Alex Black

Good afternoon dear readers,

The 162 game marathon is over, and it's time for the Fall Classic.

Minnesota (87-75) won the AL Central Division and is the 3 seed. Toronto (89-73) won the third AL Wildcard spot and is the 6 seed.

Trying my best not to get hung up on statistics, I'm going to try and breakdown the matchups between our two nations before the three game Wild Card series. Before we can evaluate how the postseason is going to look, we have to first look at the 2022 offseason and the 2023 preseason.

In the 2022 offseason, the Blue Jays signed manager John Schneider to a 3 year deal, marking the official beginning of the Schneiderverse. He had taken over midseason after the firing of former manager Charlie Montoyo. They're next big moves would come when they traded longtime Toronto Outfielders Teoscar Hernandez (to Seattle for pitchers Erik Swanson and Adam Macko) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (to Arizona with catcher Gabriel Moreno for outfielder Daulton Varsho) in a move to add more lefties to a right handed heavy lineup. This would also include outfielder Kevin Kiermaier and 1st basemen Brandon Belt. Starting pitcher Hyun Jin-Ryu would be recovering from Tommy John surgery for most of the 2023 season and his contract almost over, Toronto signed starting pitcher Chris Bassitt to a three-year contract. To begin the new year and preparing for the future, they signed star shortstop Bo Bichette to a three-year contract extension.

At the trade deadline, which marks the halfway point in the season, Toronto acquired three players from St. Louis. Pitchers Jordan Hicks and Genesis Cabrera, as well as shortstop Paul Dejong. This was mostly due to injuries to Bo Bichette and closer Jordan Romano, as Dejong was released shortly after Bichette came back. (He would finish the season in San Francisco.)

The Twins offseason was a bit more eventful, as multiple high profile positions were filled on the roster. Through a wild and insane process that involved Carlos Correa being reported to have signed with the Mets and the Giants, Correa returned to Minnesota on a 6 year, 200million dollar deal, the largest in the teams history. (There are clauses in place for 2029-2032). Minnesota also signed catcher Christian Vasquez to a 3 year, 30million dollar deal. Vasquez had just won the World Series with Houston that year. To enforce the bench, Minnesota also signed power hitting Joey Gallo, utility player Willi Catro, and veteran infielder Donovan Solano to 1-year deals. They would also be busy via trades, acquiring infielder Kyle Farmer from Cincinnati, outfielder Michael A. Taylor from Kansas City, and starting pitcher Pablo Lopez from Miami.

This would conclude most of their moves this year, as their only move at the trade deadline was trading pitcher Jorge Lopez to Miami for pitcher Dylan Floro, who we recently released.

You can have 26 players on your postseason roster. This doesn't count for injury replacements, as you can add as needed.

TORONTO ROSTER (presumed) Pitching Rotation: Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, Yusei Kikuchi, Hyun Jin Ryu Bullpen: Jordan Hicks, Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza, Yimi Garcia, Trevor Richards, Jordan Romano Catchers: Danny Jansen (10day injured list), Alejandro Kirk 1st Base: Vlad Jr. 2nd Base: Whit Merrifield 3rd Base: Matt Chapman Shortstop: Bo Bichette Outfielders: Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, George Springer DH: Brandon Belt Bench: infielder Santiago Espinal, utility player Cavan Biggio, infielder Davis Schneider, catcher Tyler Heineman, outfielder Cam Eden

MINNESOTA ROSTER (presumed) Pitching Rotation: Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Kenta Maeda, Bailey Ober Bullpen: Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar, Emilio Pagan, Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack, Jhoan Duran Catchers: Ryan Jeffers, Christian Vasquez 1st Base: Alex Kiriloff 2nd Base: Edouard Julien 3rd Base: Royce Lewis (10day injured list) Shortstop: Carlos Correa Outfielders: Matt Wallner, Michael A Taylor, Max Kepler Bench: infielder Jorge Polanco (day-to-day injured list), utility player Willi Castro, outfielder Trevor Larnach (day-to-day injured list), outfielder Andrew Stevenson, outfielder Jordan Luplow, infielder Donovan Solano

This is going to be fun.

by Your friend and comrade