Blue Jays: Who should we cheer for? Playoff bound former Jays

Atlanta Braves

Well this one is easy. Combing through the roster, I didn’t find anyone that had formerly been a Blue Jay, and that’s the product of a very talented young team. Most of the fellas in their 20’s understandably haven’t played anywhere but Atlanta so far.

There are two connections though, if you do choose to cheer for the Braves for those reasons. First, Alex Anthopoulos is their Team President, and would get the World Series ring that he was very close to securing while in Toronto. While they are an extremely talented group, I would expect that they’ll be even stronger contenders in 2019, and for several years after that though, so ‘AA’ may get that ring one of these years.

The other would be Jose Bautista, who would get a ring from the Braves if they happened to go the distance and win some hardware. He appeared in 12 games for them earlier this season before he ended up with the Mets, and was eventually traded to Philadelphia, but he would still get a ring if Atlanta won (assuming they choose to include him). It wouldn’t be the way he’d want to earn one I’m sure, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubbies were unable to hold on to their division lead against the surging Milwaukee Brewers, and will now have to face off against the Colorado Rockies in the Wild Card game tonight.

There aren’t a lot of connections to the Blue Jays on this team, but the bullpen does have a couple of familiar faces. Jesse Chavez was absolutely dominant after arriving in Chicago, posting a 1.15 ERA in 39 innings and virtually guaranteeing himself a spot on the postseason roster. The other pitcher would be Jaime Garcia, who could be a long shot to pitch in the playoffs after arriving in a deal with Toronto earlier this summer.

*Note- I admittedly missed Brandon Morrow, who has been shut down for the year and will not pitch in this year’s playoffs.