Blue Jays: An early prediction of the postseason roster

The Blue Jays have just six games left in the regular season, and soon they’ll have to make some tough decisions about their postseason roster.

Once the playoffs begin the rosters will drop back to their usual number of 26, which means they will be down two players from the group they’ve carried throughout September. The only problem with that is that they will have to leave a useful player or two off the postseason roster, and it’ll be a little more difficult than usual.

They’ll have a few variables that will factor into their decisions, especially when it comes to the health of some of their injured regulars. For example, Lourdes Gurrriel Jr. is doing what he can to  get healthy before the regular season ends, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to factor into the playoff run. The same goes for Santiago Espinal, who mlb.com’s Keegan Matheson reported on Wednesday was “a little behind” of the progress that they’ve seen from Gurriel Jr.

Thankfully the Jays have a fair bit of versatility on their active roster, which has helped to cover the absences of Gurriel Jr. and Espinal, and could be required to do the same early in the playoffs.

One of the other significant variables is the fact that the opening round is just a best of three series, which means the Jays could get creative with how they build things out. For example, that likely means they won’t need a fourth or fifth starter, at least not until the second round should they make it that far.

There’s still a chance a few things could change over the next week as well, but for now I thought I’d take an early stab at what the roster will look like in a little over a week.