Matt Chapman flashes the bat and the glove to back Chris Bassitt’s strong outing in 4-2 Blue Jays win

Coming into tonight’s game, the Blue Jays had been outscored 17-3 in their last two games, and they were looking to Chris Bassitt to turn things in the right direction. His first start of the season is starting to look like an anomaly, as he has now put together three consecutive quality starts including tonight’s outing, which contributed to a 4-2 Blue Jays win on Tuesday night over the Astros.
Blue Jays Nation’s Player of the Game: Chris Bassitt
Amidst some inconsistency and uncertainty in the rotation, Bassitt is starting to look like the consistent pitcher he has been for the past several seasons. Tonight was no exception, as he pitched 6.1 innings of 3-hit ball, which was much needed after Kevin Gausman only lasted 4.2 innings last night.
Bassitt did not allow a baserunner until the 4th inning when he walked Yordan Alvarez on a full count. It was a “vintage Bassitt” kind of night for him as far as his pitch mix goes. His best pitch of the night was his curveball, generating four whiffs and zero hits from it. He also was very effective with his pitch count, as he had three innings in which he threw 9 pitches or less.
All in all, Bassitt’s fin …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

Some Spring Training Stats That Matter and Also Some That Don’t

With Spring Training coming to a close it’s time to take a look at what happened in these games and if there is anything meaningful that comes from them and what they might mean for the upcoming season.

A good rule of thumb is Spring stats don’t matter. It’s a month of games and players can get hot, especially when the competition isn’t always Major League calibre. What you want to see are a player’s skills and if those skills have changed. If a player comes into camp throwing harder as we saw with Jordan Romano in 2021, or hitting the ball harder as we saw with Santiago Espinal last year it could be the precursor to a big season.
Note Spring Stats as of March 26th and courtesy of Baseball Savant, unless otherwise specified. 
With that in mind, there is nothing to be taken from Bichette’s .314/.352/.529 Spring line. Baseball-Reference has an Opponent Quality metric to determine as the name says, the quality of the opposing batter or pitcher faced by a player. Bichette is at 7.3 meaning he has faced pitchers on a talent level roughly somewhere between AA and AAA. Bichette should be crushing this type of pitcher.
What is interesting about Bichette is he is hitting the ball hard as he normally does (92.7mph exit velocity), but he is hitting it almost exclusively on the ground. Last season Bichette had a launch angle of 8.5°, while in Spring Tra …

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Author: Paul Berthelot / Blue Jays Nation

Making sense of the Leafs defensive pairings

Making sense of the Leafs defensive pairings

Coming out of the last playoff loss to Tampa, and honestly the years before it as well, some of the criticism around Sheldon Keefe was that he wasn’t quick enough to adapt and was too insistent on sticking with his lines and his defensive pairings whether they were working at the moment or not. That’s where the objections to the rest line/pairing blender seem a bit strange, especially when Toronto is trying to find a fit for a number of new faces in the lineup. Complaining is kinda what we do and when it comes to the Leafs forward group it seems like everything is in a holding pattern until Ryan O’Reilly returns and the Leafs have an opportunity to make some sense of things. That said, the Leafs could truly benefit from some consistent defensive pairings, and it’s time to start building those so the partners understand what the other defenseman on the ice is going to do coverage wise and players like McCabe, who are …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Raptors: Is Scottie Barnes still untouchable in trade talks?

Raptors: Is Scottie Barnes still untouchable in trade talks?

Coming into the season, Toronto Raptors fans had huge expectations for Scottie Barnes. The franchise had picked the Florida State power forward with the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He repaid their faith by producing a stellar debut campaign that saw him being crowned the 2021-22 Rookie of the Year ahead of […]
Raptors: Is Scottie Barnes still untouchable in trade talks? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Sourav Mahanty / Raptors HQ

It’s early, but things are encouraging when it comes to Ilya Samsonov as the Leafs long term option

It’s early, but things are encouraging when it comes to Ilya Samsonov as the Leafs long term option

To say that that the expectations bar was set low for Leafs goaltending coming into this season is a bit of an understatement. The narrative was that Matt Murray was an oft-injured, borderline AHL goaltender on a terrible contract. To some extent, I personally took the bait on that, hook, line, and sinker.
For Ilya Samsonov it was his generally underwhelming record to date (as a 25 year old) with the Capitals and if Washington, the team that knows him best, was ready to walk away from him that he couldn’t be that good.
Both Samsonov and Murray have proven their critics wrong in their small (somewhat injury plagued) samples and while the memory of small samples of Jack Campbell is still fresh in the heads of  Leafs fans, there is something particularly appealing about Samsonov as the long term option for the Leafs in net and that is his age.
GP
11
GSAE
10.2
GSAE/60
0.962
Sv%
0.939
Sv% AE
0.018
GAA
1.7
xGAA
2.66
WAR
1.7
Ilya Samsonov being at the top of the league in most major goaltending stats (albeit through 11 games played) is damned encouraging and the fact that he’s doing it at an age when most goaltenders begin to hit their stride certainly inspires some hope that this could be who he is as a goaltender. The Leafs having the potential to look up a consistent netminder for the prime of their career is something the organization hasn’t really accomplished in a long time. Toronto has been great at bringing in established goaltenders to have significant multi-year success stories for the …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Off-season News and Notes: Anthony Bass’ option picked up, Blue Jays interested in a Ross Stripling reunion, and more!

