Blue Jays, add oil!
They used to be known as the “Blow” Jays because of their often disappointing final month of performance. Worse still, they have not won the World Series in 28 years.
But the way the Toronto Blue Jays played made fans start dreaming about the pennant in this special season.
Homecoming helps. The team returned to Roger Centre since July 30 – after a 670 day absence – thanks to an easing of restrictive travel policy between the United States and Canada.
The surprising September power surge 13-1 saw Blue Jays jumping from the No.4 spot in the American League East to now the top spot in the wild card race ahead of rival such as New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
At the time of writing, the only Canadian team is playing against the American league best team Tampa Bay Rays, which has an eight-game lead. But if they keep playing the way they did, no one would be surprised if they overtook the Rays and became dominant in the playoff spot.
Yes, they dropped the opening game of the series against league-worst Baltimore Orioles, but they came back to win an 11-10 game, followed by a sweeping 11-2 and eventually a convincing 22-7 victory just over the weekend.
I honestly do not expect too much from the team, given its last World Series won was 1993 when I was still at Toronto.
Back then, the team had the best hitters in the game including top players like John Olerud, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar and all-time stealing king Rickey Henderson.
This year, three of the top four hitters, namely Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien were the league’s highest run scorers at the time of writing.
Specially, Guerrero, son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, is leading the league in home runs with a blast yesterday that put him ahead of the Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani, the likely Most Valuable Player candidate this season.
As in 1993 season, the whole batting line-up is formidable, reminding the team of 1993 season that even the No.7 hitter gave fans breathless moment at the plate.
But even better, the team is much younger. Guerrero Jr is only 22. So is Bo Bichette, 23 and son of star player Dante Bichette. The team third second generation star player Cavan Biggio, 26, son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, was unfortunately on disabled list.
Right, pitching is always a problem, but not if the team keeps scoring 10 runs per game. Well, that does give hopes of how far Blue Jays can go this year.
How I wish I could be in Toronto, but any fantasy would have been killed by a three-week quarantine upon return to Hong Kong.
But you have me screaming and cheering in a city 15 hours away. Add oil, Blue Jays!
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