Blue Jays: What can be learned from each of the final four

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TORONTO, ON – JUNE 29: General manager Ross Atkins of the Toronto Blue Jays speaks to members of the media before the start of MLB game action against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre on June 29, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

There is always something to learn from another successful team, so what should the Blue Jays glean from the Yankees, Astros, Cardinals and Nationals?

Any time I’m watching the MLB postseason, one of the things that interests me the most is figuring what sets the best teams apart from the rest of the league. Sometimes it’s obvious with a team like the Houston Astros that employs a super-rotation, but other times we’re left scratching our heads with a team built to win like the Dodgers, who are already sitting at home.

When I look at the final four teams (well, three now that the Cardinals have been disposed of in a four-game sweep by the Nationals), I think there are lessons that the Blue Jays’ front office can take away from each team. Some of them can be applied without much problem, while others are easier said than done, but there are a few different paths to winning on display this year.

With a developing young core with tremendous potential in Toronto, Ross Atkins and company will have a lot of different ways they can build this team over the next few years. Payroll shouldn’t be an issue, but that doesn’t mean they can just throw money around irresponsibly, especially if they want to be able to retain their young stars down the line and build a consistent winner. Even with as much payroll flexibility as they have now, building the right way is still going to be important.

There will come a time in the not so distant future that they’re going to need to supplement their big league roster, and that’s where the lessons from this year’s playoffs could come in handy. Whether it’s a powerful rotation, lineup, bullpen, or a balance of most of it, hopefully Atkins and company are paying attention. Baseball is definitely a game of following trends, especially in recent years, and there are some solid lessons on display at the moment.

What can we learn from each team?

Washington Nationals

The Nationals went from a team that looked like they were going to miss the playoffs this summer, to the first club to qualify for the World Series. There’s no doubt they have a talented team and they’re definitely hot right now, but I don’t think many folks picked them to be in this position. I know I didn’t.

That said, there are good reasons that the Nationals are in this position, and you can start with the three-headed monster in their starting rotation. Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin give them arguably the best trio in baseball (we’ll get to that more later), and Anibal Sanchez has been lights out during this playoff run as well.

The Nationals’ pitching staff absolutely stymied the Cardinals throughout the NLCS, really up until the middle of Game 4 when the Red Birds attempted a futile comeback that came far too late. They had to get to the Nationals’ rotation at some point, and even though Corbin was the beneficiary of their lineup finally waking up, I wouldn’t bet against him right now either.

The Nationals also made a significant decision this off-season that’s obviously worked out for them, and that was not overpaying for Bryce Harper. Reports stated that they did offer him up to 300 million over 10 years, but when that wasn’t enough they moved on and signed Corbin, a decision that’s worked out beautifully. There’s no denying Harper’s talent, but the Nationals proved that one player won’t make the difference. Or at least in this case, they proved they could win without Harper.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Nationals have gone on this run with a relatively weak bullpen, but everything has clicked for them so far this fall, and now they’re headed to the World Series. If there’s one more lesson for the Blue Jays to take away from this team, it’s that you just have to qualify for the playoffs in order to have a chance. Right now, the Nationals are living proof.

Houston Astros

I said I would get to the topic of baseball’s rotation a little later, so I figured I’d talk about the Astros next.

If there is a team in baseball that has a better top three in their rotation than the Nationals, it would be the Astros with Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, and Zack Greinke. That’s about as good as it gets, and if I had to pick between the two, I’d likely lean toward Houston’s trio.

That said, it’s not just the rotation that has put the Astros two wins away from meeting the Nationals in the 2019 World Series. As much as I hate to say it, I think Houston has probably built the most balanced team in Major League Baseball, as they are a significant threat beyond just their starting rotation.

With an offence lead by Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel and more, the Astros’ offence can be almost as devastating as their rotation when they’re all healthy, which has been the only problem over the last couple of seasons. That’s not an issue right now though, and the Yankees are going to have their hands full in stopping Houston from making another appearance in the Fall Classic.

