After watching the Toronto Blue Jays blow another playoff series, it’s starting to feel like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jays are the same franchise.
The Toronto Blue Jays have won a championship in much recent history than the Toronto Maple Leafs, but both teams should be way more competitive than they’ve been over the past decade. Heading into the 2023 MLB season, the Blue Jays were World Series favorites, yet they failed to win a playoff game.
The team’s core-four was built around George Springer, Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman, who all resemble the following Leafs.
Springer is John Tavares, as they both joined Toronto as free agents looking to win with a young core of players. Although Tavares never won a championship with his former club, like Springer, they’ve both suffered serious injuries in the playoffs and have fallen short as the “leaders” of their current team.
Bichette would definitely be Marner. Both are two-time All-Star’s, who have put up great stats over their tenure, however they haven’t been able to deliver in the playoffs. Their stats have dropped in critical moments and not only that, they’ve been overshadowed by another superstar on their team.
Speaking of which, Vlad Guerrero Jr., is none other than Auston Matthews. Both players have MVP talent but have cooled off since their career year. In two do-or-die games (or Game 6 and Game 7 in hockey), they’ve failed to drive in a winning run or score a game-winning goal to be the difference maker.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Blue Jays Are Dissapointments
Lastly, Matt Chapman would definitely be William Nylander.
Chapman has four-plus seasons of 20 or more home-run’s, while Nylander has five seasons of 20-plus goals and although both players are very underrated, they’re also overrated at the same time.
They both tend to go on long droughts and look like players who can contribute to a winning team, and even contend for individual awards, but in reality, they are both probably better off just putting up points (or runs) in a meaningless city, making more money than they deserve.
Overall, the entire Blue Jays organization is very similar to the Leafs because they were once again left with utter disappointment for a season filled with optimism. When you’re a championship preseason favorite and lose in the first round, it’s devastating.
It’s not the way a season like this is supposed to end and now what are you supposed to do with your core? Chapman is a free agent, in similar fashion to Nylander (and previously Matthews), but what do you do? Do you re-sign and run it back, or do you find a fresh face to help the future?
Or do you just blow it up completely and start fresh? When you have a handful of world-class players, it’s hard to start new because it’s hard to find more stars to replace them, but if the stars you currently have aren’t winning, then what’s the point of keeping them?
It’s just another day in the life of a Toronto sports fan and as we say goodbye to one sports team’s season, we get ready for another one and more than likely the same result with the Leafs.