The Toronto Blue Jays went into the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason with a lot of expectations. This team was built to win now, but were completely inept from an offensive standpoint and could only muster one run in 18 innings in a two-game loss at the hands of the Minnesota Twins. Then on Saturday, the Blue Jays held a very controversial press conference (which took place on the Saturday morning of the Canadian Thanksgiving Long Weekend), and announced two notable items.
First, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins called manager John Schneider’s decision to pull starting pitcher Jose Berrios from game two against the Twins “courageous” when the Twitter world was calling the decision “dumb.”
Dumbest move in MLB history taking out José Berríos, who handled it with class
Schneider gets the blame; he shouldn’t; he was acting under direct orders from Ross Atkins and his computers
Fire Ross Atkins! #NextLevel #BlueJays #Schneider #FireAtkins pic.twitter.com/afMpIoaQri
— Big Carson (@BigCarsonRocks) October 5, 2023
Atkins went on to say that it was Schneider’s decision to take out Berrios, and not his decision, or the decision of his analytics department. On Breakfast Television in Toronto on Thursday, Sid Seixeiro expressed his frustration from a fan perspective. He has a wealth of sports broadcasting experience on The Score and Rogers Sportsnet, and his comments are agreed by many around Canada.
@Sid_Seixeiro also calling for the firing of Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins! His calculus is simple: the two reasons Jays loss the elimination game was the horrific decision to pull an excellent Berrìos and the anemic offence that Atkins assembled. pic.twitter.com/dzxO6gnVY2
— RapsLeafsJays (@RapsLeafsJays) October 5, 2023
The previous clip was part of a very interesting six minute rant where Seixeiro gives high praise for the professionalism of Berrios, calls for the firing of Schneider and Atkins, how analytics are completely overrated (Blue Jays won two World Series without them) and the unprofessional base running mistakes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in the playoffs.
“Decisions were made yesterday that were completely messed up.”@sid_seixeiro has some thoughts on the @bluejays 👀 pic.twitter.com/eIMxoea0Fm
— Breakfast Television (@breakfasttv) October 5, 2023
On Friday, the controversy surrounding the Blue Jays received headlines on the Toronto Sun, discussing “outraged fans,” specifically “the micro-managing” style when it came to analytics.
NO WAY The Blue Jays can attract new top talent and get to the next level, unless Rogers fires micro-managing Mark Shapiro and his clown sidekick Ross Atkins. #NextLevel #BlueJays #FireAtkins #Rogers pic.twitter.com/xKiGFIGLxy
— Big Carson (@BigCarsonRocks) October 6, 2023
Then on Saturday, Atkins reported that Schneider would return to the 2024 season, which created another Twitter firestorm. The phrase #fireatkins is trending on Twitter. Fans did not like how Atkins did not take accountability for the disappointing season. Until the Blue Jays make a change and listen to their loyal fanbase, they are expected to see another season of mediocrity.
Ross Atkins threw both @JOLaMaKina “Surprised at how well he was pitching” & Schneider “I was surprised he was coming out” under the bus! He took ZERO responsibility #FireAtkins #NextLevel #BlueJays https://t.co/5W13c5ZzNk
— Andrij (@OtherHalfAndrij) October 7, 2023
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