Blue Jays: What role waits for Jose Berrios in the playoffs?

The Blue Jays handed Jose Berrios the ball for Opening Day this season hoping that he’d be able to lead what should have been a deep and strong rotation. Unfortunately he’s had the worst season of his career, and as a result he’s fallen down the depth chart quite a bit since back in March.

As the Blue Jays look ahead to what’s looking like a Wild Card spot in this year’s playoffs, they have to start thinking ahead a bit, at least in terms of how they’re managing their pitching staff. The priority is still making sure that they qualify for the postseason, but their magic number is down to four after their win against the Rays on Sunday, which might allow manager John Schneider to think a little differently over their final nine games of the regular season.

Looking ahead to their Wild Card matchup, we likely won’t know their opponent for at least another week, but I don’t think who the Jays are matched up against will impact their rotation all that much. In my mind, if they’re looking at a three-game series in the first round, Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, and Ross Stripling should be the no-brainer starting three. However you line them up might depend on how hard they have to work to clinch their playoff spot/seed, but it’s hard to imagine Schneider going any other direction. Having said that, where does that leave Berrios?

For the first round, the obvious answer would be to serve as a long-man in the event that the starting pitcher got themselves in trouble. It wouldn’t be a familiar role for him, but if say, Gausman was getting knocked around early in his start, Berrios could come in and hopefully chew up some innings while keeping the score close. That role could be important, especially early in the series, because it’s never a good thing when the bullpen is overtaxed. Having said that, it’s entirely possible that the Blue Jays won’t need him for anything more than potential clean-up duty in the opening round.

Where he’ll be more important is if the Blue Jays can advance past the first round. In that case, Berrios likely takes the ball in Game 4, and he’d do so without having had a turn in the rotation for a while. By Game 4 the Blue Jays could really need him to step up with a big performance as well, so it’ll be important for him to stay sharp until he’s called on again.

The thing about the 28 year old’s season is that he’d had nights when he’s been very effective, which is evident by the fact that he’s collected 16 quality starts, second on the team behind Manoah, and tied with Gausman. The problem, of course, is that when he’s bad he’s really bad, and there have been several of his starts where the game has gotten out of hand early. That’s a tough risk for the Blue Jays to justify when they have three other effective starters who could work in the opening round, but they’re eventually going to need him if this team is going to make a deep postseason run.

The seven-year pro should be lined up to pitch against the Yankees in their important series to start the week, and hopefully he’ll be able to get back on track before the postseason begins. He may not end up with a start in the first round after the way his 2022 campaign has gone, but one way or another, he’ll need to stay ready when his number is called.