SPORTS
12 Obiter Dicta
Which Edition of the Toronto Blue Jays Is Better?
A Comparison of the 2015 Team With Its 1992 Predecessor
Part Four: Examining the Starting Pitching: Middle of the Rotation
kenneth cheak kwan lam ›
sports editor
A
s much as “Chicks Dig The Long Ball,”
the iconic tagline made famous by the
Nike commercial featuring Tom Glavine,
Greg Maddux, and Mark McGwire back
in 1998, there is a general consensus in baseball:
pitching and defence win championships. In fact,
pitching is always at a premium because as the old
saying goes, “you can never have too much pitching.”
As we get deeper into the regular season, teams that
are playing competitive baseball and have a realistic
shot at the postseason frequently engage in an “arms
race” in order shore up their pitching. While much
of the attention is placed squarely at the front of the
starting rotation with an emphasis on the ace, depth
is extremely important given that baseball is a team
sport and one player cannot make or break a team.
Seeing that most playoff teams have an ace to anchor
their starting rotation in the postseason, winning or
losing often comes down to the performance of their
mid-rotation guys, especially since most teams use
a three-man (or at most a four-man) rotation in the
postseason. Indeed, one of the reasons as to why both
the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays and their 1992 predecessor
were so successful—with the former claiming the
American League East Division and the latter winning
the World Series—was because both teams featured a
very strong mid-rotation.
Number Three Starter:
Marco Estrada (2015) versus Juan Guzmán (1992)
Analysis: Arguably the most reliable starting pitcher
for Toronto throughout the playoffs, Marco Estrada
ironically began the season in the bullpen (after
eventual setup man Aaron Sanchez won the fifth
starter spot out of spring training) and did not move
into the starting rotation until 1 May 2015 when the
Blue Jays optioned Daniel Norris to the Buffalo Bisons
at AAA. In what turned out to be a career season to
this point of his career, Estrada became a steady
force in the starting rotation and put up impressive
numbers as a starter for the entire season, establishing
career-high in wins (13), earned run average (3.13),
starts (28), and innings pitched (181). Along the way,
he kept moving up the depth chart in the starting
rotation and showed flashes of brilliance as he took a
no-hitter (against the Baltimore Orioles on 19 June)
and a perfect game (against the Tampa Bay Rays on 24
June) into the eighth inning in back-to-back starts.
Estrada then followed up his strong regular season
campaign with an arguably better postseason. First,
he pitched a gem against Texas in game three of the
of the American League Division Series (ALDS) on
11 October by limiting the Rangers to just one run
over 61⁄3 innings on route to a five to one victory,
which helped Toronto stave off elimination. He then
followed up his timely performance by starting two
games in the American League Championship Series
(ALCS), and despite taking the loss in game one on 16
October—when the Blue Jays were shut out by Kansas
City by a score of five to zero—rose to the occasion
in game five on 21 October by holding the Royals to
one run over 72⁄3 innings in a lopsided seven to one
Toronto victory, thereby playing a pivotal role in
assisting the Blue Jays to avoid elimination for the
second time in the playoffs.
By contrast, even though Juan Guzmán was named
the third starter behind Jack Morris and David Cone
in the 1992 postseason, Guzmán was already an
established front-of-the rotation starter for Toronto
since he replaced injured ace Dave Stieb on the roster
mid-way through the prior season. In fact, Guzmán
was a dominant force for the Blue Jays during the
regular reason and a main pillar in the postseason.
Not only did he post an ace-like regular reason record
by going 16-5 (an excellent .762 winning percentage)
with a 2.64 earned run average (ERA) in twenty-eight
starts over 1802⁄3 innings on route to being named
an All-Star, but he was even more instrumental in
ê Steady as she goes: Marco Estrada emerges as the unsung hero for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2015 season. (Source: PanAmericanWorld.com.)
» see BLUE JAYS, page 15