Post by Commissioner Erick on Dec 18, 2022 10:09:55 GMT -5
Toronto Blue Jays (51-47) @ Boston Red Sox (63-39)
TOR: Tanh Dai (1-0, 3.6)
BOS: Andy DeShaw (5-5, 3.67)
Blue Jays 3 Key Stats
.403: Toronto’s road winning percentage: The Blue Jays have been great at home, going 30-16, but have been brutal in the United States, with a 21-31 road record. Their only road series win against a team currently over .500 is a sweep in Atlanta in mid-May. Toronto is certainly good, but fairly young and fairly flawed, they need their home crowd to give them extra support. To be a playoff team, they’ll need to show they can win on the road against good teams like Boston.
123: Toronto’s home runs: The Blue Jays are second in the league in homers with six players with at lest 14 homers on the year. Toronto is led by rookie slugger Cortez Castaneda and long time Blue Jays power hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as they have 22 and 19 respectfully, but none are top five in the league in homers. It’s been the depth of Toronto’s attack fueling their long ball prowess, forcing Boston to be careful navigating the lineup.
416: Toronto’s runs scored. Despite the homers, Toronto is only 12th in runs scored. The team is 11th in average, but fourth in walks, so they’re hitting homers and getting on base at least respectably. The team is last in steals and way at the bottom in doubles though. Toronto may need to find one other avenue to be successful in offensively to put runners across the plate at a consistent rate.
Red Sox 3 Key Stats
7: Consecutive losses for Boston in games they score fewer than eight runs: Boston’s offense is sizzling, but their pitching and defense hasn’t held up. Boston has won seven of 11, but they scored at least eight runs in seven games against the Yankees, taking seven of eight from them with the offense doing the work. They dropped a low-scoring affair to New York in the eighth game and were swept by Toronto when the Blue Jays allowed eight runs in three games. Before the All-Star break, Boston scored a respectable 11 runs against Philadelphia, but gave up 24 in a sweep. Earlier in the month, the data is just as concerning. Boston was able to win a couple of low-scoring games against the Angels, but Los Angels is not a Major League caliber team. They then were swept by Oakland and dropped the final game of a series with Kansas City, allowing at least six runs in each. Boston’s pitching and defense has to be an extreme concern right now.
.338: Jonathan Annis’ Average: The Exorcist has been demonic this year, with a head-spinning .338 average. Annis has always had extreme bat-to-ball skills, but he showed as a rookie last year that he could make solid contact too with eight homers and a .327 average in 309 plate appearances. The power’s been down a little this year, but he’s replaced the modest homer total with more doubles. Healthy after a hamstring injury in June, Toronto’s pitching better say its prayers if they want to have success with Annis.
.680: Juan Gestoso’s OPS: Gestoso was playing fine, but at a sub-All-Star level to start the year. However, he struggled in June, and it’s only gotten worse in July. Doorbell’s OPS was .623 in June as his average dropped to .241.The average is down to .209 this month, with a couple of doubles becoming triples the only reason why this isn’t the lowest slugging percentage of his season. He went 5-5 on steals in June, but is just 2-4 this month. It may be fair to wonder if Doorbell should be dropped in the order with the depth of Boston’s offense.
Questions for the GMs:
For Aaron Dunham, earlier this year you DFAd Chris Billings. Recently, you DFAd Loeck Roenhorst. Do you have something against players who went to universities in the state of Florida?
Your team is hitting homers but not scoring runs. Will you make changes to your offense to try to get more runs across the board?
Tanh Dai made his debut last week against Boston and fared okay with two runs in 5 innings. Why did you call him up last week?
For Mike Ball, your pitching staff has the third worst ERA in July. Bad month or something you’re concerned about?
Joel McCabe is dealing with a bad back. Will he play today?
Juan Gestoso continues to struggle. Any thoughts about dropping him from the leadoff spot?
