TORONTO – John Schneider, tell us that Alek Manoah is starting the wild-card series opener without telling us that Alek Manoah is starting the wild-card series opener.
“May have made (the decision) last night,” the interim manager, his voice a touch raspy from the previous night’s clinch party, said Saturday before a 10-0 Toronto Blue Jays pounding of the Boston Red Sox. “It’s great to have options. And we would feel really good with him on the mound in Game 1 of a wild-card series.”
Rightly so, and at this point it’s hard to fathom the Blue Jays using him on turn in next Wednesday’s regular-season finale, thereby ruling him out of the wild-card round, even if home-field advantage is on the line.
Given that Yusei Kikuchi followed the big righty with three innings and 45 pitches of relief Friday, a good platform outing ahead of a start, it certainly looks like the Japanese lefty is set up for Game 162, locking Manoah in for Oct. 7.
“You’re getting good, man,” quipped Schneider. “It definitely gives you that option. (Kikuchi) has the ability to do that. So, yeah, it definitely gives you another option, for sure.”
Options aside, a second straight beatdown of the Red Sox moved the Blue Jays (89-69) closer to rendering the whole Manoah-to-lock-up-home-field-advantage discussion moot, shrinking their magic number to four over the Seattle Mariners (87-70), who beat Oakland 5-1, and two on the Tampa Bay Rays (86-72), who were at Houston.
In some ways, the more intriguing discussion right now is about who should start in Game 2 of the wild-card round. And as is their way, the Blue Jays have left themselves options on that front, too, with both Ross Stripling and Kevin Gausman set up for the occasion.
Based on the current rotation order, Stripling, who threw six shutout innings to close out a strong regular season that was vital to the club’s success, would actually be on turn to follow Manoah in the wild-card round, with Gausman to follow.
That gives the Blue Jays the flexibility to be creative, like using Stripling in Game 2 to try and close out a series with Gausman ready to start the first game of the division series if they win the opener, or going Gausman to try and force a decisive third contest should they drop Game 1.
Back in the 2020 post-season, the Blue Jays showed they aren’t afraid to make unorthodox calls by pushing Hyun Jin Ryu back to the second game of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays, dropping Taijuan Walker to an if-necessary Game 3 for a Matt Shoemaker/Robbie Ray piggyback in the opener.
There’s peril in getting too cute during the post-season, of course, beginning with the possibility of disrupting the routines of their starters.
But a two-game sweep with Stripling starting the second game would at least give the Blue Jays a chance to optimize for the division series, with Gausman in Games 1 and 4, Manoah handling Game 2 and options on Stripling/Jose Berrios for Games 3 and 5.
If Gausman pitches Game 2 with Stripling in Game 3 to advance, Berrios ends up lined up for 1 and 5 if needed in the division series with Manoah, Gausman and Stripling in between.
A flip of the Manoah and Gausman spots in the above scenarios is also on the menu of options for the Blue Jays, all of which put an enormous amount of importance on Game 1, and underscores the importance of Stripling, whose emergence helped underpin the club’s success.
“How much he’s helped us goes unnoticed sometimes,” said Schneider. “Today was the best capper for what he’s been doing all year.”
Starting the season in the bullpen until Hyun Jin Ryu’s season-ending elbow injury, the pending free agent ended up posting career-bests in starts (24), innings (136.1), earned-run average (3.01) and WHIP (1.005). Against the Red Sox, he scattered four hits and didn’t allow anything resembling a rally.
“Mostly staying healthy, and physically, this is probably the best I’ve felt in the months of August and September, which have always been my hardest months,” Stripling said when asked what he’s happiest about. “As I approached a workload that I’ve never had before, I’m still really happy with the way I feel and to finish on a strong note like that and carry that into the post-season feels good for sure.”
The offence, meanwhile, banged out 21 hits before a Rogers Centre crowd of 44,612 and the real victory for the Red Sox is that they managed to avoid an even less flattering scoreline.
Teoscar Hernandez, who had four hits, and Danny Jansen, with three knocks, both went deep, every Blue Jays starter reached and after Bo Bichette went 4-for-4, Otto Lopez hit for him in the seventh and collected his first major-league hit, a groundball single up the middle.
On a personal level, Jansen said he’s felt calmer in big-game moments this year and believes the experience of last year’s one-game-short post-season chase has helped the team as a whole stay more even-keeled.
“When we’re at our best – that’s where we’re at,” said Jansen. “The offence can put up numbers like today and do these things. We have full trust in our bullpen and the rotation. It’s about just trying to be calm and knowing that we can do it.”
No day-after hangover for them, just another step toward the wild-card round and in sorting out their array of options and possibilities.
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.
