Blue Jays, Rays now share MLB’s longest playoff losing streak, and here’s why they keep flaming out in October

For the entire communicate in regards to the AL East being the game’s hardest department, the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays went out quite feebly in the Wild Card Series this week. Both groups scored just one run in two-game sweeps by the hands of the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins, respectively and they made extra headlines with their sloppy protection and careless baserunning than with anything else sure. The Blue Jays and Rays are going house for the wintry weather.

“They just outplayed us,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com after Wednesday’s Game 2 loss against Texas. “We probably didn’t do ourselves any favors, but that’s a good Rangers team over there, and we just got outplayed.”

Tampa’s postseason scoring drought reached 33 innings ahead of Curtis Mead pulled an RBI unmarried via the precise facet in the 7th inning of Game 2. It was once, for all intents and functions, a meaningless run. The Rays trailed 7-0 on the time. It was once too little, too overdue. That 33-inning scoreless streak is the second-longest in postseason historical past.

For the Rays, that is turning into a development. They have a really perfect common season, person who some distance outpaces expectancies for a group with that stage of payroll and possession funding, then they cross out quietly in the postseason. Look at their closing 3 seasons:

The Rays received the pennant throughout the shortened pandemic season in 2020 and they have now not received a unmarried postseason sequence in some other yr since going to the 2008 World Series. They carry out smartly — rather well — throughout the common season, then get driven apart in the postseason through groups that perform in a similar way (despite the fact that now not somewhat in addition to Tampa) however spend more cash. 

Teams constructed round platoons and optimizing explicit abilities of position gamers generally tend to have a ceiling. It’s now not simply the Rays. We’ve noticed it with the post-MVP Christian Yelich generation Milwaukee Brewers and additionally the 2021 San Francisco Giants. They’re constructed higher for the common season marathon than the postseason dash. Star energy is the good separator in October and those groups lack it.

Other than Randy Arozarena, the Rays should not have somebody able to striking a group on his again on offense, and they did not convey in some other bat after you have close down through the Cleveland Guardians in the Wild Card Series closing yr. The repeated carelessness in the sphere in the Wild Card Series suggests the Rays caved below the power of an offense that gives no respiring room.

Tampa’s pitchers all wreck down — once a year they lose 2-3 guys to Tommy John surgical operation and it is an organizational flaw at this level, now not a fluke — and they lack the high-end ability to compensate. They’re a excellent group with excellent gamers, however excellent gamers simplest take you up to now, and until possession ups payroll, how are the Rays intended to convey in the offensive difference-makers they lack?

“You’d rather be playing your best ball in October than you would be throughout the rest of the year,” Rays shortstop Taylor Walls told MLB.com. “But 162 is tough, man. You can’t ever overlook the success we’ve had throughout those amount of games throughout the past few years. It sucks that we get in these situations and we just fell short the past couple years.”

As for the Blue Jays, the entire is lower than the sum of the portions. They are 0-6 in the postseason in the Bo Bichette/Vladimir Guerrero Jr. generation and they’ve completed no nearer than seven video games again of first position with the ones two. There’s a worrisome development of gamers going backward right here. Consider:

• Vlad Jr. was once excellent in 2023 however now not in reality nice. His 2023 was once worse than his 2022, and his 2022 was once worse than his 2021. At age 24 and together with his ability, this dude will have to be contending for MVPs once a year.
• Alek Manoah went from 3rd position in the Cy Young balloting closing yr to actually out of the image this yr. He was once demoted again to Triple-A on Aug. 11 and by no means pitched in a sport after that. It’s unclear the place he is at bodily.
• Alejandro Kirk was once an All-Star in 2022 and then he misplaced just about 100 issues off his OPS and slugged .358 in 2023. Danny Jansen had taken over because the beginning catcher ahead of breaking his hand on Sept. 1.

That’s 3 cornerstone sort gamers attaining nice heights early in the careers however now not development on it, and as an alternative sliding again. There isn’t any reason why Kirk, Manoah, and Vlad Jr. cannot soar again in 2024. They do not lack ability. But when one younger participant backslides, it is dangerous. When two backslide, it is a pink flag. When 3 backslide, alarms will have to be going off. Something’s flawed.

“I think that we can all look at each other in the face and say collectively we fell short of executing what we wanted to do,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told MLB.com following Wednesday’s Game 2 loss.

Now that the Minnesota Twins have snapped their report 18-game losing streak, the Blue Jays and Rays share the longest energetic postseason losing streak at seven video games. They’re each caught in the dust. Tampa has a really perfect common season and then falls flat in October. The Blue Jays combat teeth and nail for a wild-card spot, then arise empty in the postseason. It’s an annual factor now.

How do the Rays and Blue Jays take your next step? Tampa should determine out how you can keep their pitchers wholesome, first and fundamental. Otherwise I’m now not positive what extra they can do rather than up payroll and convey in extra high-end ability. They have to stop talking about making a run at guys like Freddie Freeman and if truth be told cross get a game-changer like that one day. The smartest group in baseball act is starting to ring hole.

The Blue Jays seem to have deeper problems organizationally. Important younger gamers are going backward and there is something keeping again a bunch with the ability to be higher than they had been the previous couple of years. They assorted the lineup with lefty bats this yr and have an incredible pitching workforce, and it did not assist. Ultimately, this offense continues to fall in need of expectancies.

“I’ve got to get better on everything,” Guerrero told Sportsnet. “I’ll take it as a good season, but I expect more from myself.”