Sports We Maybe Watched

09/12/2024

Bowden Francis might just start glancing up at a certain name on the Level of Excellence sometime soon.

Dave Stieb had multiple agonizing near no hitters in his career. He went into the 9th inning with a no hitter FOUR times before he finally pitched a full no-no on September 2nd, 1990.

Beyond just the actual and almost no hitters, Stieb was truly excellent. If you have entirely too much time on your hands, I highly recommend the outstanding Captain Ahab series about him on YouTube. It dives into his history of flirting with going hitless, but also what made him such a dominant pitcher in the 80s. The creators are also hilariously called Dorktown. I can't deny that I felt like I belonged when I read that.

Since Stieb's successful no hitter, the Jays have had six other occasions where the starter made it to the 9th hitless, but nobody has been able to complete the feat since Stieb.

I actually remember watching some of David Cone's ultimately failed attempt in 1995, but I stopped before it ended. I'd like to say this was on purpose to save myself from some sports disappointment that I'd have plenty of later, but as I recall, I just wanted to go play baseball across the street. 10 year old priorities. Probably the right call in retrospect.

Since then, Roy Halladay, Dustin McGowan, and Brandon Morrow have also had no-no bids spoiled in the ninth inning. In my watching experience, there's always a sense of impending doom as these games have progressed. Could just be the usual Toronto sports lenses, though.

Francis has now had two near no hitters in the span of just four starts. The future seems very bright for him, and it's exciting to have him in the Jays' rotation, but being that close without being able to complete the thing must be tough to process. With any luck from the baseball gods, I'm hoping he can pull it off some other time in his career.

At this point, Jays management might want to provide him with Stieb's phone number if he needs to talk about it. Who could possibly understand what he's going through more than him?

05/05/2024

Well, that wasn't exactly unexpected.

I actually take some solace in the fact that another first round exit should continue to solidify the point that massive changes to the Toronto Maple Leafs are long overdue this offseason.

The most obvious change needs to happen to the roster. One of the core four needs to go. I share the opinion of many that this has to be Mitch Marner.

John Tavares has one year left on his $11 million per year deal he originally signed with the Leafs in 2018. I'm fine with him staying beyond that at a cap hit that's maybe $4 million at most. He is still a valuable contributor and determined in the playoffs, but clearly on the decline.

Marner, on the other hand, has had very little impact in his playoff career. He has had magical regular seasons, but he stays on the periphery when things get tough in the playoffs and largely disappears.

With his next contract due in a year, he needs to go.

The roster needs upgrades in many spots, and moving Marner would finally give them a bit of breathing room under the cap that they have never had in this era.

Off the ice, I share the opinion of many that President Brendan Shanahan, hired in 2014, and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, hired in 2019, also need to be shown the door.

Beyond them, the coaching staff and management team all need to be reconsidered and overhauled.

Including the qualifying series they lost to Columbus prior to the first round in 2020, the Leafs have made the playoffs each year since 2017. They've had 8 tries at this thing!

They've had numerous years with supposedly stacked rosters and have only managed to win one series. Enough.

There's a great core and many pieces to hang onto - Matthews, Nylander, Woll, Knies, etc. - but otherwise, blow this team up.

04/20/2024

Welp. Here we go again.

Leafs and Bruins. First round. Starting in Boston.

Will it be more heartbreak or overdue redemption?

Either way, I'm sure it'll go 7.

04/07/2024

Vince Carter will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its 2024 class.

The Toronto Raptors shared this beyond awesome logo in honour of Air Canada.

Vince played 22 seasons, the most of any NBA player in history, as well as the 3rd most games, while pouring in over 25,000 points.

He was a legitimate superstar with the Raptors, leading them through their first competitive period and turning heads around the world with his jaw-dropping dunks, both in games and, most famously, in the dunk competition.

