They're Back

0:00Welcome to At The Letters for Friday, September 4th, 2026. We are in September. The Blue Jays are a half game out of the playoffs. In the American League, I mean wild stuff. So that is where we are going to begin. That's where we're going to spend this episode, which might be a short one, but man, there is a lot to get to biggest series of the season going into Cleveland to face the Guardians. I was there covering the series for sportsnet.ca and my goodness. They won 203. They are now one game under 500 and half a game behind those Cleveland Guardians for the final American League wild card spot. And with 21 games to go, this sets up a very dramatic finish, a very high intensity set of games starting in Kansas City on Friday, heading to Sacramento, then back home.

1:01It's going to fly by. These are going to be really intense games, just like that series in Cleveland was. So that's it. We're in a playoff situation. A playoff stretch run right now. And who knows? It might take 82 wins. It might take 83. It might take. It's hard to predict. And ultimately, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. What matters is, at this point, the Jays are not going to be in the league. They're not going to have a gaudy win total. When we look back at this in five or six years, it's not going to be a high win total. It's not going to be a banner year from the standpoint of wins and losses on the baseball reference page. It's just, can you get in or can you knock it in? And what number of wins talking to John Schneider, he does not care. Talking to some of the players, they don't care. It's just, do you get that chance to play a wild card series on the road and be in the playoffs? Potentially advanced to the ALDS. Potentially advanced beyond that. That is all in play in a way that it really hasn't been. But what a month.

2:01I mean, you think back to where this team was on August the 3rd. And that was the trade deadline. And they were sellers. Their playoff odds had dipped very low. Ross Akins at the time was telling fans, hey, the biggest emotion is letting down our fans, letting down the club hosts. That was what the GM of the team was saying at that time. I mean, those comments felt completely in step. Those comments felt appropriate at the time because the jays were just lost. And it was a really tough day for the team. In Houston, a lot of players have spoken openly about the emotions they felt and how they were crying and how it was so difficult to part ways with these guys knowing that it was turning the page on what had been such a special group in 2025. Lo and behold, they actually kind of got better at the trade deadline in a weird way, unexpected way. But they are now in a great position after winning 17 games in August after starting September,

3:07two and one, everything's back on the table. So no guarantees. Obviously, they're still under 500. They're still in a spot where they have to gain further ground on Cleveland. They have to hold off teams like Baltimore. There's a lot of work to do. There is no question about that. They are going to have to finish very well in the course of these last 21 games. And I don't know what that record looks like, but they're going to have to outplay a couple teams here to say the least. So that's where we are after that month where the jays have played so well and guys like Brett Bateman have emerged. Jose Soriano has helped Kevin Gosman who continues pitching well, by the way, for the Cubs. He's gone. Obviously, Jeff Hoffman, gone, Dalton, Varsho, gone. But Bateman's been better than Varsho was. That's been an upgrade for this team. And they have been able to figure it out. So that means that one month after the trade deadline, they found themselves celebrating a win in Cleveland, getting on a plane to go to Kansas City.

4:09And it's just undeniable contenders at this point. It's not a debate. It's not fringe contenders. They are contenders. And again, with more work to do. So in the course of this, relatively short episode, just wanted to hop on and discuss what I saw in Cleveland in those three games. Then take a little break. Look ahead to what is coming in Kansas City. And then that's it. Step aside. That is the plan for today. It'll just be me with all the travel it took place. Arden and I just haven't been able to line up on times. I was traveling Monday so Arden recorded his solo episode. And then Arden and I have since had to continue traveling where I got back from Cleveland and he was on his way to Kansas City. So just didn't line up. It'll just be me. And next week we will make sure to hop on together and discuss whatever is going on at that point. To start, let's look at this Cleveland series.

5:09First game, just absolutely nothing going on. And Gavin Williams was just that good. I mean, it's one of those games where I was saying this to a few people afterwards. You just, you don't want to be doing this at this point in the season because it's all about results. But it really was a tip your hat game. And Gavin Williams was just that good. I mean, on a hot and humid night, he was throwing 100. He was striking everybody out career high 13 strikeouts. The Jays had nothing going offensively. And yeah, this team, they struggled to hit all year. So in a sense, that's nothing new. But the way Williams is pitching, I just have to give him credit. So Guardians get credit there. Now what I do find most interesting from this game, the opener against the Guardians, was the approach that the Blue Jays took coming out of an off day and how they approach their pitching.

