The brink comes at you quickly in the post-season and one afternoon into their return to October, the Blue Jays suddenly find themselves staring down a two-and-out. (ShiDavidi)
Still, that the Blue Jays are at this point after a strong finish to the season earned them the top wild-card spot and the right to host the series, drawing a charged-up crowd announced at 47,402, will be jarring for a group that expected better.
Castillo then kept their energy down by coming out hot, with seven of the 11 pitches in a three-up, three-down first coming in at 99 m.p.h. or higher, including two at 100-plus. With that kind of stuff, nearly two m.p.h. above his season average, GM Jerry Dipoto’s prized deadline addition recently extended for $108-million over five years was going to be tough sledding no matter what, but made rallying all the more difficult.
Left-handed hitters did most of the damage against Manoah during the season, batting .237/.313/.367 against him with 11 homers compared to .159/.211/.249 and five homers for righties. To counter the disadvantage, he worked on a front hip two-seamer that would back onto the plate and lefties hit just .215 and slugged .
Given how many times the Blue Jays have shaken off difficult losses and emerged from trying stretches this season — including a four-game sweep in Seattle July 7-10 that led to Charlie Montoyo’s firing as manager and Mariners skip Scott Servais saying it “was pivotal for our season moving in the right direction” — it would be foolish to count against another bounce-back.
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