His exit from the Raptors after a string of injuries and an apparent diminished lack of desire to play through some minor ones was a serious stain on his reputation and legacy in Toronto, and Canada as a whole. Aside from a now much smaller segment of the fanbase, time has healed these wounds.

Vince had a truly remarkable career, putting up more great numbers with the Nets for 5 seasons, and earning 8 all-star selections between his time in Toronto and New Jersey.

His role and playing time gradually became more reduced after leaving the Nets, but Vince wasn't done with basketball by a longshot, as he hit 6 more teams before retiring in 2020.

Along the way, he positively impacted and mentored many young teams and players, adding to his legacy.

His impact north of the border is even more profound. He established Toronto as a basketball town and created a generation of Canadian fans. The Raptors are now an absolute institution, further solidified with the magical 2019 championship, and there are multiple Canadian NBA superstars today, like Jamal Murray and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

In his later years, his reception in Toronto changed from boos to long ovations. I had always hoped there might be one more run with the Raps in the cards, but it didn't turn out that way. However, Vince has indicated he will go into the Hall as a Raptor, the perfect final touch to a legendary career.

04/05/2024

The 2024 Toronto Blue Jays look a lot like, well, last year's team.

We're only a week into the season, and they're a respectable 3-4, but they have been bad so far.

The same issue as last year is blatantly obvious - an anemic offense.

There have been some bright spots in the lineup. Justin Turner has been a mostly solid contributor at the plate, George Springer had a couple of early home runs, and Davis Schneider hit a clutch two run ninth inning homer to get the Jays one of their 3 wins.

Other than that, though, it's been pretty bleak.

They've already been blown out and shutout multiple times, and they were no hit by Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros in just his 8th MLB start on Monday, when they lost 10-0! Woof.

I'm doing my usual routine of reminding myself I cheer for Toronto teams, and optimism is usually a challenging mindset for us to adopt at best. It's also incredibly early.

The thing, though, is that the team looks much like it did last year when they were struggling. They're not only not producing, but they're often having rushed plate appearances, chasing balls, or swinging into outs early in at bats.

It became increasingly apparent after Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers that the Jays were shifting course to a fairly uneventful off-season.

The roster is mostly the same as last year, with minor changes to the lineup.

However, if they want to contend for the playoffs and potentially make some noise if they qualify (please, just give us one playoff game win, guys!), major adjustments need to be made with the roster and to their overall approach to hitting.

03/29/2024

The North Bay Battalion won their first game of the playoffs yesterday, 4-2 at home over the Kingston Frontenacs, to jump out to a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.

Let's uh, hope they continue to rise to the occasion!

03/28/2024

Let's go Blue Jays!!

03/19/2024

The Toronto Blue Jays' renovations are nearly done. What remains to be seen is what effect they will have on the fanbase.

The collective fan relationship with the team has been strained with Mark Shapiro as president.

Shapiro came on midway through the magical 2015 season, and it became apparent that he didn't mesh well with inherited Ninja Assassin, er, GM Alex Anthopolous.

Rogers hedged their bets with the Jays most years, opting for limited spending and settling for good but not great teams.

2015 presented a different opportunity. The team was middling near the trade deadline, but their roster and run differential suggested the team was much better than that.

Anthopoulos proceeded to go all in with multiple trades, headlined by stars Troy Tulowitzki and David Price.

Ultimately, the run ended in the ALCS, but I doubt many fans regret the trades. Moving highly touted prospects always gives me pause, but the aging Jays window was open a crack, and Alex rightfully ripped it wide open.

AA departed after the season, and Shapiro then brought in his old pal Ross Atkins as GM, after allegedly chastising AA for dealing prospects (Anthopolous has since become GM of the Atlanta Braves, winning the World Series in 2021).

Toronto returned to being run like they were prior to AA. They had another ALCS run in 2016, and then quickly dismantled the team.

Shatkins seem to consistently speak in JP Ricciardianese, speaking without saying anything, while money is spent sparingly.

The outfield renos effectively improved the fan experience. This year's renos have a much different feel.