6:10So initially, the thought had been that Spencer Erigetti was going to start this game. As this game was approaching, they announced, no, we're actually going to have Spencer Miles open. So that to me said that basically the Blue Jays at this point in the season are less concerned about ball cannings. They're less concerned about trying to stretch anybody out or develop someone for the long term. It's about winning games in the here and now. And they felt that their best way to do that was opening with Spencer Miles, handing the ball to Spencer Erigetti for a number of anings ended up being three and two thirds. And then navigating the rest of the game with some relievers, including Ricky Teedum and who came in right after Miles. And if you were in the midst of a 17 and 17 and it's May, you're just going to let Erigetti start. You're going to try to stretch him out. You're going to try to get him ready for the remaining four months of the season and save the bullpen. In this case, roster has had expanded.

7:10So you have an extra pitcher because of September roster expansion. And coming out of an off day and the significance of every game is just that much higher. So they went to Miles, still relying on Erigetti for a good chunk of anings in the middle of the game. But you can see why they want to go to Miles. And it is kind of wild. He pitched again on Thursday and was again effective. In this series, just highlighted for yet another time how good Spencer Miles is and we're an amazing fine. He has been for this team. You think about how hard it is to find reliable pitching, reliable relief pitching and Miles comes in, touches 100 miles an hour for the first time in his career. And that's impressive for any pitcher at any time to get to that kind of plateau. For Miles to be doing this in the sixth month of his season, when previously, he had never thrown 20 innings in a season as a professional.

8:14And just a year ago, he was getting ready for the Arizona Fully. He gets like a no name, no rank prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization. Now with the blue jays, he's pitching in a playoff race and just the volume to me is remarkable. This is a huge workload for any reliever period, let alone a reliever who's barely pitched in pro baseball. And as of now, he has pitched 85 and 2 thirds innings, probably going to surpass 90. It's kind of old school. You don't really see a lot of pitchers in that 90 inning range where he's done a little bit of starting, some long relief, some opening, some leverage relief, saved the game. He's done some of everything. And the results have been great. And to see his velocity increasing as the season goes on, unbelievable. And I was texting with a friend of the podcast, Sam McKee, about this. And we were kind of saying, man, like if you were actually thinking about who the most important pitchers are on the blue jays, Spencer Miles is very high on this list, whether

9:19you're talking about present moment or even long term, obviously it's still in C's, it's Jose Soriano, it's Traeys Average, who by the way is set to potentially get off a mound again soon, which is a good thing for the blue jays because they could certainly use his help. But you have C's, Soriano, you savage, you have Louis Varland, you have Tyler Rogers, I think right there is Spencer Miles. Like he might be the sixth most important pitcher in this organization, including everyone, every prospect, every majorly pitcher. He's very, very important to what they're trying to accomplish. And showed that again, this series. So some positives on the pitching side, Eric Eddie was solid and Spencer Miles was great. But ultimately that first game of the series, just totally flat offensively, Williams is too good, Jay's had no answers, they lose. Game two, this one, I mean, this is the Vlad Jr game for me.

10:20And yeah, it was a collective effort, eleven, nothing. They were able to really just create some separation. Dylan C's again was really good, but it's nothing new. We're kind of used to seeing that from Dylan C's this season. He goes six innings, scoreless. But then, man, Vlad, like we've been waiting so long for this and it's his best game of the year. I don't know where it leads, but his swings look good. He looked like Vlad, even the home run, like he really got under it. It was a moonshot down the left field line. And before the home run, he hit one 400 feet. It was actually over 400 feet into the left center field off the wall, a progressive field. And afterwards, he didn't talk to us after the Wednesday game, had some family in town and just left to the stadium right away. But after the Thursday game, he said that it was in fact the double that it felt like

11:24his favorite swing and the sack fly that he later had on Thursday that were some of the swings that he said he's been looking for. So the home run in addition to that, I mean, that's another good sign. Later, Oppo single. So he ends up with three hits in the Wednesday game, five RBI, both of those are season highs. And again, you just look at the swings, look at some of the takes. I mean, this was a game that Vlad Jr. looked like Vlad Jr. And Thursday also drew a walk. He was obviously feeling it, flipped the bat after that walk. He said he was happy with the swing on the sack fly. So that's another positive for him. Ultimately, I'm not going to sit here and try to predict the rest of Vlad Jr's season. Because it's been so unpredictable thus far. And who knows that he could regress back to where he was or this could be the beginning of a new trend.

12:26And man, if it is, if this is in any way a sign of what's ahead in the next three weeks, that playoff birth is very much there for the taking for the blue chase. Even if not, I mean, even if you're just trying to piece it together with Kirk and Okamoto and Bateman and Springer, even if not, yeah, they've got a real shot. They're still in this thing. But if Vladdy can get to the point where he's hitting a couple balls, you know, 400 feet every couple games, I mean, that's just a game changing player. That's a franchise player. That's the guy that the blue jays hope they had in Vlad Jr. going into this season. And so, hearing from him on Thursday, it was interesting to hear some of his comments where he was saying, and again, I'm jumping out of sequence a little bit because he didn't talk after the Wednesday game. But, you know, in talking to the media, he was saying, I realize this isn't going to be a season where I have the numbers that I would normally expect to have.

