Which opposing gamers may pose issues for Blue Jays in wild-card spherical?

As of Thursday afternoon, it’s official: the Toronto Blue Jays can be enjoying post-season baseball as soon as once more.

While the group can really feel assured they’ll be competing for the World Series, the matter of who they’ll play is much from settled. With the wild-card area bunched up, they may see the Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, or Cleveland Guardians in a three-game collection.

Each of these golf equipment presents its personal challenges, and so they all have a couple of gamers notably well-equipped to thrive in opposition to Toronto for one purpose or one other.

When Toronto’s opponent is locked there’ll be time to dissect the matchup intimately, however it doesn’t harm to get a fast head begin on scouting potential Blue Jays killers.

Here are a place participant and pitcher on every potential wild-card opponent that would give the Blue Jays suits:

Position Players

Mariners — Eugenio Suarez

As a rule of thumb, it’s smart to concern a hitter with a 49 residence run season on his resume, however Suarez seems to be particularly harmful primarily based on his current manufacturing.

His season-long numbers are glorious, however he’s produced at a very elite stage over the past two months. Since the start of August, the 31-year-old has slashed .257/.365/.618 with a 180 wRC+ — fourth-best amongst qualifying hitters in that point span.

Suarez’s success can also be supported by a spike in flyball fee in contrast to something he’s produced since his 2018 breakout.

With his energy, that stage of consistency in placing the ball within the air is a recipe for large numbers.

If the Blue Jays have been to host the Mariners, Suarez’s thump could be prone to come into play as Rogers Centre is the sixth-best ballpark for right-handed hitters to clear the wall in response to Statcast.

Guardians — Josh Naylor

Because the Blue Jays don’t have a left-handed starter — and Tim Mayza is their solely bullpen southpaw — left-handed energy bats may trigger them issue within the playoffs.

Naylor will be simply countered with lefties as he hits .181/.287/.248 in opposition to them. When he will get a righty, which he often would in opposition to Toronto, he’s robust to cease with a slash line of .277/.328/.508.

The Mississauga, Ont., native has additionally been efficient in opposition to the Blue Jays starters in restricted motion. Naylor has confronted the quartet of Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Ross Stripling and José Berríos 21 instances and has recorded 12 hits. 

His left-handed energy can also be much more imposing in Cleveland contemplating Statcast ranks Progressive Field because the sixth-best ballpark for left-handed hitters total, and the seventh-best venue to hit residence runs.

Rays — Jose Siri

It might sound foolish for a man with a 78 wRC+ to strike concern into the Blue Jays, however Siri is so electrical within the different aspects of the sport that he ought to.

Even in a three-game collection, Siri looks like a secure guess to make a spectacular play or two — like this operating seize on a 105.4 m.p.h. Bo Bichette line drive:

Siri is a difference-maker within the area who has a superb likelihood of erasing an extra-base hit at any time.

He’s additionally an exceptionally environment friendly base stealer who’s 14-for-16 on the season with 181 minor-league swipes on his resume.

That’s a priority for the Blue Jays. Although they’ve managed the operating sport at a roughly common fee over the course of the season, a few of their high pitchers are weak to it.

Kevin Gausman, as an illustration, has allowed 18 of twenty-two base stealers to succeed. Only Sandy Alcantara has allowed extra steals, and he’s pitched 49 extra innings. Base stealers are additionally 10-for-11 in opposition to the Blue Jays’ high-leverage duo of Jordan Romano and Yimi Garcia, making Siri a late-game risk — if he can get on base.

That may very well be a tall job at instances however like Naylor, the centre fielder ought to profit from a heavy weight loss plan of right-handed pitching. He’s far more efficient in opposition to righties (93 wRC+) than he’s in opposition to southpaws (35 wRC+).

Pitchers

Mariners — Andrés Muñoz

While Muñoz is much from a family identify, he’s been one of many scariest relievers in baseball of late.

Since the start of August, the right-hander has appeared in 21 video games. He’s saved opponents off the board in 20 of them, placing out 40.7 per cent of the hitters he’s confronted alongside the best way.

It isn’t simply Muñoz’s current type that’s intimidating, it’s the standard of his stuff — or, extra particularly, his velocity. The right-hander’s velo (100.2 m.p.h.) is the second-highest within the majors, and the Blue Jays have had a tough time with top-of-the-line velocity.

Over the previous two seasons, Blue Jays hitters have hit .195 on pitches 100 m.p.h. or extra with out producing a single extra-base hit. While triple-digit fastballs are uncommon, they’re turning into extra frequent and Toronto has but to show they will hit them.

Seattle is supplied with a secure of high quality starters, however the Blue Jays have had some stage of success in opposition to every of them. The similar can’t be stated with their battles with the Mariners’ underrated setup man.

Blue Jays hitters are 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts. That’s a small pattern, but when Toronto performs Seattle the group’s batters may see plenty of Muñoz with outcomes like this:

Guardians — Emmanuel Clase

We flagged Clase as a potential matchup situation for the Blue Jays previous to the season, and primarily based on the marketing campaign he’s put collectively it’s inconceivable to not acknowledge him once more.

Simply put, Clase is demise to right-handed hitters. Of the 408 pitchers who’ve confronted no less than 100 righties this season, the Guardians nearer has allowed the second-lowest wOBA (.183) with a single residence run in opposition to.

Unsurprisingly, Clase has been profitable in opposition to Toronto this season, pitching 4 scoreless innings with out conceding a base runner. Current Blue Jays are cumulatively 3-for-27 in opposition to him all time.

Like Muñoz, Clase additionally touches triple digits with some regularity. He’d additionally profit from enjoying in his residence park if he got here up in opposition to the Blue Jays — and he has a 0.53 ERA at Progressive Field, holding hitters to .104/.127/.130 line.

That may very well be small-sample-size noise, however the Blue Jays would relatively not put that idea to the take a look at.

Rays — Jeffrey Springs

The Blue Jays have seen loads of Springs currently, and so they’ve not often gotten the higher of these confrontations.

Springs has confronted present Toronto hitters 93 instances in his profession, and so they’ve hit simply .216 and slugged simply .330 in opposition to him. 

It might sound odd for a southpaw to constantly get the higher of such a righty-heavy lineup, however the southpaw has been much more profitable versus righties in his profession. Springs has allowed right-handed hitters to provide a .689 OPS — properly under the .829 mark lefties have managed.

That’s primarily as a consequence of his changeup, which has generated the eighth-best run worth of any change this season. It’s a pitch he can have immense success in opposition to the Blue Jays with contemplating a lot of the group’s core — with the notable exception of Bo Bichette — has struggled in opposition to southpaw changeups this season:

Springs has succeeded in opposition to the Blue Jays by feeding them a heavy weight loss plan of changeups earlier than, and there’s no purpose to consider he couldn’t do it once more.