Tale of the Tape Breakdown: Playoff Contenders, Mariners vs Blue Jays

A few years ago, an article series like this would have seemed like a waste of time. Before 2022, comparing the Seattle Mariners to anyone other than the worst teams in baseball was a waste of time. Now? Now things are different. In part 5 of an 8 part series, I'm going to take a look at the teams that could potentially stand in the Mariners way of not only making the postseason but winning the American League.

Today, we'll take a look at the 4th ranked team among my Tale of the Tape threats, the Toronto Blue Jays. This team was supposed to be the darling of baseball in 2022, a betting favorite to win the American League. Instead, inconsistency on offense, consistently bad pitching, and the firing of their manager in the middle of the season put the Blue Jays on the brink of a major disappointment at the all-star break.

Through all their flaws, new manager John Schneider was able to right the ship, and help the Blue Jays finish the season strong and secure the valuable #4 seed in the American League playoffs. With home field in the Wild Card Series, there was hope that Toronto would be able to fulfill their lofty preseason expectations, but the Mariners had other plans. Cal Raleigh and Luis Castillo essentially put game 1 of the series on ice after a dominant 1st inning. In game 2, we saw one of the wildest collapses (comebacks in my opinion) of all time. Up 8-1 in the 6th inning, the Mariners stormed back to win 10-9, sweeping the Jays in front of a stunned Toronto crowd.

Can the Blue Jays rebound, or are they not quite ready for prime time?