Toronto Blue Jays series simulation: Twins vs Blue Jays

With the season on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m doing a game by game simulation based on the Blue Jays schedule, and using the online version of Statis Pro.

For those of you that follow Mike Wilner on Twitter, what he’s been up to lately is very similar to what I’m doing, just that we’re using different games to do it. I have also made an account for the simulations on Instagram that can be followed @jays.simgames.

Winners of 8 of their 9 last games and winning three straight series, the Jays take on the offence heavy Twins at the Rogers Centre.

 How Statis Pro works

Just like a real ball game, you set your lineup by choosing each player’s spot in the batting order, and everything else that comes with managing a ball game. Basically you are the manager.

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To play, you have cards that you go through that have a bunch of information on them. Each pitcher has a PB number with the lowest number starting at 2, and the highest number going at 9. For example, Hyun-Jin Ryu has a PB of 2-9 so if you flip a card with a PB of 7, you go based off the stats on his card. If you flip a card and get a PB of 11, you go based on the stats of the batter’s card.

After you flip the first card, you have to flip another card to determine the random number. Let’s say you get the first card of a PB 7 with Ryu pitching and the random number is 38. Ryu’s card may have a strikeout from the numbers 22-46, meaning if you get a PB 7 and a random number of 38, Ryu struck out whoever he faced.

Let’s say Ryu is pitching and he’s facing J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox. You flip the first card and get a PB of 10 and you flip the next card and get a random number of 26. Martinez’s card may have a double to centre field as 24-26, meaning if you get a PB of 10 and a random number of 26, Martinez got a double off Ryu.

Game 17

Starting pitchers: 

Blue Jays: Tanner Roark

Twins: Jake Odorizzi

Lineups

Twins

Polanco SS
Rosario LF
Donaldson 3B
Cruz DH
Kepler RF
Sano 1B
Garver C
Gonzalez 2B
Buxton CF

Blue Jays

Bichette SS
Biggio 2B
Gurriel Jr LF
Guerrero Jr 3B
Tellez DH
Grichuk CF
Shaw 1B
Hernandez RF
Jansen C

Game recap

The Twins scored all their runs from innings 2-6 with 3 runs coming in the 2nd, 1 in each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th with 4 runs coming in the 6th where they got 5 hits with 4 of them being doubles. The Jays only runs came in the 2nd where Hernandez went deep with Shaw hitting a single before him. It could have been a three-run homer had Grichuk not been thrown out at 3rd when trying to advance on Shaw’s single.

Final score: Twins 10 Blue Jays 2

Key stats (Twins)

Odorizzi: 9IP 10K 4H 4BB 2ER 1HR W

Polanco: 2 for 5 with a double

Rosario: 2 for 5 with a double

Donaldson: 1 for 3 with a double and 2 walks

Cruz: 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, HR and  a walk

Sano: 0 for 2 with 3 walks

Garver: 3 for 5 with a double and HR

Key stats (Blue Jays)

Roark: 4IP 5K 5H 3BB 5ER 1HR

Gaviglio: 1.2IP 1K 4H 4ER 1HR

Hernandez: 1 for 3 with HR and walk

Game 18

Starting pitchers: 

Blue Jays: Matt Shoemaker

Twins: Kenta Maeda

Lineups

Twins

Polanco SS
Rosario LF
Donaldson 3B
Cruz DH
Kepler RF
Sano 1B
Garver C
Arraez 2B
Buxton CF

Blue Jays

Bichette SS
Panik 2B
Gurriel Jr LF
Guerrero Jr
Tellez DH
Biggio 1B
Grichuk CF
Hernandez RF
McGuire C

Game recap

Bichette led off the bottom of the opening frame with a double and was brought home on a double from Gurriel Jr. In the 4th, Tellez scored all the way from first when Hernandez hit a double to left to make it 2-0. In the 5th, Panik and Gurriel Jr went back-to-back with Panik’s homer being a two-run shot.

An error by Bichette in the top of the 6th resulted in a run scored for the Twins. McGuire went deep in the 8th with 2 outs. Shoemaker came one out short of pitching a complete game but was pulled due to the bases being loaded.

Final score: Blue Jays 8 Twins 1

Key stats (Blue Jays)

Shoemaker: 8.2IP 5K 5H 2BB 1ER W

Gurriel Jr: 2 for 4 with HR and a double

Tellez: 2 for 4 with a double

McGuire: 2 for 4 with HR

Key stats (Twins)

Maeda: 4IP 3K 7H 1BB 4ER 1HR

Cody Stashak: 3IP 6K 3H 2ER 1HR

Polanco: 1 for 3 with a double and a walk

Buxton: 1 for 2 with a walk and 2 SB

Game 19

Starting pitchers: 

Blue Jays: Chase Anderson

Twins: Homer Bailey

Lineups

Twins

Polanco SS
Rosario LF
Donaldson 3B
Cruz DH
Kepler RF
Sano 1B
Arraez 2B
Avila C
Buxton CF

Blue Jays

Bichette SS
Biggio 2B
Gurriel Jr LF
Guerrero Jr 3B
Tellez DH
Grichuk CF
Shaw 1B
Hernandez RF
Jansen C

Game recap 

As both pitchers were dealing, no runs were scored until the 7th but Grichuk took Bailey deep which got him pulled. To start off the bottom of the 8th, Jansen bunted which caused Sano to make an error which allowed Jansen to reach second. Two batters later, Biggio went deep which ended up being crucial.

In the bottom of the 9th, the first batter, Luis Arraez fouled a ball off his shin which forced him to leave the game so Marwin Gonzalez pinched hit for him and got a single. Next batter was supposed to be Avila but Mitch Garver pinched hit for him which resulted in Garver going deep to make it 3-2. Giles then handed over the ball to Dolis who only needed to get through 4 batters to notch the save.

Final score: Blue Jays 3 Twins 2

Key stats (Blue Jays)

Biggio: 2 for 4 with HR

Grichuk: 2 for 3 with HR

Key stats (Twins)

Bailey: 6.1IP 8K 4H 1BB 1ER 1HR L

Polanco: 2 for 5

Rosario: 2 for 5 with a double

Garver: 1 for 1 with HR

Jays simulation record: 13-6