New York Yankees clinch AL East title with win over Toronto Blue Jays

Amid the eclipsing of their own world by Aaron Judge’s omnipresent orbit, the Toronto Blue Jays are quietly working toward important decisions and learning valuable lessons, big and small.

The extra-inning machinations of interim manager John Schneider that helped stall the pursuit of Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 homers made for a telling case study Tuesday, when the star slugger walked four times in a 5-2 win that clinched the AL East for the New York Yankees.

A stretch of four losses in five games by the Blue Jays last week made that an inevitability, and the end of the three-game win streak that followed put a pause on their own path to locking down a wild-card spot.

Their magic number remains at three, pending the result of the Baltimore Orioles’ visit to Boston.

Misplays, lack of hustle cost Blue Jays

Jose Berrios pitched better than a messy pitching line — five earned runs on nine hits and two walks, both to Judge, in 5.1 innings — would suggest and his seven strikeouts were notable. His velocity was up nearly two m.p.h. across the board and at 97.3, he threw his hardest pitch of the year.

A pair of Bo Bichette misplays in the fifth, one on an Anthony Rizzo blooper to short right-centre in the fifth and a throwing error on a Josh Donaldson grounder two batters later, extended an inning that should have ended without damage.

And perhaps they contributed to a troublesome two-run sixth when Aaron Hicks ripped an RBI double and later came around on Gleyber Torres’ second RBI single of the game.

John Schneider said he intends to remind Vlad Guerrero Jr. of the importance of going full-effort while baserunning: “Vladdy flat-out needs to run harder … that’s inexcusable.”

Adds: “He’s still young, he’ll be fine … but you’ve got to leave no margin for error.”

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) September 28, 2022

Judge scored on two his walks and perhaps if his chase of Maris wasn’t soaking up so much of the baseball’s world oxygen, the Blue Jays might be attacking him differently.

Either way, the jump in Berrios’ raw stuff is sure to get the Blue Jays thinking, because the extra power is bound to play if he can maintain it. At the same time, there will be debate over whether to ride with him or sacrifice some upside to lean on the reliability of Ross Stripling.

This outing from Berrios before a Rogers Centre crowd of 40,528 likely didn’t deliver an answer one way or another, but it may very well alter some of the conversation.

John Schneider leaving great impression as interim Jays manager

More instructive is the discussion of Schneider’s gutsy call to intentionally walk Judge to load the bases in the 10th inning of Monday’s 3-2 win. The Blue Jays could have easily stayed right-on-right with Anthony Bass but instead brought in lefty Tim Mayza to take on Anthony Rizzo.

That it worked reinforced the club’s faith in its pre-game planning processes, but more significant is that it’s not the type of second-guessable decision someone worried about his future makes.

John Schneider joined Sportsnet Fan 590’s Blair and Barker to discuss the team’s recent play, individual performances and some injury updates. Photo: Sportsnet.

To that end, GM Ross Atkins before the game praised Schneider for being consistent and said “we trust him because of the preparation, because of the collaboration, the communication. We want him to feel the power to make decisions that may be perceived as potentially riskier. It’s exciting that he feels the confidence to make those types of decisions.”

That bodes well for someone still carrying the interim tag, and when asked if that made Schneider a long-term answer, Atkins left himself enough room to manoeuvre but made clear where the lean is.

“He’s certainly a long-term fit, and we continue to work through that and feel good about his leadership to date,” said Atkins.

“Whether or not that ends up being a manager is not our focus. Not because we don’t have the utmost respect for the job that he’s done and is doing, but more all of our energy is being deployed towards winning tonight and the next day.”

For his part, Schneider said that since taking over from the fired Charlie Montoyo, “I’ve come to realize that I absolutely love (the job) and couldn’t think of a better place to be and couldn’t think of a better group to be with. The mind wonders every now and then when you’re sitting there at night or talking to your wife. But I’m focused on winning games and hopefully that continues to happen.”