On Wednesday, Toronto played a game it was meant to lose, starring all the guys who don’t get talked about on the Fox Sports pre-game show.
You could tell by the way the Bronx crowd greeted the Yankees’ starter, Cam Schlittler, that they thought they had this one in the bag. They cheered their new talisman like he was walking off the field after winning, not coming on to it to start work.
They booed ‘O Canada’ again – louder this time, less pushback afterward. They must’ve thought it was working.
Then the Jays put their bullpen to work. Eight pitchers, almost none of whom make the big bucks, participated. The game was a toss-up until Nathan Lukes, a platoon outfielder who’s spent a decade in the minors, blew it open with a two-run single.
The Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 5-2 to win their American League Division Series in four games. Nathan Lukes had a two-run single to help send the Blue Jays to the AL Championship Series for the first time in nine years.
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When it was getting dicey at the end, with men on base and Aaron Judge menacing the on-deck circle – Andres Gimenez sprinted more than 30 yards to catch a swirling pop-up in foul territory.
The name brand players were great too, but it was everyone else who set the tone. Toronto won 5-2.
As it ended, the Yankee fans booed again, but feebly. A clutch of Jays fans sitting along the third-base line cheered the team as it celebrated on the infield.
Within 10 minutes, they were the only people left in the park. In the relative safety, they began to chant ‘Let’s go Blue Jays’. Yankees game ops turned up the muzak to drown them out.
“It’s an unbelievable cast of characters in there,” manager John Schneider said afterward. “We’ll enjoy tonight, and then we’ll start figuring out the next series when we wake up.”
“They took it to us,” said Yankee manager Aaron Boone. That’s one way of putting it.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees walks off the field after the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.Al Bello/Getty Images
The Blue Jays didn’t play a perfect series. They did something better.
They won and lost in the most extreme ways that are possible. They crushed the Yankees under the weight of their offence in Toronto. They folded up like a travel stroller in their first outing in the Bronx. Then they nicked the Yankees to death, just when New York was starting to think they had a chance.
There are problems with this team. Not enough starting pitchers, for instance. The bullpen, God bless them, can’t be asked to win a World Series.
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Closer is another worry. Of the eight men that pitched, Jeff Hoffman was the least effective by some distance. He somehow turned a 5-1 romp into an oh-no-not-this-again adventure. Surely, that cannot be allowed to continue.
But this is all small beer if the Jays en masse can play the way they did on Wednesday. They didn’t just control the game. They controlled the story. You felt throughout that they would find a way. Once they did, they continued to take small chunks off New York.
Toronto Blue Jays fans erupted in jubilation thanks to their team’s first trip to the American League Championship Series since 2016.
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Whoever they play next, they will not have the momentum or the historical weight of this Yankees team. They aren’t going to have Judge. It won’t feel like they’re climbing uphill. Time to get used to being favourites for a change.
How long has that been?
Everybody loves that 2015 team, but no one expected them to win it all. They had the bat flip, and then they were pressed out of the playoffs by Kansas City. Same with the 2016 – a nice run through the wild card and ALDS, then jumped by Cleveland in the ALCS. All of which people predicted.
You have to reach back to the 1993 World Series team to spot a similarly positioned, roundly fancied Jays team. After what they’ve just done to New York, they’ll have to make sure to fill the bandwagon from both sides. Otherwise, it could tip over.
Next up – Detroit or Seattle. That series will be decided in Washington on Friday.
For historical reasons, Detroit would be a fine opponent. Shades of the first great Jays teams, and revenge for 1987.
Seattle has its attractions as well – the other team born in 1977, but one that hasn’t had nearly as much success. It’d be fun to break their hearts.
The only drawback to what’s happened this week is that for the first time since the nineties, the Jays aren’t going to surprise anyone. Their reputation as a team that finds a way to lose is done. No one’s going to count on them to implode any more. Most importantly, they won’t be thinking about that.
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrates in the locker room after defeating the New York Yankees in game four of the ALDS.Brad Penner/Reuters
Everybody knows their deal now. It starts with Vlad Guerrero Jr., the breakout star of these Major League playoffs.
By his current standard, Guerrero had a bit of a dip on Wednesday – a first-inning RBI that took the steam off the crowd, and fielded his position fantastically. Every night now, you’re expecting Mickey Mantle redux from this guy.
Next advantage, discovered this week – a line-up without holes. You get past Guerrero? Best of luck. Now you’ve got to stagger through a series of non-brand names who will kill you until you get back to George Springer, and the pain starts again.
At some point, they will have to find a third starter to complement Kevin Gausman and rookie Trey Yesavage, but for now, it’s manageable. Three days off before the start of the ALCS helps.
After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone – a man who’s known a lot of disappointment in 10 years here – was asked how it must feel to be Aaron Judge. Ten years, huge numbers, but no titles. How?
“That’s sports,” Boone shrugged.
For a long time, it’s been sports for the Jays and their fans. Now, for however long this lasts, it’s going to be something else.