SEPTEMBER BASEBALL

Nicholas D'Agostino

It’s just about that time of the year when each and every game of the baseball season becomes more and more meaningful, September Baseball. As we all know, the month of September can get pretty hectic. There are pennant races, playoff races, the expanding of rosters and to top it all off every game is a must win/watch for every team and fan base that is in contention for the postseason.

As for the Blue Jays, they haven’t had a great month of August. There have been stretches where they have looked really good, and stretches where they have looked really bad.

As of right now they are a game and two games behind Tampa for the 2 seed and eight games back of the Yankees for the top spot in the AL East. They currently hold a one and a half game lead over the Baltimore Orioles for the third Wild Card spot.

While the Jays have been spiraling out of control this past month, they are still in a good spot to make the playoffs as long as they have a good September. Like I said before, September has the tendency to be a crazy month with all that is going on but if the Jays put together a couple weeks of good consistent baseball they can secure a postseason spot for the first time since 2020. Throughout this entire season the Blue Jays have been consistently inconsistent. Meaning that they can’t seem to play good baseball for a long period of time.

They constantly go on runs when they look like they can be a team that challenges for the World Series and then the next minute they look like a team that might miss the playoffs. A perfect example of this just happened in their last two series.

They took 3 out of 4 against the Yankees in New York and then at home to the not so good Angels, they got swept while only scoring 3 runs in 3 games. This is why this upcoming month is so important for the Jays because if they want to have any postseason success they need to show everyone that for a significant period of time they can play winning baseball.

Another important aspect in September is the roster expansion. At the start of September every team must have 28 players on the roster which is plus 2 from the 26 that you must have throughout the rest of the season. It is also worth noting that the Jays can only bring up one more pitcher as you can only have 14 pitchers on your roster in September. Considering all things the Jays have some different options at their disposal.

On the pitching end, they could bring up Zack Pop who they just sent down to make room for Tim Mayza’s return, they could bring up Julien Merryweather who is currently on a rehab stint in AAA but he is pitching very well. They also could bring up other pitchers like Trent Thornton, Matt Gage or Tayler Saucedo.

Since the Jays have seen these pitchers before my bet would be on one of Pop or Merryweather. Pop, who was just acquired at the deadline, was good in his little stint in the majors and they obviously like him because they got him at the deadline. For me I would think they give Merryweather one last shot. He has shown flashes of how good he can be and I just feel like with his excellent rehab stint in the minors the Jays might give him the opportunity.

For the position players, the Jays could go with one of Moreno, Lopez or even Vinny Capra who we saw earlier this year. I think the most likely scenario is Moreno getting called up as he can probably provide the most value at the major league level out of the three. But you can also make a case that if he doesn't see steady playing time then there is no use for him to be sitting on the bench and then that would make you point to a guy like Lopez who can provide flexibility off the bench.

While I believe one of those guys might get the call up, one guy that many people might not even think of is Yoshi Tsutsugo. A couple weeks ago the Jays signed Tsutsugo to a minor league deal and since then he has been tearing it up in AAA. If the Jays wanted to bring him up they would need to sign him to a major league deal and then make room on the 40-man roster. Tsutsugo is interesting as he is a lefty power bat that could help in the middle of the Jays lineup as long as he is hitting well. He doesn't have a great track record in the MLB so I'm sure the Jays will be cautious.

Whoever the Jays bring up won't make September any easier as the Jays are in for a hell of a ride over the next month. The Jays have a real shot to contend for the World Series, will they want it bad enough? We will find out in a month’s time.