The Fifth Liners

When Marcus Stroman was ruled out for the entire season after tearing his ACL, you could hear the cries of anguish echoing around the Toronto area. After a stellar rookie season, Stroman had appeared due for a break through year and was set to solidify his standing as the new Toronto Blue Jays star pitcher. But from out of nothing, there now appears to be an unlikely new solution that could well turn a few heads at the Rogers Centre this year! Ever heard of Daniel Norris ? Well if you are from outside of Toronto probably not, but during spring training this year the 21 year old Tennessee native made headlines for his living arrangements . Rare is it that you see a guy so fond of not only the outdoors, but his VW van! Listed as the third best LHP prospect by MLB this year, Norris made his debut last September against the Boston Red Sox where he struck out David Ortiz! Making his first start soon after, he pitched only 6 2/3 innings and posted a 5.40 ERA, along with 4 strikeouts, and ...

As the new MLB season draws ever closer to us, the Toronto Blue Jays appear to have an unlikely secret weapon in starting pitcher Marcus Stroman ! After impressing in his debut season last year (and becoming my player jersey of choice) the young man from Bedford, New York appears to have a variety of ammunition in his arsenal that could well seem him make the jump from prized prospect, to future all star! If you read Jeff Sullivan's excellent article on Fangraphs, you being to realize that this young player is a loaded gun. On his sinker and four seam fastballs, Stroman has proven to very effective. Some may On his breaking balls, he being closely compared with last season American League Cy Younger, Corey Kluber! His slider in particular resulted in a strike nearly 70% of the times that he threw them!  Last season he threw more than 65% on strikes and over 60% of his pitches resulted in groundouts! After seeing him last season, I can personally vouch that this guy is one pla...

Prior to arriving in Canada I was aware of the existence of the game of baseball, but being European I never quite grasped its appeal! The games seemed like 'The Never Ending Story' and I marveled at the fact that their main championship was named the World Series when in fact no other nations participated. But watching baseball films such as Bull Durham, Moneyball, Eight Men Out and Major League perked my interest in this game and I found myself reading more. The Toronto Blue Jays were a franchise I had been aware of for some years as they were Canada's only MLB franchise who had not only claimed back to back World Series wins in 1992-93 but had also not reached the playoffs again since then. As I was facing a long wait until Hockey season rolled around and the 2014 World Cup really wasn't peaking my interest this time, I decided to immerse myself in the beautiful game that Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Mickey Mantle and Cal Ripken Jr have made so popular. Arr...

Hockey season has been and gone, so making the most of Alex Watson: Toronto Correspondent, here's a question about the Blue Jays, Canada's only representatives in the MLB: "The Blue Jays haven't seen World Series success since the heady days of the early 90s, does the team have the potential to challenge again? Or is it destined to wallow in mediocrity, surviving on being the only MLB franchise in the county?" Alex's Answer The city of Toronto still casts its mind back to the night of October 23, 1993 when Joe Carter 's three run homer at the bottom of the ninth inning sealed back to back world series titles for the Blue Jays! As the fireworks exploded over the Toronto SkyDome, the city could finally consider itself among the elite of baseball. But since then the Jays have suffered a 20 year playoff drought and have not placed higher than second in the American League East Division since then. Despite some fine individual players such as multiple ...