Who Would Jays Start In Wild Card Game

Apr 3, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey (43) and pitcher J.A. Happ (48) and pitcher Mark Buehrle (56) and pitcher Josh Johnson (55) look on from the top step of the dugout against the Cleveland Indians at Rogers Centre. The Indians beat the Blue Jays 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

LET’S GO BLUE JAYS!!!!!

Oh yeah…It’s October.

But let’s pretend the Jays were allowed to participate in October baseball and had a win or go home wild card game.

Let’s also assume they clinched their wild card spot a week ago so they have the luxury of picking who they want to start the game, rather than going off their rotation schedule.

With the way the rotation looked at the end of the season that gives the Jays the choice of Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, J.A. Happ, Todd Redmond and Esmil Rogers.

We know all those starters are capable of putting up zero’s.

But there also all capable of getting their pitch count up, giving up a bunch of runs, and getting taken out of a game early and making the bullpen take care of the rest of the game.

How did the Jays end up 29th in starter’s ERA again?

So Happ and Rogers are immediately not in the conversation because they’re the most prone to have an outing where they get roughed up.

Todd Redmond only had 2 starts where he gave up more than 3 runs. The problem is one of those starts was his last start where he didn’t get out of the 1st inning. You can’t bet on your season with a guy who just got roughed up. Add that to his lack of experience and he sort of unfairly wouldn’t be a candidate to start a wild card game for the Jays.

So that leaves Buehrle and Dickey. You kind of knew that all along but sometimes you got to ramble to make a post long enough!

They were both good starters after May this season. And there overall numbers for the season are very similar.

The one place where there is a huge difference is the homeruns given up. Dickey’s given up 35 and Buehrle’s given up 24.

If your season is on the line in one game I’m taking the guy who’s less likely to give up a 3 run homerun.

However if the Jays are playing a team that mashes lefties then you’ve got to go with Dickey and just pray he can keep the ball in the park.

In conclusion I’d go with Buehrle to start a wild card game for the Jays unless the Jays are facing a team that rakes against lefties, in which case Dickey would get the nod.