Blue Jays Morning Brew: AL East Champions edition

Champions! The Toronto Blue Jays claimed the AL East crown last night in Baltimore for the first time in 22 years, and the city is still rocking as the sun comes up. If your head is more “throbbing” than “rocking”, pull up a chair! We don’t have Tylenol, but we do have your daily fix of the Blue Jays morning brew. Don’t forget: Today’s game is an early-afternoon start due to impending weather. Enjoy!

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Diaz rewarded with recall  –  Utility infielder Jonathan Diaz was recalled ahead of Wednesday’s double-header in Baltimore, giving the Blue Jays another glove on the bench. Expect him to see some time down the stretch as the Blue Jays get their starting nine back to full rest ahead of playoff time. He’s earned the reps, too, after being a good soldier for the organization over nearly a decade.

“I’ve been in this organization for nine out of 10 years and there’s a lot going on right now,” he told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. “It’s exciting, I’m just happy to be here, and I want to do whatever it takes to help these guys out, contribute and bring a World Series to Canada.”

To the pitch  –  Often lost in the North American media machine is the fact that baseball or football do not run the sporting world. Soccer does. TFC, Toronto’s Major League Soccer club, is enjoying some incredible success of their own in 2015, as John Molinaro writes here. Led by the Italian star Sebastian Giovinco, TFC are set for their playoff premiere in front of a passionate fan base.

“There’s a groundswell of support for (the Jays) and people feel it. That for us is also motivation. We know that if we continue to win games, and build momentum, and get over some of the hurdles that people keep bringing up about our past, and we move forward and people start believing is us, that same groundswell will come with this group because people are waiting for us to make that statement.”

Inside Osuna’s dominance  –  Our friend Eric Elliot took a look inside the rookie campaign of Roberto Osuna over at Statliners. At just 20 years old, he’s enjoying of the greatest (if not the greatest) seasons by a reliever of his age in modern baseball history (by WAR). His fastball is clearly dominant, but Eric highlights the great success he’s found with the rest of his arsenal.

“Osuna compliments that with a devastating changeup and nearly untouchable slider which averages 89 mph on the gun. Batters haven’t hit over .180 on either pitch combined and are particularly unsuccessful with the changeup where they’ve suffered to the tune of a .107 batting average.” We’re going to be having some long, heated discussions on Roberto Osuna’s role this offseason, but I’d love to see him remain as closer.

A home run anthem  –  It’s been a good season for Blue Jays music, hasn’t it? Here’s another great one from B & Steve, the guys who brought you the classic “Just out for a rip, are ya bud?”. Check it out, there might just be an awesome cameo in the video…

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