TRIVIA: Who are the pair of 2025 Toronto Blue Jays to make the All-Star Game in 2029?
TOR: Tanh Dai (1-0, 3.6)
BOS: Andy DeShaw (5-5, 3.67)
Blue Jays 3 Key Stats
.403: Toronto’s road winning percentage: The Blue Jays have been great at home, going 30-16, but have been brutal in the United States, with a 21-31 road record. Their only road series win against a team currently over .500 is a sweep in Atlanta in mid-May. Toronto is certainly good, but fairly young and fairly flawed, they need their home crowd to give them extra support. To be a playoff team, they’ll need to show they can win on the road against good teams like Boston.
123: Toronto’s home runs: The Blue Jays are second in the league in homers with six players with at lest 14 homers on the year. Toronto is led by rookie slugger Cortez Castaneda and long time Blue Jays power hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as they have 22 and 19 respectfully, but none are top five in the league in homers. It’s been the depth of Toronto’s attack fueling their long ball prowess, forcing Boston to be careful navigating the lineup.
416: Toronto’s runs scored. Despite the homers, Toronto is only 12th in runs scored. The team is 11th in average, but fourth in walks, so they’re hitting homers and getting on base at least respectably. The team is last in steals and way at the bottom in doubles though. Toronto may need to find one other avenue to be successful in offensively to put runners across the plate at a consistent rate.
Red Sox 3 Key Stats
7: Consecutive losses for Boston in games they score fewer than eight runs: Boston’s offense is sizzling, but their pitching and defense hasn’t held up. Boston has won seven of 11, but they scored at least eight runs in seven games against the Yankees, taking seven of eight from them with the offense doing the work. They dropped a low-scoring affair to New York in the eighth game and were swept by Toronto when the Blue Jays allowed eight runs in three games. Before the All-Star break, Boston scored a respectable 11 runs against Philadelphia, but gave up 24 in a sweep. Earlier in the month, the data is just as concerning. Boston was able to win a couple of low-scoring games against the Angels, but Los Angels is not a Major League caliber team. They then were swept by Oakland and dropped the final game of a series with Kansas City, allowing at least six runs in each. Boston’s pitching and defense has to be an extreme concern right now.
.338: Jonathan Annis’ Average: The Exorcist has been demonic this year, with a head-spinning .338 average. Annis has always had extreme bat-to-ball skills, but he showed as a rookie last year that he could make solid contact too with eight homers and a .327 average in 309 plate appearances. The power’s been down a little this year, but he’s replaced the modest homer total with more doubles. Healthy after a hamstring injury in June, Toronto’s pitching better say its prayers if they want to have success with Annis.
.680: Juan Gestoso’s OPS: Gestoso was playing fine, but at a sub-All-Star level to start the year. However, he struggled in June, and it’s only gotten worse in July. Doorbell’s OPS was .623 in June as his average dropped to .241.The average is down to .209 this month, with a couple of doubles becoming triples the only reason why this isn’t the lowest slugging percentage of his season. He went 5-5 on steals in June, but is just 2-4 this month. It may be fair to wonder if Doorbell should be dropped in the order with the depth of Boston’s offense.
Questions for the GMs:
For Aaron Dunham, earlier this year you DFAd Chris Billings. Recently, you DFAd Loeck Roenhorst. Do you have something against players who went to universities in the state of Florida?
Your team is hitting homers but not scoring runs. Will you make changes to your offense to try to get more runs across the board?
Tanh Dai made his debut last week against Boston and fared okay with two runs in 5 innings. Why did you call him up last week?
For Mike Ball, your pitching staff has the third worst ERA in July. Bad month or something you’re concerned about?
Joel McCabe is dealing with a bad back. Will he play today?
Juan Gestoso continues to struggle. Any thoughts about dropping him from the leadoff spot?
TRIVIA: Who are the pair of 2025 Toronto Blue Jays to make the All-Star Game in 2029?
