After winning Game 1 of the World Series in dominant fashion yesterday, the Blue Jays are looking to take a 2-0 lead in the series before they head to L.A. for Game 3 on Monday. They’ll be doing so without star infielder Bo Bichette in the lineup, however. That might sound concerning to Jays fans, given that he’s just be activated from a long layoff that had stretched from the regular season all throughout the playoffs to this point, but Mitch Bannon of The Athletic relays that (according to Jays manager John Schneider) that extended layoff is exactly the reason for today’s day off.
“He’ll be ready to play today, for sure,” Schneider said, as relayed by Bannon. “But really, after the layoff, didn’t want to kill him, you know.”
While Bichette won’t be starting at second base like he did yesterday (or his native position of shortstop, for that matter), Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet relays that the infielder is actually feeling better than expected after his first game action since early September and that Bichette told Schneider he’d be available off the bench today. That’s excellent news for the Blue Jays, as it means they’ll have one of their best hitters available if high leverage moment comes up at some point in today’s game.
Bichette recorded a single and a walk in three plate appearances yesterday and is coming off a regular season where he slashed .311/.357/.483 in 139 games. It goes without saying that having him in the lineup would be preferable to leaving him on the bench, but in conjunction with tomorrow’s travel day today’s decision could allow the Jays to push Bichette more throughout the seven-game series. In the meantime, Isiah Kiner-Falefa is batting eighth and in the lineup at second base in Bichette’s place.
Turning to another injured player, Nicholson-Smith relays that veteran right-hander Chris Bassitt is dealing with a cut/blister on his pitching hand. Bassitt is available to pitch in any game, including Game 2 this evening, after moving to the bullpen for the postseason. That Bassitt won’t be sat down while his blister heals is good news for the Jays considering his excellent work across three scoreless relief appearances this October, but it’s still a concerning update given that even minor injuries to a pitcher’s throwing hand can impact grip and command. It wouldn’t be a shock if the Blue Jays tried to avoid using Bassitt in high leverage moments until they have confidence about how the blister is impacting his mechanics.
In off the field news, meanwhile, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly could be considering calling it a career after making it to the World Series for the first time across his decades-long career in baseball. Heyman notes that friends of Mattingly “believe retirement is a possibility” after this season, while Mattingly himself didn’t tip his hand on the matter and simply told Heyman “You never know, you never know” when asked about his future. If Mattingly were to call it a career, he’d do so as one of the most accomplished baseball icons of recent vintage. He earned an MVP award during a 14-year MLB career as a player and spent an additional 12 years managing the Dodgers and Marlins, the latter of whom he earned Manager of the Year honors for managing to the playoffs through a COVID-19 outbreak during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
If the Jays could manage to win it all, it would be a nice send off for Mattingly if he wants to call it a day. Get a ring and walk off into the sunset.
Best thing is that Mattingly could possibly get a ring and it won’t be with the Yankee$!
Or the Dodger$!
You could see Bassitt going to his finger a couple times last night but he got thru it. Throw some super glue on the finger and you’re good to go
@DwayneMurphyFav
Most of baseball pitcher history is filled with that. Why are you surprised?
The Blue Jay$ are owned by Roger$ and have the fifth highe$t payroll in the game. They’re not the little engine that could. Until this season, they’ve underperformed.
Yeah. The Jay$ are really killing the league with all of the deferred contracts. I’m sure they will have the caboose coming off the rails at some point though.
Get real. They are one of the teams doing the right thing and having an owner who spends just the right amount on quality free agents. They aren’t one who doesn’t obtain any decent ones, and they aren’t one who hands out deferred billion dollar contracts to anyone and everyone. The Jays certainly aren’t cheap like the Pirates, but comparing them to the Yankee$, Dodger$, Padre$, or Met$ is laughable.
He might have to delay retirement for a few seasons to get that ring.
At least Jose Urena will finally get a ring, regardless of outcome
The Jays are going to win the series. LA has a very overrated offenses this season and they K too much with too many routine fly outs and pop outs to an infielder because they’re a bunch of hero’s swinging for the fences. The Jays on the other hand don’t K and are working the count which is going to force Dave to manage and make decisions. The Dodgers play their best ball when Dave doesn’t have to manage or make decisions like in the NLCS.
@DigglinDickers
4 hits so far against Yamamoto, tonight and 1 run. Yamamoto put their bats to sleep and the Jays bats have not been patient.
I still think the Jays got this. Up until the 7th the Dodgers didn’t have a hit since the first and now had a good top of the 8th, but they don’t take too many good at bats. We’ll see on Monday how many walks Glasnow gives up and if Dave has to go to the pen early. I hope I’m wrong since I’m a Dodgers fan.
Think positive.
I try to think positive but some where along the line I turned into Randy Quaid from Major League.
Dig – Great pitching beats great hitting. You think Snell is gonna be bad again his next start? Dodgers pitching will likely prevail.
Yamamoto (mr. Who me?) chucking at Springer’s head….knowing he was on concussion list a couple of months ago.
What a dirty pitcher. (Not in the “filthy” way either)
Yamamoto is one of the nice guys in baseball, bruh.
Yeah, he should be serving up a meatball to Springer. Get real….
I rather enjoyed Springer hitting the deck multiple times in his at bats tonight.
He’s a very talented player, and it’s a shame he felt the need to cheat when he was younger. More shameful he never felt the need to apologize. But hey, that’s his choice.
Yamamoto reclaiming the inside part of the plate is key to handling Springer.
Terrible take
Which part?
I second that. Met him many times now class act and excited to be in American baseball.
I thought trolls were supposed to rhyme…
Lol okay, did you watch gm2?
Did you watch game 1? It’s gonna be a good series.
“Meanwhile” should START the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.