A lot of things are easy to forget when you haven't won a playoff series in 21 years — for Twins fans, here's a fun one to get reacquainted with: Opposing media losing their minds.
The reporters and columnists at the Toronto Sun, Sportsnet and The Globe and Mail didn't hesitate in ripping the Blue Jays after their season ended in a whimper, scoring one run in 18 innings against the Twins.
Here's a sampling of how they saw it. Tap on their names to see their full reports.
What an embarrassing ending it was for the disappointing Blue Jays. Sad and pathetic, really.
A game and a wild-card series given up on by a management group trying to pre-determine the outcome of sport, rather than allowing the professional athletes involved to do what they are well-paid to accomplish.
Instead, club president Mark Shapiro, general manager Ross Atkins, the Blue Jays computers and the far too agreeable manager, John Schneider, wore the game-defeating uniforms, allowing this series and the season to disappear in 18 quick innings, in a span of analytic defeat, mental errors on the base path, without much hitting or many runs scored and a series that should now bring into question everything and everyone tied to this current edition of the Jays.
[Jose] Berrios was dealing and replaced by [Yusei] Kikuchi, a starter who had an outstanding season, but regressed in the late going.
An homage to analytics, the move immediately enraged a fan base that already had great difficulty embracing this team throughout an 89-win season that failed to meet self-proclaimed expectations. And as much as many are calling for Schneider's carcass, let it be known that the call was made by a cabal of co-conspirators.
Cathal Kelly, The Globe and Mail
After Toronto's latest headfirst swan dive into an empty pool on Wednesday, the Blue Jays have a new historic flub to kvetch about – that time Vlad Guerrero Jr. fell asleep in the middle of an elimination game.
Odds are you've already seen it in slow motion a dozen times. Guerrero standing off second base in the fifth inning. A man on third, Bo Bichette at the plate, two out and the count full.
Guerrero wanders too far from the bag and Minnesota shortstop Carlos Correa begins to creep in behind him. Twins' pitcher Sonny Gray spins. Far too late, Guerrero figures out what's happening.
Dan Shulman called it in real time. For future viewings, they ought to dub in Sir David Attenborough.
Gregory Strong, The Globe and Mail
The early hook for Jose Berrios will be a hot talking point as the dust settles on another Blue Jays post-season that ended in a first-round sweep.
All the pitching moves in the world won't matter if the offence doesn't deliver.
Factor in a big basepath blunder and a lack of timely hitting and it's no surprise Toronto is still looking for its first playoff win since 2016.
Even if Kikuchi had put up a zero, this one felt like the Blue Jays were managing scared because it ran counter to the way they usually operate, even in a win-to-earn-tomorrow scenario.
Fairly or not, players could read that as a lack of faith in them.
"Well, I had an idea it was coming," shortstop Bo Bichette said of the change. "We have all the trust in the world in Kuchi, but to see someone rolling like that, the way he was pitching, I think he deserves some trust in the biggest moments. And what happened, happened."
Said Vladimir Guerrero Jr., speaking through interpreter Hector Lebron: "Everybody was surprised. Things that you cannot control. You can ask yourself many times. It's not our decision but we were very surprised."
When Kikuchi entered the game three of the next four hitters were Max Kepler, Alex Kirilloff, and Matt Wallner. Kepler has been slightly better against right-handed pitchers than southpaws in 2023, and both Kirilloff and Wallner had wRC+ marks of 37 or less vs. lefties.
The way the Blue Jays saw it, Minnesota would either have to lift multiple dangerous left-handed bats from the game early, or suffer a miserable fourth inning at a significant matchup disadvantage.
While that sounds like a situation that backed the Twins into a corner, what it really did was provide them with an instant offensive opportunity if they were willing to sacrifice a little late-inning flexibility.
