Playoffs have a powerful lesson to teach the Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays’ offseason had barely begun when Ross Atkins did what he’s best known for: saying something that will drive the team’s fans crazy.

Asked about the Jays’ dire need for home runs, Toronto’s general manager said, “Power is low-hanging fruit to add.”

This feeling was confusing. If home run power is easy to find, and you need home run power – the Jays were 26th out of 30 Major League Baseball teams in home runs – then… shouldn’t you just add some to it? Why go after the harder-to-reach fruits?

Atkins explained: Power can also mean strikeouts.

“Obviously, contact is exceptionally important in the playoffs,” Atkins added. “That has been proven. So balancing that with power additions is obviously very important.”

But is that so? Jays fans can be forgiven for hoping that Atkins has been keeping a close eye on the World Series, where power reigned supreme.

The New York Yankees were poised to win Game 1 with a Giancarlo Stanton bomb — until Freddie Freeman hit his walk-off grand slam in overtime. The Los Angeles Dodgers bombarded the Yankees in Game 2 with three home runs in an undoubted victory. Freeman hit a two-run shot in the first inning of Game 3, and the Dodgers never looked back. And Game 4, which also started with a Freeman explosion, set up a grand slam from New York’s Anthony Volpe.

That may seem anecdotal, but the pattern extends far beyond one series. Teams that beat their opponents are 23-7 in the 2024 playoffs. They were 25-4 in the previous postseason and 22-6 in the previous postseason. In 2021, the team with the most home runs in a playoff game went 25-2.

Contact is exceptionally important in the playoffs, says Atkins? What about dingers?

The 2024 Blue Jays had exactly one guy with serious pop: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his 30 home runs. Toronto seems to have actively disregarded the value of power in word and deed for much of the past two seasons. After the 2022 playoffs, the Jays prioritized run prevention, coinciding with their drop from seventh in the MLB in home runs to 16th in 2023 before falling further this season. Bench coach Don Mattingly said in April that he was wary of chasing power. “I don’t really see us as a huge power club,” he said. “But we do have a chance of, I think, four or five guys hitting 20 home runs or more.”

Not quite. Besides Guerrero, George Springer hit 19 home runs and the club got 18 from Daulton Varsho, but no one else managed even 15 home runs.

Conveniently for Atkins and the Blue Jays, the free agent market has a number of sluggers this season. Anthony Santander (44 home runs), Juan Soto (41), Pete Alonso (34) and old friend Teoscar Hernández (33) are among the many big bats available.

The Jays’ need to add power is underscored by the fact that the roster is reasonably set elsewhere. One thing these World Series teams don’t have? Stellar pitching rotations. The Dodgers, ravaged by injuries, can only field three starters, and one of them is Deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty. The Yankees have Gerrit Cole, who hasn’t had the lights out; Carlos Rodón, victim of the Game 2 shelling; plus Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt. A playoff rotation in Toronto with José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt wouldn’t be entirely out of place.

The Blue Jays’ 2024 bullpen was a tire fire, of course, but then again, modern playoff rosters aren’t teeming with high-priced relievers. The Yankees are held back by Luke Weaver, a 30-year-old journeyman who took over for Clay Holmes and eliminated the Dodgers late in Game 4 when the outcome was still in the balance. The Dodgers lost closer Evan Phillips to injury in the NLCS and still took a commanding lead in the World Series while using other relievers in high-leverage spots. If nothing else, these star-laden teams with huge payrolls demonstrate that bullpens don’t need to be filled with Class A pitchers to achieve playoff success. This season produced two of the most dominant bullpens in the history of the game in Cleveland and Milwaukee, but the Guardians and Brewers are sitting at home after their relievers were lit up in key moments.

The 2024 Blue Jays looked nothing like a playoff team. As Atkins and the front office attempt to build such a system, their premise should be clear. Toronto needs power bats, and more than one. It’s those guys who consistently turn losses into wins in October.

There’s no reason to think about it. Just grab some of that low hanging fruit.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.