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Blue Jays: The potential benefits of making the playoffs in 2020

By Chris Henderson

BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 19: Randal Grichuk #15 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates a win with Reese McGuire #10 after a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 19, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 19: Randal Grichuk #15 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates a win with Reese McGuire #10 after a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 19, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: Cavan Biggio #8 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. #13 after hitting a home run in the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 30, 2020 in Washington, DC, United States. The Blue Jays played as the home team due to their stadium situation and the Canadian governmentÕs policy on COVID-19. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: Cavan Biggio #8 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. #13 after hitting a home run in the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 30, 2020 in Washington, DC, United States. The Blue Jays played as the home team due to their stadium situation and the Canadian governmentÕs policy on COVID-19. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

Important experience for the young core

Just as it usually takes a while for a young player to get adjusted to life in the big leagues, it often takes time for youthful teams to learn how to win.

We’ve seen that sort of thing in spades with the Blue Jays this year, as they’ve made plenty of careless mistakes on defence, forgotten how many outs there were, or fell asleep on the base paths. By no means am I making any excuses for them, as I’ve been just as frustrated as many of you have been, but it’s all part of having a young roster.

It’s important to learn how to eliminate those types of mistakes, which can be the difference between winning and losing at the highest level, and that’s something the Blue Jays still need to work on. Equally as important though is learning how to lose, and taking away important lessons from it.

That’s even more amplified on a playoff stage, and even if Charlie Montoyo‘s squad were to make the post-season as the eighth seed and get knocked out without winning a game, there would be significant benefits from the experience. The best in the world ramp things up to a whole other level in October (or whenever it ends up happening this year), and it often makes great players look pretty human. It also requires a preparation that many players have said you can’t understand until you get there and experience it for yourself.

With that in mind, here’s hoping the Blue Jays can get a taste of the playoffs this year, even (or especially?) if it results in some hard lessons.

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