Blue Jays Afternoon Brew: It’s time to dance!

The Toronto Blue Jays will kick back and watch tonight as the New York Yankees and Houston Astros face off in the American League Wild Card game. Tonight’s outcome will have a small impact on the Blue Jays’ Thursday start time at home, but heading into a night without baseball, let’s round up the latest chatter from around Toronto. So here it all is, in an oh-so-rare edition of the Afternoon Brew.

Trending now: 5 reasons for the Blue Jays to fear the Texas Rangers

Back to step one  –  Check out this fascinating video from The Toronto Star of the Rogers Centre being constructed over two and a half years…in two and a half minutes. The $600 million behemoth was a marvel at the time, and in many ways still is.

The reality of playoff odds  –  Here’s a must-read from Rob Arthur of FiveThirtyEight which dives into the notoriously strange nature of playoff baseball. While this isn’t the most inspiring thought I’ll bring you this week, the reality is that the “best” team in baseball rarely walks away with the World Series. It’s about being hot, or even lucky, at the right time. While Toronto boasts a 19% shot at winning it all and only 18 teams since 1950 have produced a better run differential, that’s not always enough…  

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King

“Of those 18 teams with run differentials better than that of the 2015 Blue Jays, only six went on to win the World Series. Only 11 of the 18 even went to the World Series. There’s a reason baseball has gone away from the superteam model: No matter how strong the team, nobody can predict what will happen in a short postseason series.”

Checking in our our exes  –  Jeff Simmons of Sportsnet wraps up the season that was for 13 ex-Blue Jays, and it was a mixed bag of results. Check out J.A. Happ‘s numbers, especially, who morphed into Clayton Kershaw after joining the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Chill out, media  –  Blue Bird Banter’s Minor Leaguer takes ’em to church with this great article, calling out the ridiculous parts of Toronto media that have told fans to “chill out, take a pill” over the inconvenient afternoon start times. Acting holier than or above a conversation can be common practice in the baseball world, so it’s good to see certain ideas put back in their place.

And now, for something a little more cheery  –  Let’s leave you with something warm and fuzzy, shall we? Jamie Ross of MLB.com brings us the story of fourth-grader Jack Blunt, who got a surprise visit from Ryan Goins and Kevin Pillar at his school. Blunt, who lost his father to cancer and has been living with Type 1 diabetes, is a die-hard Blue Jays fan and was given tickets to the ALDS opener on Thursday. Good on you, Jays.

Next: Dalton Pompey: Blue Jays playoff X-factor?

More from Jays Journal

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King