13:30So now it's just about being there for my teammates. It's just about trying to do what I can with this next month. And John Schneider also has spoken about Vladdy and understanding that what's done is done and understanding that all he can do now is try to make the most of September, try to take advantage of that. And if they can do that, then that will be the part that, you know, is most important because it would lead to a playoff birth if he can play at his best. So I thought that was interesting and it speaks to just the mental challenge for Vlad Jr. for a lot of these players when the first four or five months of the season, really the first four months of the season were so disappointing. And then trying to stay as locked in as possible knowing that they had let themselves down and let the fans down in the course of those first four months, but trying to stay locked in. So that's kind of where the J's are at collectively. That's where Vlad Jr. is at as an individual and a huge game.

14:34There were a ton of J's fans in Cleveland. And thanks to those J's fans who said hello, appreciate hearing from J's fans all the time anywhere. And there are a lot of them at progressive field. There were not a lot of guardians fans. It was quite overall. But there were a ton of J's fans and they were cheering for Vladdy very loudly as he was having this great game. It's the best game of the season. So that's a big moment. That's a big potential turning point. And we don't know if it'll be a turning point because we will need to see more of course, but hey, it helped them win on Wednesday. It was front and center in that 11-nothing effort to win what really was it must, pretty close to a must-win game on Wednesday. And it is encouraging when it comes to what's possible.

15:34And it's impossible not to imagine, hey, what if he can, what if this is something that he can build on? I'm not going to say sustain, but what if it's something that he can build on and hit five more homers in September? I mean, that's definitely within his grasp. He's got the bat speed for it. It's Kenny Lime that swing up, Kenny make those swing decisions, Kenny stay locked in from game to game in moment to moment. And that's still there as an opportunity for the Jays. So that even the series in pretty one-sided fashion on Wednesday and then head into the rubber match on Thursday. And this is more of a collective team effort type win, but a huge win because it flips it. Going into Thursday's game, day game, hot day, super, super hot. I'm sitting still in a chair for my pre-game TV hit with Hazel like sweating because it's

16:3633 Celsius and it's, I'm not even moving around. These guys are moving around obviously trying to perform at their highest level. And yeah, it's really hot day, quick turnaround after the night game, get away day coming up. And this stakes are high because either they are going to be 2.5 games back of Cleveland or they're going to be 0.5. So hand the ball to Jose Soriano, he's okay, but the bullpen was incredible. Flewhardy worked in and out of some trouble, miles again, in and in a third, scoreless. Rogers does his thing, violent does his thing, boom, 9 innings, 3 in runs. And basically half of that was the bullpen, 4 and 2, 3 from Soriano, 4 and 1, 3rd from the bullpen. This is why I say it was that full team effort because offensively there was no single. Hero Nathan Lucas was really good, Brett Bateman had a few hits, including a bunch single, with a couple runners on to really get a rally started.

17:38So collective effort didn't get any power in this one, no homers to speak of, but this was a team win. They were able to get it done, they stacked a ton of lefties against Tanner Bobby, who struggles against lefties, they did a really good job against Tanner Bobby and forced him off the plate, did some damage. And I was a little surprised, the Guardians didn't go to Kate Smith and Eric Sibrawski to kind of keep the game closer. I know the Guardians have a double header Friday, so that might have entered into things, but the Jays actually didn't see those guys, the Guardians best relievers all series. And the Jays themselves didn't have to over rely on Louis V Ireland and on Tyler Rocher's in this series. So big win for the Jays to close it out, actually massive and 70 and 71, as they had to Kansas City half a game back. So that was the series, and Cleveland, now onto Kansas City.

18:42So I'll come back shortly and discuss what is ahead for the Blue Jays, is they continue to Kansas City and we continue on At the Letters. We are back on At the Letters, which is produced by Christian Ryan, so thanks to Christian for producing this episode of At the Letters, and thanks to you for listening, because there is a lot going on, always happy to have people listening, commenting, subscribing, liking, everything on those lines, we appreciate the support. So thanks for that and keep it coming, because we have a lot more to get to in September. I mean, clearly this is going to be pretty interesting. So stick with us, we will make sure to discuss all the developments, good or bad, but lately they've been really good. And as the Blue Jays go to Kansas City and Sacramento, they have a chance to keep that momentum going. This is not a guarantee by any stretch, and I think we should all remember the lesson