The Astros’ bullpen is no slouch either, and they’ve been very solid throughout this year’s postseason as well. With a group that includes Roberto Osuna, Ryan Pressly, Will Harris, Joe Smith, and more, there isn’t much of a break after the starter leaves the game.

It’s the type of team that can’t stay together forever, and we’re going to start seeing their window of contention close in the next few years. For now though, the Astros should still be considered as the World Series favourite, and there are plenty of reasons for it.

St. Louis Cardinals

I’d say that the Nationals’ emergence is the biggest surprise of this year’s postseason, but I think the fact that the Cardinals were four wins away from the World Series may take the cake.

I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way at all, it’s just that I didn’t know if they would be able to hold off their division rivals in the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs. Lead by Jack Flaherty‘s unbelievable second half, the Cardinals ultimately proved to be the best team in the division, and they managed to take out the Atlanta Braves in the division series, a team that was expected to contend for a spot in the World Series.

What stands out the most to me with this Cardinals squad is the lack of superstars. Flaherty is a Cy Young contender for sure, but beyond that it’s a collection of very good players rather than MVP types. Even their best hitter, Paul Goldschmidt, wasn’t his best this year, hitting .260 while clubbing 34 home runs and 97 RBI. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but it’s just that it’s good, not great.

Still, the Cardinals got hot at the right time, and if they hadn’t run into the even hotter Nationals in the NLCS, we might be talking about a bit of a Cinderella story here. Truthfully, I have been cheering for the Nationals in this round of the playoffs, but I definitely admire a team like the Cardinals that has overachieved a bit, and gives the average baseball fan a reason to believe in their team a little more.

Just like the Nationals, the Cardinals should show GMs around the league that getting to the playoffs is an important step, and one that can turn out better than you expect, even if you run into a team like the Braves. With more teams playing to either win big or lose big these days, hopefully the Cardinals are a lesson that it’s worth throwing your hat in the ring. You just never know how it might work out.

New York Yankees

Last but not least is the New York Yankees, a team that will be directly in the Blue Jays’ way as they try to claw their way back to the top of the division over the next few years. That’s not going to be an easy task in the AL East any year, but the Yankees are definitely going to make that difficult in the foreseeable future.

I view the Yankees as a bit of a light version of the Astros, in that they’re a very balanced team that can hurt you in a number of ways. They were struck with the injury bug to epic proportions this season, and yet they still managed to continue their dominance, even when they had more All-Stars on the IL than the opposition had on the field against them.

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Speaking of which, the Yankees have really focused on lining up a devastating group of hitters, lead by the likes of Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, and many, many more. They’ve built the majority of the team through the draft, but guys like Torres have also come along through trade, and once again Brian Cashman has proven why he’s been employed in New York for so long.

The Yankees have taken a different approach than some other teams when building their pitching staff, focusing more on the bullpen than on the starting rotation. The bullpen has remarkable depth when they’re all healthy, and that’s an advantage that’s played very well in the playoffs over the last few seasons. While it’s a big advantage, the Astros have matched their bullpen performance so far this fall, and their rotation has been the bigger difference.

Even though the Yankees have a reasonably talented group of starters, I would argue that they’re the weakest of the final four teams. I might not be saying that if Luis Severino had been healthy all year, but it certainly plays as the biggest difference in the ALCS right now. Whether that ultimately makes the difference between the Yankees getting their 27th championship in franchise history or being sent home in the ALCS remains to be seen, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Next. Who are the non-tender candidates this winter?. dark

As I said at the beginning, there are lessons to be learned from each team that made it this far, and as the Blue Jays approach the next era of contention, hopefully they’ll be able to apply what they’ve seen. If there’s one overwhelming lesson to take away from this year’s postseason, I’d say it’s that pitching is just as important as it’s always been, even in a record-breaking year of home runs.

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