Toronto Star Referrer

Avoiding return to Trop is priority

Jays manage split in Tampa, but it’s the last place they want to visit in post-season

GREGOR CHISHOLM

ST. PETERSBURG, FL A. The Blue Jays proved they are a resilient bunch by bouncing back to salvage a series against the Tampa Bay Rays. But even though this fourgame set ended on a winning note, it’s safe to say no one associated with the team wants a return trip to Tropicana Field any time soon.

Just don’t expect any of them to say it out loud.

The Jays did well to earn a hardfought split. After dropping the first two games, manager John Schneider’s squad got back on track by winning the next pair to reclaim sole possession of the first wild-card spot.

In Sunday’s finale, George Springer homered twice while Alejandro Kirk and Teoscar Hernández added one apiece in a 7-1 victory. The win puts the Jays back in the driver’s seat to secure home-field advantage in the first round even though they lost the season series to the Rays: 10-9, including five of nine at Tropicana Field.

“Just understanding that (we) can do it and we can play in these highstakes games, understand what it takes,” Springer said about what this last stretch showed, after the four-time all-star went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

“At this point of the year, everything matters. It’s not one series, it’s not another series, it’s about playing good baseball all the time. I think over the last month or so, this has been a team that at least has been able to play good baseball.”

The Jays left central Florida with a two-game advantage over the Rays. But since Tampa Bay owns the tiebreaker with a better headto-head record, it basically amounts to a one-game cushion with nine games to play. Maintaining that lead could be key to the Jays’ survival in early October.

Tropicana Field has always been a house of horrors for the Jays, with an all-time record of 86-130 (.398). Historical context might not be relevant to the current roster, which has only been around for a small portion of those games, but even recently the dome has presented challenges.

During the abbreviated 2020 season, the Jays went 2-4 and were swept in a best-of-three first-round matchup in the playoffs. A year later, they went 4-5 here, including a late September series loss that

3-3

Jays road trip record after Sunday’s 7-1 win over the Rays 42

Runs in six road games 37

Runs allowed 9-10

Final season mark vs. Rays 7-9

Season Yankees, vs. in town for three starting Monday

played a big role in missing a tiebreaker by one game.

The problem isn’t unique to the Jays. The Rays’ .630 (51-30) win percentage at home ranks third in the American League, trailing only the New York Yankees (.714) and Houston Astros (.685). This is a club that raises its level of play at the Trop, where it has lost just one series since early August.

“This is an interesting place,” Schneider admitted this weekend. “Whether it’s the roof, the lighting, the turf, the dirt in the infield, their mound seems high, their acoustics are weird. The whole thing is just different than what you’re used to.

“I think if you use that as a crutch, you get behind the 8-ball. If you kind of just say, ‘This is where we’re at, adjust to it,’ then you’re going to be fine. But they seem to play very well here. It seems like their players embrace it and use it as an advantage.”

The Jays proved a point by taking the final two games of the weekend series. They know the Rays, while extremely deep and talented, can be defeated anywhere under the right circumstances. But just because the Jays could win here doesn’t mean they want to play here.

The top priority for the Jays should be avoiding Tropicana Field at all costs. Well, almost all costs. A tentative plan to have right-hander Alek Manoah work on the final day of the regular season if the game counts for something seems ill-advised, but everything else should be on the table.

“It’s a tough place to play. They play their brand of baseball, and they make you come to them,” said Jays starter Ross Stripling, who allowed one run across five innings in the series finale. “(But) we lose the first two here and then we’re able to walk away with the split. Crunch time, needing two wins, and able to come away with them. Just a resilient team through and through that’s relying on the experience from the last two years, and ready to go make some noise in October, is kind of how it feels.”

The Jays’ win combined with the Orioles’ loss to the Astros on Sunday dropped Toronto’s magic number to four. They’ll have a chance to officially clinch a spot in the postseason during a six-game homestand that begins Monday night against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees — whose magic number to clinch the AL East was three before Sunday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox — are looking to wrap up the division while Aaron Judge attempts to break the American League record for home runs in a single season. Both clubs still have a lot to play for.

For the better part of a month, the race for a spot in the post-season has felt more like a race for seeding, and with the Orioles now 6 1⁄

2 games back of the Jays that seems unlikely to change. The lack of a tension-filled finish won’t do much to please baseball purists, but the Jays aren’t going to complain as their spot has never been in much doubt. After the Jays wrap up the regular season in Baltimore on Oct. 5, they’ll be flying somewhere; they just don’t know where.

For their sake, it better not be Tropicana Field. Even though the point was made that they can win some games here, this is still a spot they don’t want to see again until 2023.

SPORTS

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2022-09-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestarepaper.pressreader.com/article/282213719693861

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