The Toronto Blue Jays will meet up with their four deadline acquisitions on Thursday in Minnesota before starting a four-game series against the new-look Twins.
Relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop, infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield and right-hander Mitch White are expected to join the team after being acquired in deals on Tuesday.
With outfielder George Springer battling a lingering elbow injury and right-hander Ross Stripling placed on the IL with a glute/hip strain on Wednesday, Merrifield and White figure to be needed this weekend.
Bass and Pop, meanwhile, should help a Blue Jays bullpen that is short on high-leverage arms.
Much of the pre-game attention will be on Merrifield, who is sure to be asked about his vaccination status after he missed a trip to Toronto with the Kansas City Royals last month.
Here’s a look at the Blue Jays-Twins series.
Probable pitchers
Thursday, 7:40 p.m. ET / 4:40 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Alek Manoah (11-5, 2.43 ERA) vs. Minnesota RHP Sonny Gray (6-3, 3.41 ERA)
Friday, 8:10 p.m. ET / 5:10 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (8-4, 4.96 ERA) vs. Minnesota TBD
Saturday, 7:10 p.m. ET / 4:10 p.m. PT: Toronto TBD vs. Minnesota RHP Dylan Bundy (6-5, 5.04 ERA)
Sunday, 2:10 p.m. ET / 11:10 a.m. PT: Toronto TBD vs. Minnesota RHP Chris Archer (2-5, 4.05 ERA)
The Blue Jays (58-46) settled for a split of a mini-series at Tampa after a 3-2 loss to the Rays on Wednesday.
Yusei Kikuchi, in his second start back from a stint on the IL, looked good at first before the Rays got to the inconsistent lefty for one run in the third and another in the fourth. That was enough for Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider, who gave Kikuchi the hook after 74 pitches.
Offensively, the Blue Jays managed just four hits. Teoscar Hernandez was the bright spot with a solo home run and RBI double.
Before the game, Schneider said White, acquired from the Dodgers, is a candidate to start on Saturday in Stripling’s place.
Kevin Gausman would be in line to start Sunday’s game, though Toronto hasn’t named a starter yet. He pitched a gem on Tuesday, allowing just one hit and no runs in eight innings as Toronto won 3-1.
Toronto is in the first wild-card spot, two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
The AL Central-leading Twins (55-49) were buyers at the deadline, and three of their new players made an immediate impact on Wednesday.
Jorge Lopez, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, nailed down his 20th save of the year in his Twins debut as Minnesota beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1.
Fellow reliever Michael Fulmer, acquired from Detroit, pitched a scoreless sixth against his old team, while catcher Sandy Leon, acquired from the Cleveland Guardians, had a two-run double as Minnesota won the series 2-1.
Minnesota is one game ahead of Cleveland for top spot in the AL Central. The Guardians and the Chicago White Sox, who are two games back of Minnesota, weren’t nearly as active as the Twins at the deadline.
The other new guy
The Twins also upgraded their starting rotation at the deadline, acquiring Tyler Mahle from the Cincinnati Reds.
The right-hander is 5-7 with a 4.40 ERA this season.
The Twins haven’t named a starter for Friday and Mahle hasn’t pitched since July 30, so that is the likely spot for his Minnesota debut. It would be an intriguing pitching matchup with ex-Twin Jose Berrios lined up to start for Toronto.
With their team ERA 19th in the majors, pitching was a priority for the Twins, who haven’t won a playoff game since 2004. By picking up Mahle, Fulmer and Lopez, they have improved on the mound and should be poised to make their third post-season appearance in four years.
Mahle did not make the trip to Toronto with the Reds in May because of vaccination status, so his status for any games at Rogers Centre in the playoffs could be in question.
The Twins won two of three in Toronto in June, hammering Blue Jays pitchers for 20 combined runs.
Gausman didn’t get out of the fourth inning in an 8-6 loss in the series finale, while Kikuchi (who doesn’t pitch this series) was roughed up in the opener (a 9-3 loss).
Berrios got the win against his old team in the second game, striking out 13 in seven innings in a 12-3 victory.
Up next
The Blue Jays are in Baltimore for three games against an Orioles team that was a seller at the trade deadline, despite being in wild-card contention.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
