Not even Edward Rogers could have imagined a Jays season like this

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In early April, Edward Rogers made a rare public appearance as chairman of the Blue Jays and actually spoke about winning a World Series.

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He sounded serious, even though no one took him all that seriously on that day.

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SIMMONS: Not even Edward Rogers could have imagined a Blue Jays season like this one Back to video

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The words seemed like hopeful fluff on the day that Rogers committed some $500 million to the future of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. And yet, somehow, in mid-summer, it still felt strangely possible.

Not necessarily winning a World Series. But getting there from a weak league when the Jays were comfortably in first place.

Nothing has been comfortable as the season has crept to its final days. It does remain hopeful though — albeit unlikely — as the Jays hit the final day of the regular season on Sunday afternoon, with a berth in the playoffs but uncertain as to whether that means a wild-card appearance on Tuesday or a divisional-round series opener next Saturday.

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Maybe they would have clinched first place already had the big-money man, Guerrero, come up big down the stretch. He didn’t. Maybe they would have clinched first place had the free agent shortstop, Bo Bichette, not hurt himself sliding badly at home. He missed the final 20 games of the schedule.

Even Rogers couldn’t have imagined a season like the one ending on Sunday with this much fun, drama and stress. Getting to the playoffs was one challenge. Now comes the more difficult part.

It’s been 32 years since the most recent Blue Jays appearance in the World Series — only one of two in franchise history — and when chairman Rogers spoke of it being possible on the days he was handing the keys to Guerrero, he couldn’t have imagined this kind of season would come this soon.

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No matter how and when it’s about to end.

THIS AND THAT

The kid, Trey Yesavage, making his first start in Toronto, knowing so much was on the line, delivered with five strong innings Saturday against Tampa Bay. How long has it been since the Jays had a young pitcher with this kind of talent and moxie? The answer: Dave Stieb … The Blue Jays pulled the premature plug on one-time phenom Alek Manoah’s time with the organization and nobody came out and told the truth as to why: Clearly, they don’t believe he will ever successfully pitch in the majors again and clearly they don’t care much for Manoah personally. But to claim they had no room for him on the 40-man roster is pretty close to nonsense: They could have dropped Dillon Tate or Easton Lucas, Adam Macko or Lazaro Estrada as pitchers without anyone even noticing. The former Jays GM, Alex Anthopoulos, was OK gambling the $50,000 waiver pickup price that Manoah has something left as a big-league pitcher. He is only 27 years old … Manoah opened a wild-card playoff series against Seattle not that many years ago. The Game 2 pitcher back then was Kevin Gausman … Yes, the Blue Jays have let first place slip away heading to Game 162 of the season, but give the New York Yankees some credit here. They’ve won 10 of their past 11 games, and are playing .709 baseball this month — which is a 115-win pace … Aaron Judge has hit 10 home runs since Guerrero hit his most recent one on Sept. 5. Watching Guerrero slump down the stretch is one thing. Watching so few balls he has hit hard is even more concerning … Combined, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider and Addison Barger were paid $4.4 million this season: The Jays would be nowhere this season without their services. On Saturday, afternoon Clement knocked in Barger and Schneider for the Jays’ first two runs, then scored the third run and fourth himself. The big fellow Guerrero was 0-for-4 … Max Scherzer does not see the finish line, not for this season, not for his career. It’s not how he thinks. It may look more apparent to outsiders than it does to insiders that he’s starting to lose it. But the Jays may have to start him in the playoffs because Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios are hurt and Eric Lauer is not stretched out … Tampa Bay has four terrific hitters heading into next season: Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda. And if they pick up any kind of pitching over the winter, they should contend next season … Heading into the final day of the season, Bichette led the AL in hits, was third in batting average, was second in doubles and 9th in on-base percentage. Up next for Rogers: Finding money, and lots of it, for Bo.

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HEAR AND THERE

Just about the only thing that could defeat the Florida Panthers: Injuries. Playing a full season without captain Sasha Barkov and half a season or more without spiritual leader Matthew Tkachuk means there will likely be a new Stanley Cup champion come June … And poor plucky Finland, which historically punches above its weight in international hockey events, will play in the Olympics without Barkov, its best player, after having played the 4 Nations tournament last winter without star defenceman Miro Heiskanen. You have to feel for Niko Mikkola as well, one of the better players and people on the Panthers, whose collision with Barkov resulted in the unfortunate knee injury … The diminished roster of the Panthers has to give early hope to the Lightning, Maple Leafs, Senators and Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference of the NHL, all of whom should be considered contenders. And maybe the Rangers with Mike Sullivan coaching will contend as well … An NHL season is about to begin without Lou Lamoriello, Peter DeBoer and Alex Pietrangelo. Just seems wrong … No one will ever call James Reimer one of the great goaltenders in Maple Leafs history, but he is one of the great people to ever play for the franchise … NHL players in need of great starts — or good starts — for the first three months of the season: Zach Hyman, Mark Scheifele, Travis Konecny and Nick Suzuki — all of whom are close to roster spots on the Canadian Olympic team but with nothing guaranteed. I figure Washington slugger Tom Wilson will be named to Team Canada no matter how he starts his season … And there are probably two goaltending spots available on Team Canada after Jordan Binnington and about six candidates to fill them … Sure things to make the playoffs in the NHL East: Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida, Toronto, Ottawa, New Jersey. That makes a race for two playoff spots between Washington, Montreal, the N.Y. Rangers, Buffalo, the N.Y. Islanders, Detroit and Columbus … The West should have Dallas, Colorado, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Vegas in the playoffs. That leaves races for the final two spots between Minnesota, St. Louis and Vancouver. The West has no shortage of incomplete teams: Nashville, Utah, Chicago, Seattle, Calgary, Anaheim and San Jose … Without Barkov, Florida wouldn’t have beaten the Oilers back-to-back in the Stanley Cup final … Will be interesting to see what impact Joel Quenneville has in Anaheim; what impact Sullivan has with the Rangers; what impact Rick Tocchet has in Philadelphia. The right coach with a new roster can do wonders for teams in need of inspiration … My over-under number for Auston Matthews goals this season: 48.

