Saturday, as his dugout slowly pooled with rainwater, and it became eminently clear his Toronto Blue Jays would have to resume that night’s suspended game the next day before playing another and catching a flight out of town, someone told Charlie Montoyo his best player had “felt something” in his right knee.
“We’re going through a series of tests right now,” Montoyo said Sunday. “And part of the tests is an MRI to see what he’s got. So, that’s the news this morning.”
The news did not get better. After dropping their first game of the day to the Rays, 3-2, the Blue Jays announced Bichette was being placed on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain. Not great, guys. Not great at all.
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Bichette — one of Toronto’s best young players, if not one of baseball’s — leaves a crater at the top of Montoyo’s lineup and at a premium defensive position on the diamond. The Blue Jays manager didn’t want to speculate as to the severity of Bichette’s injury Sunday morning, opting to await test results before commenting further. But you don’t typically go for an MRI when everything feels fine.
“He felt it right before he went to hit. He was stretching a little bit and that’s when he felt it,” Montoyo said. “I’m going to wait to see all the tests and see where we’ll go from there. I don’t really know any more than what I just told you. He’s going through all the tests. So, we’ll see what the MRI says and all that stuff.”
To say that Bichette has been Toronto’s most important player to this point in the season would not be an exaggeration. He leads the team in hits, doubles, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He has a hit in 13 of his 14 games, with homers in four of his past five.
And — incredibly — you can make a case he’s been unlucky, as his .433 wOBA falls more than 30 points below his .465 xwOBA, a metric that attempts to predict what a player’s offensive production ought to look like based on the quality of contact he’s been making.
Saturday, Randal Grichuk said he believes Bichette “has a very good chance to be the best Blue Jays hitter ever” and, considering how things have gone over his first 60 games in the uniform, it’s not an absurd thing to say.
Bo Bichette has played 59 career games. During that time he has 82 hits, including 38 extra-base hits.
In #BlueJays history, no one has more hits through 59 career games.
In MLB history, only Joe DiMaggio has more extra-base hits through 59 career games.
Bichette’s hitting. 322/.365/.596 over his first 276 career plate appearances, with a 152 OPS+. His 83 hits are the most of any Blue Jay in their first 60 games and he’s one of only three players in the history of the game to put up 38 extra-base hits over their first 59 career contests.
It’s just a huge loss for a team that now has only four regulars in its batting order boasting an above-average OPS+. Teoscar Hernandez is having a dynamite year; Cavan Biggio has reached base steadily; and Rowdy Tellez and Travis Shaw have each had their moments when in the lineup. But Bichette was carrying a massive load for this offence and the run generation his 1.065 OPS brought will not be easy to replace.
Of course, this is happening right across the league. As of Sunday morning, 191 players were on the MLB injured list, including some of the sport’s biggest names, such as Justin Verlander, Aroldis Chapman and Josh Donaldson.
Aaron Judge, MLB’s home run leader through Friday, joined them this weekend with a calf issue. Same for Ronald Acuna Jr., one of the game’s brightest young stars, who’s out with a wrist problem. And Stephen Strasburg, who has carpal tunnel neuritis.
The list, quite literally, goes on. Baseball players are extremely routine-oriented athletes — ones that have been preparing for 162-game seasons in highly specified and meticulous fashions for their entire adult lives. But pandemic baseball has demanded that they prepare differently, and more quickly, than ever before ahead of an accelerated campaign that will stress them in ways they are unaccustomed to. And the toll it’s taking on their bodies is evident.
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It was all so predictable. And, unfortunately, it’s unlikely the Blue Jays have seen the last of it. The club is scheduled to play eight games this week, and 25 over the next 24 days. And at no point during that stretch are they in the same city for more than six nights. This week, the club starts in Buffalo, heads to Baltimore for three days, returns to Buffalo for one, and then goes off to Florida for four.
It’s a grueling schedule, one that will stretch players both physically and mentally. More bumps and bruises are bound to develop. Toronto’s depth will be tested, as was already the case Sunday with Hatch taking over a game in the fourth inning, trying to get as many outs as possible, with Sam Gaviglio, Julian Merryweather and Sean Reid-Foley all waiting on the taxi squad, available to be activated if needed for the second game of the day later that afternoon.
But if baseball players, baseball fans and humans in general have grown accustomed to anything in 2020, it’s bad things happening. And the need for resilience. As much as its thanks to his innate talent, Bichette’s gangbusters season is a product of the tenacity and perseverance he’s displayed over his young life in the game. And for however long they’re without him, the Blue Jays will have to display a bit of their own.
“I’m more impressed with his work ethic and how hard he works than what he’s doing on the field,” Montoyo said of Bichette. “It’s not luck. People are good because they work hard. And he’s one of those guys.”
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
