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

The rest of the National League contenders

L.A. Dodgers

The Dodgers draw the Braves in the first round, and while they’ll have their hands full with the young Atlanta team, I like their chances in the National League picture.

Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of former Blue Jays to cheer for. John Axford is likely a long shot to make the postseason roster, and he’s the only Dodger that’s played in Toronto.

Colorado Rockies

Not much for former Blue Jays in Colorado either, and after losing to the Dodgers on Monday night they’ll need to beat the Cubs on Tuesday in order to extend their postseason.

They will have Seunghwan Oh in their bullpen, who has been a nice addition since coming over in a July trade. The only other notable Rockie would be Jeff Hoffman, who was acquired in Troy Tulowitzki trade a few years back. Hoffman didn’t have much of a season after making 16 starts for the Rockies last year, and only threw 8.2 innings in six appearances in 2018.

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Milwaukee Brewers

Last but not least would be my pick for the National League, at least in terms of cheering for former Blue Jays.

It all starts with the insanely likeable Curtis Granderson, who was traded to Milwaukee in August in a deal that made a ton of sense, but still made Canadian baseball fans a little sad. He’s conducted himself with class everywhere he’s gone, including Toronto, and I could probably even cheer for the man if he were wearing a Red Sox uniform (that’s saying a lot for me). He’s also never won a ring despite playing for some good Yankees teams, which gives us yet another reason to hope for the best for the Grandy-man.

He’s joined in Milwaukee by other former Rogers Centre residents like Eric Thames (2011-12), Jeremy Jeffress (2013-2014), and Erik Kratz (2014). Thames was a promising young player in Toronto before spending time in Korea, and coming back as a powerful hitter for the Brewers. Jeffress always had a lot of potential, but unfortunately didn’t harness it until after leaving town. Kratz is a blue collar journeyman catcher, and those guys are always easy to cheer for.

Maybe you’ve got your reasons for already choosing a team to cheer for, and whatever they are they’re more than fine. They’re yours after all. However, I’m going to make the unusual selection (for me) of cheering for the Brewers this postseason, mostly for the sake of seeing Granderson get his first ring.

We finally know how the teams will line up (to start at least), and things get underway later on today. And even if we’re not watching the Blue Jays in the playoffs this year, at least there are some good guys to cheer for, and plenty of good baseball ahead of us.