The Toronto Blue Jays haven’t enjoyed the best run in the 2015 MLB playoffs. It’s always nice to get to where they’re at – a series away from the World Series. But falling into a 3-1 hole against the Kansas City Royals – a team looking to get back to their second straight World Series – was probably never part of the plan. Still, with a win on Wednesday, Toronto heads into Friday night with slim hopes of executing an improbable comeback. The question is, naturally, can they actually do it?
The short answer is probably not. It’s only been done 10 times at this stage in the playoffs, and we haven’t seen it happen since 2007. So, probable? No, absolutely not.
But it’s not impossible.
I know, you’ve got Lloyd Christmas in the back of your mind now – “so, you’re saying there’s a chance” and hey, maybe there is. There’s somewhat of a precedent here already. While 10 times isn’t an insanely large number, 10 times is still a heck of a lot more than zero times. That, and this Toronto team kind of just doesn’t die. They looked down and out earlier in these very MLB playoffs against the Texas Rangers, yet they stormed back and won that series.
Now here they are, just two more intense wins away from reaching their first World Series since 1993 (they won in 1992 and 1993). The other thing is they could have caved on Wednesday. Instead, they came out and played spirited baseball, running away with a big 7-1 win.
That brings us to the specifics. The Jays got a heck of an offense. It was already a cast full of mashers before they landed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but ever since bringing him in from Colorado they’ve been an unstoppable force.
But we knew that. We saw the offense before and after the trade and we’ve seen it in the playoffs, too. It’s the defense we haven’t been able to trust just yet, especially with would-be ace David Price having a less than impressive playoff career.
Price takes the mound tonight, though, and you couldn’t ask for a better scene for him to finally come through in the clutch. Toronto doesn’t get the greatest matchup on the other side with Yordano Ventura tossing strikes for the Royals, but this is set up to give the Jays a chance.
Winning game six is obviously crucial, but if Toronto can make it happen, they absolutely would have a realistic shot at pulling off just the 11th ever comeback from a 3-1 hole. They’ve felt like a team of destiny to this point (then again, so did the Cubs) and it wouldn’t really be all that surprising for them to pull off some more magic and sneak into the World Series.
It’s not logical or probable, but the possibility is there. Let’s just hope Toronto doesn’t randomly wear their cream grey alternate jerseys. They didn’t find much success in those particular custom baseball uniforms.
Think Toronto gets it done and advanced to the World Series? Tell us in the comments below!
