The Toronto Blue Jays are one-third of the way to duplicating what the San Francisco Giants accomplished just three years ago in the LCS.
The 2012 Giants are the last team to come back from a 3-1 deficit. They rallied against the St Louis Cardinals winning the last three games (5-0, 6-1, 9-0) in the National League Championship Series and then went on to capture the World Series in four straight over the Detroit Tigers.
As all Blue Jays fans know, Toronto was down 3-1 to the Royals, but now they trail 3-2.
The odds remain against the Blue Jays winning back to back games in Kansas City, but this year’s Jays resilient team has a pedigree for dramatics and comebacks.
Toronto sits 4-0 in elimination games outscoring the opponent 26-9 in those four games.
There has been a trend from the regular season that has carried over to the post-season.
Over the course of 162 games, the Jays were a whopping 77-13 when scoring five runs or more and just a paltry 16-56 when scoring four runs or less.
In 10 playoff games, Toronto is 5-0 when scoring five or more and 0-5 when scoring four or less.
Having to rely on at least five runs a game is living on the edge.
Yes, Toronto has had a great run (no pun intended) when the offense has been unleashed, but I am convinced if the Jays are to pull it off against the Royals, the pitching must shine in game six, and if Toronto wins, also in game seven.
The Jays need to show they can win a 2-1 or a 3-2 type of game when the stakes are at the highest in a hostile environment like Kansas City.
Toronto has yet to be involved in a game decided by one run in its 10 post-season games. In the regular season, the Jays were just 15-28 in one run games.
Numbers and stats can always be slanted. One cannot dispute the math that Kansas City is in a better position than Toronto.
While I would bet on the Royals to complete the task and repeat as AL champions, there remains a mystique about the 2015 Blue Jays that suggests they should not be written off.
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For Blue Jays fans that are hoping the 2015 ALCS is a complete reverse of 1985, here
are the results of the Jays-Royals Championship Series from 30 years ago.
Kansas City won the series, 4–3. (Road team result listed first)
1 October 8, 1985 Kansas City Royals – 1, Toronto Blue Jays – 6
2 October 9 Kansas City Royals – 5, Toronto Blue Jays – 6 (10 innings)
3 October 11 Toronto Blue Jays – 5, Kansas City Royals – 6
4 October 12 Toronto Blue Jays – 3, Kansas City Royals – 1
5 October 13 Toronto Blue Jays – 0, Kansas City Royals – 2
6 October 15 Kansas City Royals – 5, Toronto Blue Jays – 3
7 October 16 Kansas City Royals – 6, Toronto Blue Jays – 2
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With three weekends remaining, five of the six CFL playoff spots have been spoken for.
Either BC, Winnipeg or Montreal will get the last post-season berth, although neither of the three deserves it.
The Lions, Blue Bombers and Alouettes are all sitting with 10 points.
BC and Montreal have three games left and Winnipeg has just two remaining.
The 5-10 Lions (who have lost 5 of their last 6) control their own destiny but they arguably have the toughest schedule remaining.
BC will host 10-5 Hamilton tonight. The Lions are just 1-5 against East Division opponents.
They also play at 9-6 Toronto on Oct 30th before hosting 12-4 Calgary on the 7th.
The 5-11 Bombers host 9-6 Ottawa Saturday afternoon before closing at Toronto on Nov 6th.
Montreal visits Toronto this evening, play at Edmonton Nov 1st and entertain lowly Saskatchewan on Nov 8th.
Because the 5-10 Als are in the East, Montreal must finish with more points than both BC and Winnipeg.
It’s embarrassing that one of the three will make it with a losing record.
This is one of those rare years with five good teams, all battling for top spot in their division, and the rest badly failing the test.
From the Quote Rack:
A Japanese swordsman, dubbed a modern-day Samurai, standing 30 feet from a pitching machine split a 100 mile-per-hour fastball in half. What started out as a fastball ended up being a splitter.
Maybe Michigan (after a final-play gaffe against Michigan State) should have tried Chuck Pagano’s fake punt.
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
Michigan lost to Michigan State on the very last play of the game. It was a “Kick 6”.
The Miami Herald reports that 216 applicants tried out for the U of Florida place kicker position. Of those, 175 were rejects from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver http://alwaysfunny.com/
Still not quite sure what was going on with that Colts fake punt. Maybe Indianapolis figured the Patriots defenders would all just fall down laughing?
Now Starbucks has a new “Beast Mode frappuccino, in honor of Marshawn Lynch. So do you have have to order it without saying a word?
Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
A baseball fan’s $10-million lawsuit over ESPN announcers poking fun at him for dozing off during a Red Sox game was dismissed. The judge told him to count his blessings.
The Pittsburgh Penguins said it felt strange to start the season with three losses. Well, everyone except Phil Kessel.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
And in case you missed it:
Officials of Scotland’s Celtic soccer team, responding to complaints of bad body odor in the stands, sent a letter to several fans urging them to bathe before attending home games. Hey, it’s either that or schedule more games with FC Cologne.
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times