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SCENE AND HEARD

If an American football fan asked me a simple question — what’s different about the Canadian Football League —my answer would be rather basic: The Canadian game is played with three downs, instead of four. It’s played with 12 players, instead of 11. It’s played with almost unlimited motion and on a significantly wider field; with mandated Canadians on the roster; with no fair catches on punt returns. All of that remains the same in spite the giant overreaction to rule changes made by first-year CFL commissioner, Stewart Johnston. The only change he made that I didn’t like was shrinking the length of the field. I would have kept it at 110 yards. Didn’t see why that was necessary … I got a laugh out of B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke calling the rule changes “garbage” and waiving the flag as a proud Canadian. This is the same guy, you might have forgotten, who once called his time in the CFL an “unforeseen detour on my football journey” and at the time talked of dreaming as a youngster of watching Brett Favre win Super Bowls on NFL Films. For the record, Favre won a Super Bowl, but not many of them. Rourke must have missed that part of the films … Hey, Peter Dyakowski, the people from Canada’s Smartest Man are calling, they want their award back. On his behalf, I’d like to present the award of broadcasting rookie of the year to Luke Willson … CFL players have complained that they weren’t consulted by Johnston on recent rule changes for the future. Clearly, these folks don’t pay much attention to the NHL or MLB or other leagues where players are also not consulted on rule changes of any kind. The general managers in hockey suggest rule changes and the matter is then voted on by the Board of Governors. A long-time NHL player once told me that the only decision hockey players should ever make is “window or aisle.” … Give Johnston credit for this: There’s been a bevy of CFL commissioners over the years who promised much and delivered little. He at least decided to do something in his first year on the job …One more argument that lost me during all the strange noise : How the CFL changes will affect college football and minor football in Canada. My youngest son played six seasons of minor football. Depending on what league he played, in the rules were different — sometimes four downs, sometimes three downs — and the field size changed team-to-team, league-to-league.

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AND ANOTHER THING

The Judge-for-MVP voters have a terrific statistical case as to why he should win the American League award. Almost every category that isn’t home runs has Judge ahead of Cal Raleigh. But the Raleigh-for-MVP supporters have a terrific case as well in all that he’s meant to the Seattle Mariners in his 60-home run season. There is really no wrong answer on this: Both are terrific choices. My third-place vote, if I had one, would go to Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez, who seems special year in and year out … George Springer will get MVP votes but probably not many top-fives. He once finished as a high as seventh in MVP voting in Houston in 2019 … The Jays paid huge money years ago to bring Jack Morris to Toronto, and in his two seasons here, he won two World Series. What he didn’t win here was a playoff game. His post-season earned run average as a Jay was 7.43. He had a 7-1 won-lost record before he came to the Jays, including one of the greatest World Series games ever pitched by anyone … The best Jays post-season pitchers, depending on your perspective: 1. Juan Guzman; 2. Marco Estrada … The two World Series years for the Jays were amazing years for Toronto sports. Not only did the Jays win, but the Leafs went to the conference finals both of those seasons. Those were the Pat Burns-Doug Gilmour years … What needs to go first: OK Blue Jays, the overdue seventh-inning ditty, or the Argos touchdown song, which is easily forgettable … Love this quote from the new Canadian Football Hall of Famer Brian Chiu, talking about the diversity of the sport in Canada: “I think representation truly matters. The CFL game is so diverse. Being of Asian descent, I snapped the ball to a Mexican quarterback (Anthony Calvillo) and his job was to throw the ball to the Mormon Canadian (Ben Cahoon).” Chiu, Calvillo and Cahoon are all Hall of Famers now … Umpires in Major League Baseball have nothing against the Jays. Same with those making instant-replay decisions. They just make bad decisions sometimes, probably more often than they should … Happy birthday to Grant Fuhr (63), Mike Schmidt (76), Clara Hughes (53), Jose Calderon (44), Steve Kerr (60), Steve Kasper (64), Don Edwards (70), Khem Birch (33) and Steve Largent (71) … And hey, whatever became of A.J. Burnett?

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