Despite losing their final two games of the 2023 MLB season, the Toronto Blue Jays officially punched their ticket into the postseason for the second straight year. Following the results from Sunday’s games, the Blue Jays finished in the third Wild Card spot and will now face the Minnesota Twins in the best-of-three ALWC series starting on Tuesday.
To many of the Jays’ faithful, it may have felt like the Jays just managed to barely squeak into the playoffs and thus are most likely underdogs heading into the MLB postseason. But apparently, FanGraphs does not think that way at all. In fact, in the latest World Series odds released by FanGraphs as of Sunday evening, they have the Blue Jays with the fourth-best odds to win the World Series at 6.9%. They only trail the favorites Atlanta Braves at 20.8%, as well as the defending champions Houston Astros at 19.4%, and the 2020 champs Los Angeles Dodgers at 17.4%.
It is certainly quite surprising that the Jays are believed to have a better chance at the title than formidable teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers that have practically owned them all season. Especially when you take note of the fact that they are literally the lowest-seeded team in the AL heading into the postseason, the predicted odds makes it even that much more mind-boggling.
Nevertheless, it could be that they believed that the Jays have underperformed for most of the 2023 season based on their potential. In addition, with the abilities and all-around talent that they possess, they should actually be among the strong contenders for the World Series title. If that is the case, it certainly gives much more confidence to our boys in blue, so in turn, we should believe in them as well that they can finally get the job done when it matters most.
So it is about time that the Jays show everyone what they can do in the big playoff month ahead of them. Go get’em boys!