Blue Jays leave still-not-retired Buehrle off playoff roster

Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle revealed to reporters following tonight’s loss that he will not be included on the initial 25-man playoff roster. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as the writing has been on the wall for weeks now, but contrary to a rumor from earlier today, Buehrle has not made any decision regarding his retirement. 


Buehrle’s push for 200.0 innings went as poorly as possible. Toronto’s decision to “coast” through the closing days of their season is creating a huge amount of wasted negativity around the club, but with 162 games in the books, it’s done. No changing it now, and if given the option, I’d support trying it again. Jose Bautista knew the question would be coming in his post-game media time and quickly supported Buehrle and Gibbons.  

The rumors of Buehrle’s retirement decision did begin to look like fluff as the day went on without a similar  report from elsewhere in baseball, and he seemed amused with that after the game. He will stay with the club throughout the playoffs in uniform and in the dugout. While his experience may not have an opportunity to show itself on the diamond, he’ll be a valuable resource to Marcus Stroman and the playoff first-timers.

A decision on retirement before the playoffs begin also, for obvious reasons, has no benefit. Buehrle seems much more like a player who would prefer to quietly slip into the shadows than announce his final lap as a playoff run is about to launch. We still shouldn’t expect him to be in Toronto next season, but it’s likely we’ll need to wait until the playoffs wrap up for further word. Until further updates are provided, Tuesday seems to be a good guess on when we’ll learn the complete roster.

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