays to miss the post-season, it will take an exciting game over the next nine days – not only from the 26-25 Blue Jays but also their closest followers: the 22-29 Seattle Mariners and the 22-30 Baltimore Orioles – which looks soft compared to the fall of 1987.

Toronto’s playoff odds are above 95 percent Fan graphs.

Come September 29, when the American League wild-card series begins, the Blue Jays must have a game. And it doesn’t matter how they play – how they play is important.

Because anything can happen in the MLB’s post-season, it’s more like the March Madness Tournament than what usually happens this year. The Blue Jays go to the best-of-three-wild-card series, which are close to the coin-flip odds of winning or losing. The bad teams beat the good teams in a three-game series throughout the year. One day is a good start and the next day a dangerous explosion will take place.

Therefore, we need to prepare for it next week. Hyun-Jin Rue has no reason to pitch in any sequence, but equals him with the ideal rest for Game 1 in the playoffs. They need work and without it there is no consequential relief to pitch in the last days of the season and it would be worse without it. Or if the tailspin continues and the Blue Jays somehow feel they need regular season wins next weekend.

Give Matt Schumacher and Nate Pearson a picnic or two this week to get their sea legs back and assess their impact. Whether to hand over the ball to Taiwan Walker or Robbie Ray or Schumacher, or throw a bullpen day behind Julian Meriweather or Pearson, decide to come to Game 2. Prepare everyone. This includes your defense and decides whether you can trust Guerrero Jr. in the first base in the playoff game.

Towards the end of next week, Tanner Roark and Chase Anderson – who are unlikely to cause a wild-card series rotation – pitch extended outings. Lean on TJ Zeuch, Wilmer Font and Patrick Murphy from Bullpen to defend high-leverage weapons for the perma-leverage of post-season baseball. Do not expose players carrying injuries to anything unnecessarily. If anyone needs a day off, they should get the day off.

Go to the tournament in the best condition possible. Because when you are in a tournament, anything can happen. The Blue Jays need to remember that this weekend, as they try to break away from the mini-tailspin they found themselves in, but be prepared to be as ready as possible for the post-season. After a long, two-loss day, Montoya has no other message for his crowd. Maybe tomorrow.

“We’ve gone a long way this year, so that has a positive message,” Montoyo said. “One of the main reasons we’re here is because our pitching has been great throughout the year. Now, in the last five games, we have dropped seven, eight, but a lot of games are running. It’s very hard to win when that happens. But we have to re-assemble. And our pitching is better than that. , You know it gets better.

“One thing I always say to our boys is that we always have a chance because our pitching is so good. But now our pitching is getting a little harder and that’s why we’re losing all these games. So we’re giving up a lot of runs. So, when our pitching settles down again, we’ll be fine. ”