19:44from early in the season, when the Blue Jays head, the athletics and the Rockies and the White Sox, and it seemed as though they could just get off to this great start, didn't happen. So you can't play, you know, the schedule, you have to play the game, you have to play the game in the field and you have to earn every single win. But still, there's an opportunity here. It's better to play the Royals than it is to play the Dodgers, obviously, even as the Dodgers navigate their own set of issues. But yeah, it's an opportunity for the Jays. And it starts Friday, James and Tyrone will start for the Jays in the opener, then it's Mac sure as her, then it's Spencer Erighetti. And Erighetti, I mean, that could be a bullpen game. In fact, probably decent chance it's a bullpen game again, probably should be a bullpen game. So that's the opinion, just to vary the looks, keep the Royals guessing, don't let anyone get too comfortable. But Erighetti will be a big part of that Sunday game and it's, I mean, it's telling,

20:45this is this trio, his spend time on the injured list this year, it has not been a smooth season for any of these pitchers. Erighetti, dealing with the Mordans and Aroma, Scherzer has certainly dealt with stuff earlier in the season from a physical standpoint. And when we're talking about James and Tyrone, he is just coming back off the injured list to make this start. So yet the Jays are relying on all three and they will need these guys. It'll be really interesting to see what Tyrone has in the tank in this opener against the Royals. But I would be of the opinion that if Tyrone doesn't have it, if the Royals are getting to him, you had a big bullpen. And the bullpen was not overtaxed in Cleveland. So you can't be reckless with this and you'd love to get Tyrone through four having allowed a couple runs. I mean, to me, that's like a quite a good outcome.

21:48But if it doesn't work, maybe you go to Braden Fisher or Brennan Little or Ricky Teedham and Paul C. Walt and just try to cover those middle landings and keep it close and then if you're winning, obviously you go to Rogers and Virland. If you're losing, maybe it's Lorenzo and a mantelply. But I wouldn't be inclined to stick with Tyrone too long, especially in his first start coming back from injury. It's a balancing act. I get that. You can't overdo it with the bullpen. They don't have an off day Monday. They're going to go straight from Kansas City to Sacramento. These next six games, you're going to be relying a lot on your pitching staff. But I think there's a strong case to be made for being aggressive and taking your starter out of batter too early, as opposed to a batter too late, particularly when it comes to Tyrone and Eragedi. Shurs are coming off the 10th strike out performance. I'd be inclined to give a little bit of a longer leash.

22:50But for Tyrone, for Eragedi, the leash will be pretty short for me. As the Blue Jays go to Kaufman's stadium. We'll see how they approach it. I'm looking at Louis Virland. He's pitched once in the last five days. Tyler Rogers has pitched once in the last five days. Same can be said for Mason Flewhardy. Those are three of your most trusted relievers. If you've got to use them, each two out of three in Kansas City, no problem. Go for it. This is the time. You've got to win games. You've got to keep games close. In a tie game scenario, you use some of your best arms. Miles will probably be down, at least for the first game or two in Kansas City. Once he's ready, use him. It's that time of year. That's one thing I'll be looking for in Kansas City. Beyond that, of course, looking to see how Vlad Carrera or Junior does. If he can hit a homer, if he can hit a couple loud doubles, get the ball in the air, even

23:53of it's caught. Looking to see that Arosa Rainer line drive that he hit against the Mariners on the weekend, actually did end up being a little bit of a sign of things to come. When he hit that 116 right at Arosa Rainer, barely got 10 feet off the ground. A couple of days later, he's having his best game of the season. Looking to see, can Vlad Junior make some really hard contact? Can he stay locked in mentally? That's one thing to watch. I think to all throw Arne Clement in there because Arne Clement had an awesome start to the season, earned that all star birth so well deserved. Since then, it's been pretty rough for Arne Clement. He did get a hit late in the game on Thursday. I was talking to John Schneider about this. That probably has a greater significance than your standard base hit for Arne Clement, just given how much he had been struggling. That's a trend line that I'll be watching as the Jays go to Kansas City because we all know

24:57Arne Clement can get really hot and I don't want to say he can carry a team. That's probably overstating it, but he can be a really big part of a good offense. If he could get going a bit, that would help because in the second half, Arne Clement hitting 227, OPS of 547. That's a 200 point drop off from the first half when he hit 296 and his OPS was 751. They need Arne Clement. They would love to see him heat up. So he'll be watching Arne Clement, be watching Flagler or Junior. Yeah, should be good. They're every series this time of year. Every single series is pretty compelling. Can't wait to watch. I'll be watching, of course. I'm back in Toronto now. Erden will be on the broadcast along with Dan and Caleb. So watch for all of the goings on from Kansas City and really can't wait to see where this thing goes

26:00and get back into it next week. Compare notes with Arden for as the Jays go to Sacramento. So that's really it. I'm going to leave it there. Have a great weekend. And thanks so much for listening. Thanks as well to our producer, Christian Ryan. And we will talk to you soon on Anthel letters.