The transaction news is coming fast and curious as we come ever so close to Thursday’s opening of free agency.

We all love transaction news, right? Well, on Tuesday evening, the news came fast and furious. Let’s look at the obvious news before looking at the more surprising news.
Anthony Bass:
As expected, the Jays have exercised their team option worth $3,000,000 on reliever Anthony Bass’ contract. The 35-year-old reliever was picked up in a deadline deal trade along with reliever Zach Pop and prospect Edward Duran. Going the other way to the Miami Marlins was former first-rounder Jordan Groshans.

#BlueJays plan to exercise Anthony Bass’s 2023 option this week as expected
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) November 8, 2022

Bass posted a 1.54 ERA and 3 FIP in 70.1 innings pitched between the Jays and the Marlins. He also had a 26.5 K%, the highest in his career, and well above his 18.8% average for the statistic.
With the Jays, Bass had a 1.75 ERA and 4.63 FIP in 25.2 innings pitched. His K% jumped to 27.5%, while he still had a solid, albeit a bit high, BB% of 9.8%.
This was a pretty obvious move to make, as Bass is an important part of the bullpen.
Ross Stripling:
Another pretty obvious piece of news that was dropped, but the Jays have been in contact with the 32-year-old and are interested in bringing him back. He posted a 3.01 ERA and 3.11 FIP in 134.1 innings pitched this season.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that if not for Stripling and what he provided in 2022, the Jays may not have made the playoffs. Originally penned as the swingman, Ross broke out as the Jays’ #3 in the rotation. A big reason for this was because of an improved changeup.

#BlueJays have been in touch with Ross Stripling & expressed interest in bringing him back
Ja …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Leaving Las Vegas ..but sub Nicolas Cage for the Toronto Maple Leafs: Muzzy’s Muzings

Leaving Las Vegas ..but sub Nicolas Cage for the Toronto Maple Leafs: Muzzy’s Muzings

Coming off arguably their most complete effort of the season in Winnipeg, the Leafs were off from puck drop at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas on Monday night.
Chandler Stephenson potted the game winner early in the third period as Vegas smothered Toronto 3-1.
For the fifth straight outing, the Leafs surrendered the first goal of the game. And it actually happened twice. Phil Kessel, who tied Keith Yandle’s ironman streak of 989 consecutive games, had a goal called back after a successful challenge by Sheldon Keefe for offside. That said, just moments later, Nicolas Roy cashed; Kessel picked up an assist.
Meantime, William Nylander’s 4th of the season tied things up midway through the second period. That was the score until Stephenson’s tally. Former Leaf Michael Amadio provided some insurance at the 8:11 mark of the final frame to put the game out of reach.
Toronto fell to 4-3-0 on the season, they’re 1-1-0 through two games of their five game road trip.
Muzzy’s Muzings:
HOW’S THE CAPTAIN?
The silver lining on another disappointing loss is that it appears the Leafs dodged a major injury bullet in this one. 6:58 into the third period, John Tavares took a 97 MPH Rasmus Sandin clapper off the outside …

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Author: Nick Alberga / The Leafs Nation

4 burning questions Raptors must answer before the season starts

4 burning questions Raptors must answer before the season starts

The Toronto Raptors are coming into what will end up being one of the most pivotal seasons in franchise history with a roster that is somehow both nearly identical to last year and full of questions, considering how much the conference around them has changed. The Raptors brought back their entire rotation from last year, […]
4 burning questions Raptors must answer before the season starts – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Pre-Series Notes: New Blue Jays make home debuts, Canadian Cal Quantrill returns to face his childhood team

Coming off two days rest and riding a two game losing streak into tonight, it feels like the Blue Jays haven’t won a game in forever. That said, they still hold the top spot in the American League wild card race with a record of 60-50.
Meanwhile the Guardians have won five in a row to take the lead in the AL Central. The tightest division race in the Majors, the Central still has three teams battling for the division crown. The Minnesota Twins trail the Guardians by just 1.5 games and the Chicago White Sox are 3.5 back.
The Jays will be looking for revenge after losing two of three in Cleveland back in May.
Things Worth Mentioning…
A pair of Blue Jays will be making their home debut tonight.

Whit Merrifield (2B) and Jackie Bradley Jr. (CF) will make their #BlueJays home debut starting tonight. pic.twitter.com/NVdbg7HgdB
— Ben Wagner (@benwag247) August 12, 2022

George Springer is still on IL so Bradley Jr. will start in center and Merrifield will make his first start at second for the Jays. One of the best defensive CF’s of the last decade Bradley Jr. provides plus defence and speed with a below average bat. He did however hit two home runs in his last series against the Blue Jays while he was with the Red Sox. In 92 games this year he is slashing .210/.257/.321 with three home runs.
One of the favourites for the AL Rookie of the Year, Steven Kwan is on a tear recently.

.@CleGuardians OF Steven Kwan has now hit safely in 26 of the last 29 games
Tale of the tape:
.358 (42 hits) 9 doubles 1 triple 2 HR 8 RBI 12 multi-hit games; 5 three-hit games pic.twitter.com/wJJZW94DEx
— Jensen Lewis (@JLEWFifty) August 11, 2022

In his debut season, Kwan it batting .300 …

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Author: Scott Ony / Blue Jays Nation