Choking The Night Away: Can Blue Jays/ Tigers Recover?

Roy Hobbs: I coulda’ been better. I coulda’ broke every record in the book. And then when I walked down the street people would've looked, and they would've said, there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game.” Robert Redford in The Natural

The death last week of Robert Redford, the star of The Natural, at 80 coincided with the frantic finish of this year’s MLB pennant races. And there fans of some celebrated baseball teams who are wondering what happened to the WonderBoy the past month.

Somehow the Toronto Blue Jays have survived to make the postseason after staggering through September. The Jays hung on to beat the Kansas City Royals and avoid a sweep at Royals Stadium. The game featured Vladimir Guierrero’s first extra base hit since Sept. 7. Normally that would have been compensated by other Jays.

But they are playing without, arguably, their best player Bo Bichette. Their pitching staff is in tatters with Chris Bassitt gone to the injured list, José Berrios banned to the bullpen, Max Scherzer strafed for seven runs on Friday, Jeff Hoffman blowing leads like he blows his nose. All Star catcher Alejandro Kirk, OFs Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho went cold at the same time.

So Vladdy AWOL could have been fatal. But the Jays pieced together an offence centred on George Springer and spare parts to keep the wheels on. Starter Shane Bieber, the former Cy Young winner, has been a life saver. Now they must face Boston and Tampa to hold onto the top spot in the AL and win a first-round bye. Where they’ll battle the Detroit Tigers for the pennant.

Just kidding. As bad as the Blue Jays struggles have been, the Tigers have authored what may be there worst collapse in the history of MLB. Once leaders by 15.5 in the AL Central, powered by five All Stars and stocked with young studs, the Tigers now find themselves a single game up on red-hot Cleveland in the Central and precariously perched on the edge of missing the postseason.

They have company among the famous folds in the past. On August 11, 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers held a 13-game lead in the National League. By the end of the season, the Dodgers had relinquished the entire lead, and were locked in a tie atop the standings with the New York Giants, with a three-game playoff to determine the pennant winner. They were tied a game apiece. Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe took a 4-1 Dodgers lead into the ninth inning. He gave way to reliever Ralph Branca. Up came Bobby Thompson. Down went the Dodgers.

Older fans will remember the 1964 Pholding Phillies of Gene Mach blowing a 6.5 game lead with just 12 to play. It was their chance  to win their first World Series ever. the team began printing World Series tickets. Then Mauch began starting his two best starters on two days rest. Sorry. Dust in the wind. The Bob Gibson Cardinals went on to win the WS.

Then there were the 1969 Chicago Cubs under Leo Durocher. The Cubs led by as many as 7 games till the fated black cat ran in front of their dugout in a Sept. 9 game against the Mets. For most that signalled the end for Chicago. The Amazin’ Mets passed the exhausted Cubs and went on to win the huge upset in the WS, beating powerful Baltimore. Durocher played his starters into the dirt while stealing out of a game to see his stepson. 

The 1978 Red Sox led the Yankees by as much as 11 games midseason then melted in the summer sun. Having won six in a row to force a playoff with the Yanks, the Carmine Hose had a chance at redemption. Two words describe what happened. Bucky Dent. 

The 1987 Blue Jays prefigured their current cousins. With just seven games to go in the regular season, the Blue Jays had amassed 96 wins and a healthy 3.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers. When the 1987 season came to a close, Toronto still had 96 wins, but no playoff games. Detroit swept them and the image of hapless Jays manager Jimy Williams standing with his hands tucked in his pants became the image of a lost season.

The 1995 California Angels built up an 11-game lead in early August over mediocre AL West competition. With two weeks to play they still had a six-game advantage. That’s when they embarked on a nine-game losing streak—their second such snap within a month. In a one-game playoff Randy Johnson threw 150 pitches for Seattle and that was all she wrote.

The 2007 Mets not only looked to have the NL East sewn up with a seven-game lead over the Phillies, they held the upper hand on home-field advantage for the NL playoffs. In the final week New York came home for seven final games, with a make-up against St. Louis thrown in. They lost all but one, and the season came down to the last day with the Mets and Phillies tied for first. HOF Starter Tom Glavine retired just one Florida batter while allowing seven others to reach; all seven scored. Not only did the Mets lose out on the division by a single game, but the wild card as well by the same margin.

The 2009 Tigers know how their current club feels. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, up three games over the Minnesota Twins with four games to go, they seemed a lock to make the postseason and win the American League Central division. Four games later, the Tigers were faced with the Twins in a one-game playoff to get to the postseason. Jim Leyland’s Tigers choked that one away as well, losing in extra innings, 6-5.

But nothing compares to the story the 2025 Tigers are authoring. Manager A.J. Hinch has seen all his well-constructed plans disintegrate. He has one great pitcher, Tarek Skull, and a whole lot of five-inning pitchers and hittable bullpen arms. His young core of hitters are gagging (12 LOB Sunday), and the Cleveland Guardinos are on an insane wining streak. 

Even though they control their destiny it all feels doomed. And the dream of a Jays/ Tigers AL Final will never be.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.