Weekly Takes - Monday, October 4 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, October 4 Edition

1. Who I liked -- in order -- in the Maple Leafs’ preseason loss to the Canadiens last Monday night…

• Mitch Marner

• Morgan Riley

• Travis Dermott

• David Kampf

• Adam Brooks

• Ondrej Kase

I thought Nikita Gusev did nothing to improve his chances to make the team.

2. Who I liked -- in order -- in the Leafs’ preseason win over the Senators last Wednesday evening…

• Michael Bunting

• Kase

• Nick Roberston

• Michael Amadio

• Josh Ho-Sang

• Fillip Kral

I think Ho-Sang has done enough through his first two preseason games to earn a contract. Sign him, send him down to the minors, and give him top line minutes with the Marlies.

3. My takeaway from ‘All or Nothing’ is that Sheldon Keefe came out of it looking like the most rational member of the entire Leafs organization.

He knew all along that goal scoring would be an issue come playoff time (as it has been every year since 2019) and that this core was mentally fragile.

His speech before overtime of game six was perfect. Yes, it sucked to be in that spot instead of taking care of Montreal at home in game five, but guess what? This shit is supposed to be hard. Instead of shrinking when the moment gets big, embrace it and get done what you need to get done.

The team instead responded by losing game six and playing the most uninspiring game seven in franchise history.

4. There are tons of positives for the Blue Jays to take away from their season, from both a team and individual perspective, but that does not make not making the playoffs any easier to stomach.

This was a World Series caliber roster that performed as such for large portions of the season.

If you are Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, you bring back Robbie Ray and Marcus Siemen (or bring in two players in the same ballpark as the duo) and you come into the 2022 season with the expectation that you can win the division and World Series.

Coming back with a worse roster is unacceptable, given the age of this core, what they accomplished when the lights shined the brightest the last month and a bit, how well they played despite playing in three different home stadiums this season, and the fact that they will be due for positive regression next season.

Now is the time to go all-in. For as crushing as this is, this should just be the start of the greatest Blue Jays era since the 90s.

5. So, what is an acceptable roster for the Jays to enter spring training with?

STARTING ROTATION...

1. Ray/Kevin Guausman/Max Scherzer

2. Alex Manoah

3. Jose Berrios

4. Hun Jin-Ryu

5. Nate Pearson

BULLPEN

Closer: Jordan Romano

Setup Righty: Adam Cimber

Setup Lefty: Tim Mayza

RHP Trevor Richards

RHP Ross Stripling

RHP Julian Merryweather

Two new relievers, including another southpaw

LINEUP...

1. CF George Springer

2. SS Seimen/Corey Seager/Carlos Correa (or trade for Jose Ramierz!)

3. 1B Guerrero Jr.

4. RF Teoscar Hernandez

5. 2B Bo Bichette

6. DH Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

7. C Alejandro Kirk

8. A new left fielder

9. 3B Santiago Espinal

BENCH...

Backup Catcher: Danny Jansen

Backup Infielder: Otto Lopez

Backup Outfielder: Cody Dickerson (He is a perfect fit on this team and should be brought back)

Backup Utility Player: Cavan Biggo

That is a World Series roster. If they play as such heading into the 2022 deadline, great, they can add an impact reliever, a veteran bench piece, or whatever else they would like. But this is the kind of roster they must enter spring training with.

6. My MLB playoff predictions…

AMERICAN LEAGUE…

Wild Card Game: Yankees beat Red Sox

ALDS: Yankees beat Rays and Astros beat White Sox

ALCS: Astros beat Yankees

NATIONAL LEAGUE…

Wild Card Game: Dodgers beat Cardinals

NLDS: Dodgers beat Giants and Brewers beat Atlanta

NLCS: Brewers beat Dodgers

World Series: Brewers beat Astros

7. As I wrote last week, Ben Roethlisberger is done.

Not just in terms of “the Steelers cannot make the playoffs with him” kind of done but “they may not beat one decent team for the rest of this season with him” kind of done.

Mason Rudolph or Dwayne Haskins are certainly not the answer at quarterback for Pittsburgh, but at this point, it is cruel and unusual punishment to keep playing Roethlisberger, more so behind this offensive line.

8. We can all agree that what the Cardinals did to the Rams defence on Sunday was the most impressive performance by a team all season, correct?

It is time to include them in the group of Super Bowl contenders.

9. My week five NFL picks…

• Rams (-1)

• Falcons (-3.5)

• Patriots (-7)

• Bucs (-9.5)

• Eagles (+4)

• Vikings (-8)

• Titans (-7.5)

• Broncos (-2)

• Packers (-3)

• Saints (-1)

• Bears (+6.5)

• Giants (+8)

• Cardinals (-2.5)

• Bills (+3.5)

• Colts (+6.5)

Survivor Team Pick: Bucs, with an honourable mention to the Pats and Vikings. Through the first four weeks, I have taken the Rams, Packers, Ravens, and Bills.

I went 7-7 in week four with the Monday night game still pending and am now 28-33 on the season.

10. Two weeks ago, I wrote that there are only five viable playoff teams in college football.

I stand by that, but with all due respect to Oregon, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Cincinanati are clearly the four best teams in the country.

The only drama for the remainder of the season will be whether or not Oklahoma or Cincinanati gets the third seed to avoid Alabama in the semis -- not that Georgia is any less of a powerhouse right now.

Oregon is the clear five seed for me right now.