The 100 level seats now all face the diamond. Awesome! But after years of steady price increases, we now have a VIP section. Visions of the empty Yankee Stadium VIP section come to mind, as it feels like average fans are being priced out. It sounds like Blue Jays Nonna will also not be offered her staple spot directly behind the plate.

We're long gone from Toonie Tuesdays and the awesome flex packs that used to get fans into SkyDome. However, the Jays need to be careful if they want to retain the goodwill of their hardcore fan base and keep their new seats occupied.

03/10/2024

03/10/2024

Joey Votto has signed a minor league deal with an invite to spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays.

F'ing finally!

The future hall of famer has been openly campaigning for a team - any team - to offer him anything at all for this season.

The Toronto native has played all 17 years of his career so far with the Cincinnati Reds, racking up 2135 hits and 356 homers in his career, along with a .294 average, 6 All-Star nods, and the 2010 NL MVP award in the process.

Now, there is a reason he's been unsigned, of course. He's 40, an age I'm nearing myself, and I'm now seeing targeted ads suggesting I'll be a senior when I am (TF??). His power and hitting numbers have also seen a sharp decline over the last few years.

However, Votto is just as well known for his love of baseball, brutal honesty, and beyond off beat sense of humour.

Adding him to the Jays, even in a player-coach role, will do nothing but help this team reach its potential.

Votto has had plenty of individual success, but like this young Jays team, winning has eluded him in the playoffs thus far. He should be just as motivated as his teammates to go on a deep run in October.

It'd also quite refreshing to see the Shapiro-Atkins regime actually make a move that borders on fun. Shortly after their introduction, franchise legends like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion were out the door, and that set the tone for what we've seen throughout their tenure.

There have been some splashier signings, of course, like Hyun-jin Ryu and George Springer, and near misses that didn't work out like...*sigh*...Shohei Ohtani (sorry).

Ohtani was a business pursuit more than anything, though, and the Jays minor moves since losing out on him have proven they're still in bean counting mode otherwise.

With any luck, Votto's tryout will turn into some time on the Major league roster, and perhaps his tenure with the Jays could turn into a coaching or front office arrangement once his playing time is done.

02/26/2024

Major League Baseball players have see-through pants.

Yep, this is a real issue.

This is the first season of Nike's arrangement with Fanatics producing their MLB uniforms.

Fans of many sports have long been aware of Fanatics' notoriously shoddy work of fanwear, both in terms of design and ex*****on.

There have been countless pictures shared of skewed placement, incorrect spelling, wrong numbers, upside down names, etc. There's even been instances of the wrong logo being used. Truly unjustifiable errors.

So when it came out that Fanatics would be taking care of not only fan apparel for MLB, but the on field uniforms as well, baseball fans were outraged, and players held their breath.

And here we are.

The jersey designs have seen a clear downgrade, with noticeably smaller player names and patches that are no longer embroidered.

The clear cost cutting fueled shift to the new design and production has also included the removal of tailored fits. That change, along with the inferior feel and comfort of the new uniforms overall, have been widely criticized by players.

Michael Chavis, a non roster invitee at Seattle Mariners training camp, posted a picture of his jersey in his locker with the spacing on his name misaligned, and the 0 noticeably lower than the 1 (slide 3). Fanatics themselves commented on the post to acknowledge that they "dropped the ball" on what they thought was another screwed up customer order. Nope, this one's just a major league on field jersey. No need to worry about a return shipping label on this one, Kyle.

But this isn't that big of a problem, relatively. Soon after spring training began, a much more pressing issue became all too visible.

The white pants are see-through.

The tucked in jerseys have been clearly seen. And there have been a few instances of a lot more than that!

MLB Players Association leader Tony Clark is apparently on the case, and collecting overwhelming negative feedback from across the league.

I'm hoping drastic changes will be made, but I think that's unlikely. However, at least the pants issue has gotta be resolved before Opening Day. Right?