Blue Jays aim to regain identity at home as ALCS shifts to Toronto
TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays return home trailing the Kansas City Royals 2-0 in the ALCS and despite the deficit they face, they remain confident that once they settle into the comforts of the Rogers Centre for Game 3 on Monday that they’ll be back playing Blue Jays baseball in no time.
“We’re down 2-0 right now, we’ve got three games at home. These guys here, they’re comfortable and we’ve definitely got the crowd behind us,” outfielder Ben Revere said. “We definitely feel much more comfortable being back at home.”
It was clear in the first two games at Kauffman Stadium that the conditions played to the Royals’ strengths. Game 1 was a typical Kansas City game. They got six innings from their starting pitcher – in this case six shutout innings from Edinson Volquez – and handed it off to their bullpen to handle the rest. And even in Game 2 when David Price was mowing down hitters with ease, the Royals hung around in their typical pesky fashion. Then came the seventh. Ben Zobrist’s bloop single to right field that dropped between Ryan Goins and Jose Bautista was the first of six Kansas City hits, five singles and a double, and resulted in five runs in the inning. That’s what the Royals do. It’s not one big swing that changes the game, but rather five or six in quick succession.
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In Toronto’s three wins against Texas in the ALDS, they hit six home runs. The league’s top regular season offense mustered just four extra-base hits in Kansas City – all of them coming in Game 2 – and none of them left the park. Still, the Blue Jays’ hitters were encouraged by their process at the plate and frustrated by the result.
“Kansas City’s park is really big,” said Revere. “Some of the balls we were hitting there, they were going nowhere. Now we’re back home, some of those balls that were crushed are going to go over the heads or go in the gaps more.”
“We thought we hit some balls pretty good that didn’t carry,” added center fielder Kevin Pillar. “It was cold, a bit windy. Here, you’re not going to deal with the wind, not going to deal with the cold. Historically a good hitter’s park to hit in, and more than anything, guys are just comfortable here.”
The hope is that taking the same hacks in their hitter-friendly home will yield a different outcome. The Blue Jays went 53-28 at the Rogers Centre in 2015 and 123 of their league-leading 232 home runs came at home. Playing in front of their raucous fans can only help too.
“That definitely works to our favor, no doubt about that,” said manager John Gibbons. “And really, we hit home runs. We’re built for our park, we’re built for our division we play in and things like that. Really, that’s our trademark. If we’re going to win we need to score.”
Baseball’s not like football or basketball, where adjustments are obvious to the eye. In baseball, the changes are much more subtle. Sometimes a change of scenery is all a team needs. That’s part of the beauty of the game. So home the Blue Jays come, with an energized Marcus Stroman taking the mound to boot, you can understand their reasons for feeling good about their chances, even down 2-0 and facing Johnny Cueto in Game 3.
“You never want to go down 0-3,” said Gibbons. “The odds, the history of the game prove that. But to be honest with you, we feel pretty good. We’ve got a great team and that’s just the fact.”
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
