The 26-Man Roster Challenge - 15 Year Anniversary Edition

 

What a wild ride. Worst to first and beyond! We are still not even remotely close to being in the mood to discuss what happened in the Series. Even our closest friends haven’t asked us about it. It’s like they saw what happened and know what it did to a true die hard fan.

But the grind of the MLB season/offseason doesn’t give a shit about our feelings, so with that said, it’s that time of year again: The 26-Man Roster Challenge is happening! Many thanks in advance to all of you who still take the time to play with us. It is certainly something we look forward to every year!

For those who don’t know, the 26-Man Roster Challenge is a super simple game that has but one requirement: Name the 26 baseball players within the Blue Jays organization who you think will crack the opening day roster.

 

Sounds easy, right? Well, it really and truly isn’t. If you decide to play, there are 4 ways to submit your ballot:

 

1.            Send us an email: 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com

2.            Make a post on your blog, if you have one, and send us a link.

3.            Add your ballot to the comments section of this post, or the reminder(s) we post later.

4.            Twitter ballots will be accepted @1BJW

 

In the event of a tie—and, at this point, it's pretty much a given that there will be a tie—we ask that you also give us a prediction of what you think the spring training record will be for the boys in baby blue. From what we can see, it appears as though your Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to play 28 spring training games this year which does not include the March 3^rd game against Team Canada. Don't forget that sometimes it rains and the games are not generally made up if they are cancelled. There is also a chance that if a game goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree that the game ends in a tie.

 

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker—all ballots containing 26 names on it will be considered valid—but it is a very good idea that you do include one; over the years we've had numerous stupid-close finishes and actually had to break it right down to winning percentage. We have only had four outright winners in 15 years.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Our rotation looks excellent, from multiple experienced front-line starters to a rookie phenom and everything in between. Your Toronto Blue Jays have got – dare we say it – an excess of quality MLB caliber SP arms. The smart ones will tell you that these things seem to have a way of sorting themselves out--and they do, most of the time.

 

Looking at it from above, there is a possibility that Jose Berrios starts the 2026 season:

 

A. in the rotation

B. In the bullpen

C. On another team

D. On the IL

 

Choose wisely.

 

Again, for the purposes of this exercise, you don’t have to worry about his role on the team out of the gate, only that he is on the team. What it will do is have a trickle down effect on the bottom third of your ballot.

 

Tommy Nance, Myles Straw, Leo Jiménez and Tyler Heineman are all on the 40-man roster and out of options; they need to head north with the team or risk being lost on waivers, and probably haven’t earned a spot based on performance. But anyone who has rosterbated with us before knows all too well that rarely is the choosing of the 26th man based on performance.

 

The hate on Anthony Santander has probably gone too far at this point. If healthy, he’s got a spot on this roster, is one of our best nine hitters and will play every day whether you think that’s a good idea or not.

 

As always, the dreaded NRI/minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. An interesting name here to consider is Yariel Rodriguez. He snuck through outright waivers in early December, but if he can figure out a way to get his stuff in the zone he has a chance to steal a spot in the bullpen.

 

Rule V alert! Pitchers Spencer Miles and Angel Bastardo both need crack the opening day roster with the Blue Jays or be offered back to their original clubs. These are true longshots for sure.

 

It is a WBC year so there will be an extra layer of the unknowns surrounding this year’s roster challenge. That’s just super!

 

It’s worth noting that defending champion, friend of the site and all around decent human, Jimmy Triggs, drew our attention to the official MLB roster rules. They state that there must be at least an even 13/13 split between hitters and pitchers, so you’re looking at an 8-man pen and a traditional 4-man bench.

 

If you have been keeping a list of potential roster candidates for your ballot at home—we can’t be the only ones who do this—you will know that there isn’t a whole lot of spare parts this year. We are probably a little short on infielders and could see an IKF type added during spring training. (Glove-first guys who can play multiple positions are the pond scum of baseball players.) Think "MILB deal with an invite to camp" type scenario.

 

Prizes:

Get your bobblehead on!

 

Good luck to all who decide to join in on the fun this year. We are still searching for the elusive perfect ballot; it would be swell if this were the year!

 

Please include a team name and a tiebreaker. Do NOT forget the tiebreaker. The deadline to submit ballots is February 10th @ 11:59PM EST.