This morning, in one of his articles for the day, my colleague Pascal Harvey slipped a word on the Twins’ qualification for the playoffs. After the Orioles and the Rays, a third club has secured its place in the sun.
Obviously, the Twins are there because the American Central division is weak. After all, the top three clubs in the East and the three powerhouses in the West are better than the Twins.
But that doesn’t matter: it still means that Quebecer Édouard Julien is entering the series.
This season, he proudly represented Quebec in major baseball. He was the greatest ambassador on the biggest stage in the world.
Unfortunately, Abraham Toro spent most of the season in AAA and guys like Charles Leblanc and Otto Lopez didn’t get their chance.
But Julien had his chance. He spent the majority of the season among the first two hitters in the Twins’ offensive lineup. And there he goes to the playoffs in his first year in the MLB.
All season he’s forced the Twins’ hand to keep him. All season, he gave his bosses reason to trust him.
And there, he will go to the series.
In my opinion, with Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis who are uncertain cases (injury) for the series, Julien will have his chance to show off.
Speaking of the wolf: note that the Astros are not guaranteed to make the playoffs, that the Giants are in line to miss them and that the Mets are eliminated. Correa is not having a great season, but he chose well.
When we look at it, Édouard Julien could become the first Quebecer since Russell Martin to play on a regular basis in the playoffs.
Abraham Toro played in 2020, while with the Houston Astros, but he only came to the plate once.
Martin (born in Ontario, but obviously grew up in Montreal) made the playoffs in 2019 as the #2 catcher for the Dodgers, who lost to Washington. He played one match during the series.
Otherwise, obviously, he participated in the 2015 and 2016 series with the Blue Jays. Remember, in fact, that he made the playoffs 10 times in 14 seasons in the Majors.
Even with six teams per league now, making the playoffs in baseball is never easy. Seeing Édouard Julien do them in his first year in the MLB says a lot.
Besides, I wonder if the Twins, who are not an attractive club in the first place, will be presented on RDS or TVA Sports in the series.
After all, the Édouard Julien factor will certainly make them interesting for Quebecers and I have the feeling that when the time comes to choose, this will be a factor that will come into play.
A series Toronto v. Minnesota would be very popular for Montreal stations, we agree…
- The Blue Jays’ fall league hopes.
- The DBacks and Yankees will face off on Monday. The White Sox agreed to move up their schedule by one game to play Thursday instead of Monday.
