Normally, when a team qualifies for the playoffs via 92 wins and hosts playoff games at home, it means that the season has been good.
So did the 2022 Blue Jays. Even without the reigning Cy Young (Robbie Ray) and an MVP contender (Marcus Semien), the club moved on and made the playoffs.
But once in the playoffs, it’s a different story.
The club haven’t won a game since 2016 and it’s time to take it to the next level. This explains the transactions of Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in recent months.
For what?
Because the club wanted a better defensive alignment, but also because the club needed to shake up the players a bit.
Ultimately, what we hope is that we have built a team culture where our players take charge of their destiny, hold each other accountable to high standards and expectations, and they are accountable for the results.
–Mark Shapiro
Clearly, Mark Shapiro’s club have done well, but they haven’t done well enough for the bosses, who want wins.
With Rogers losing money for five years with the Blue Jays, perhaps it’s only natural to want more concrete results on the field.
Brief. All that to say that the club has good expectations for the next season and that the management has built a club to try to meet these expectations, precisely.
Mark Shapiro wants to go from a good young club to a team that can win a championship.
The club president even mentioned, in an interview with the Toronto Star, that the team expected to win more than 92 games last year.
It’s not nothing.
To win these matches, it will in particular go through the performance of the young core of the team. It starts with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who signed a three-year contract to lead him to the gates of autonomy.
It is by taking advantage of years of control of young people that the Jays want to win.
Obviously, that’s not to say the club don’t want to keep them for the long haul – on the contrary. What that means is that right now the timing is perfect to surround them well.
Clearly, the club’s next season will be very important. What will it give?
- World Classic: the Dominicans will have to deprive themselves of several launchers.
- Several questions on the mound in the East Division of the American.
