Over: 26 Man Roster Challenge

 

With the beginning of a new season comes the conclusion of yet another roster challenge. Thank you all for playing once again.

 

In the end, it came down to two great baseball minds and good friends, with both the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and yours truly nailing 23 out of 26 players on the Opening Day roster. Since all ballots took Berrios and Yesavage, it was really just a 24-man roster challenge. The tiebreaker plays, as it just about always does.

 

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame: 16-11

1BJW: 12-15

Actual Blue Jays spring training record: 12-14-2

 

There you have it folks. It’s me again; I’m the winner. I won my own damn challenge. I guess I’ll just keep the bobblehead and leave it on the same shelf until next year.

 

Let’s run it back next year. The search for the perfect ballot continues!

Off We Go!

The leaks that came the day before pitchers and catchers reported to camp were a little frustrating to be sure. Stop sticking microphones in front of the braintrust before the Roster Challenge deadline, please! The news about Santander and Bieber really did change up some ballots that were submitted well before midnight—we can look at setting an earlier deadline moving forward to preserve the integrity of the challenge. (We will preserve the integrity of the challenge at all costs.)

 

Some fast facts: 

 

The X factor of this year’s roster challenge appears to be the final bench spot, a pretty much even split between Loperfido and Jimenez. Whoever wins that job will have a huge impact on which ballot takes home the glory.

 

***Update*** Joey for Jesus happened and now everybody loses the chance at a perfect ballot! Aw, shucks

 

No two ballots are the same. Not really that impressive considering we only had seven ballots total, but still noteworthy.

 

Rule V darling, the Angel of death Bastardo with his 327 total career minor league innings – 45 of which were at the AA level – managed to find his way on to not one but two ballots this time around. Fascinating stuff.

 

Fisher and Fluharty were named on six of the seven ballots.

 

All ballots submitted contained the following 21 players:

 

Barger, Berrios, Cease, Clement, Gausman, Gimenez, Guerrero, Heineman, Hoffman, Kirk, Lauer, Lukes, Okamoto, Ponce, Rogers, Schneider, Springer, Straw, Varland, Varsho, Yesavage

 

Below you will find the remaining 5 names to round out the ballots, and the all-important tiebreaker. With that, we are off. Good luck to all!

 

 

Jimmy Triggs

14-14 

Fisher

Fluharty

Garcia

Little

Loperfido 

The returning champion is looking to lay the smackdown and skip taking home the prize once again. He holds the belt until someone takes it.

 

Last Row 500's

18-11 

Fisher

Garcia

Jimenez

Little

Nance 

No Fluharty = no bueno

 

Blue Jay Hunter

16-12 

Bastardo

Fluharty

Little

Loperfido

Nance 

The Blue Jays Hunter graces us with his presence once again, and we are all better off for it.

Hall Of Fame

16-11 

Fisher

Fluharty

Little

Loperfido

Nance 

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame steps into the gauntlet looking for their first win of the roster challenge.

 

I Like Nuts

17-9 

Fisher

Fluharty

Garcia

Jimenez

Nance 

Mrs. @1BJW thought about skipping this year’s event and then quickly changed course.

 

@1BJW

12-15 

Fisher

Fluharty

Jimenez

Little

Nance 

We present to you the winning ballot. Book it.

 

The Ant Farm

20-6 

Bastardo

Fisher

Fluharty

Garcia

Loperfido 

Ant is looking at the Jays to capture another coveted Golden Grapefruit with a mind melting 20-6 spring training record. All aboard the hype train!

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.

We Have An Outright Winner!

In what can only be described as a near miracle, we did not need to go to the tiebreaker to determine our latest winner in the 26-Man Roster Challenge. What a time to be alive!

Friend of the site, the one and only Jimmy Triggs, walks away with the hardware after nailing an impressive 23 out of 26 players on the Opening Day roster. When he was told the news he replied, “Hmm. I didn’t think I was close after Nance.” We could just feel the elation coming through the screen. A great statesman and champion!

Two ballots managed to get 22 out of 26 players correct for a solid podium finish. We do want to acknowledge all who participated in this ordeal and thank you for your interest.

The search for the elusive perfect ballot continues.

And We're Off!

We are all set for another super fun and exciting spring training in quiet Dunedin, Flow Ride A!

 

For almost 15 years straight – thanks again, COVID – we have lived and died with any news coming out of camp that pertains to injury or general performance. It would have been really swell if the signing of lefties Amir Garrett and old friend Ryan Yarbrough on minor league deals had happened prior to pitchers and catchers formally reporting--nobody took Yarbrough, and we think it makes a whole lot of sense for him to get a bullpen job.

 

This year, we had eight willing participants step forward and answer the call. Let’s examine the ballots.

 

The following 15 names appear on all of them:

 

Chris Bassit

Jose Berrios

Bo Bichette

Ernie Clement

Bowden Francis

Kevin Gausman

Chad Green

Vlad

Jeff Hoffman

Alexander Kirk

Yariel Rodriguez

Anthony Santander

Max Scherzer

George Springer

Erik Swanson

 

The Swanson news from earlier this week is interesting, as he is a bit behind with the dreaded forearm soreness.

 

From there it does get a little murky, which is something we noted as the ballots started rolling in. In our vast experience of running this thing, that generally means that your Toronto Blue Jays do not have a strong roster and quite a few jobs are still up for grabs.

 

Team Hall of Fame

12-16

 

Addison Barger

Ryan Burr

Yimi Garcia

Tyler Heineman

Leo Jimenez

Brendon Little

Joey Loperfido

Nick Sandlin

Davis Schneider

Myles Straw

Will Wagner

 

We appreciate the support from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame once again. Guess they were too busy being awesome, and missed the news on the trade for the platinum glove winner this offseason.

 

Team Blue Jay Hunter

17-13

 

Barger

Burr

Garcia

Andres Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Loperfido

Nathan Lukes

Sandlin

Straw

Wagner

 

Hat tip to the Godfather of Blue Jays blogs

 

Team Last Row 500’s

14-15

 

Christian Bethancourt

Burr

Gimenez

Jimenez

Little

Loperfido

Lukes

Zach Pop

Sandlin

Schneider

Wagner

 

Why take just one G/Jimenez north with the club when you can take both? No Yimi…..what do you know that we don’t know?

 

Team Jimmy Triggs

15-15

 

Barger

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Lukes

Tommy Nance

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

Mr. Defending Champion, Sir

11-19

 

Andrew Chafin

Garcia

Gimenez

Yasmani Grandal

Lukes

Orelvis Martinez

Nance

Alan Roden

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

 

Yowser! Where do we begin on this one? The Champ is back to defend, and he went off the board. Start with a few free agents still out there in Chafin & Grandal, add a couple of top prospects in Martinez & Rodon, and subtract Wagner from the mix. Easily our favourite ballot of the Roster Challenge this year. Let’s see how it works out for him.

 

Team I Like Nuts

14-15

 

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Loparfido

Lukes

Nance

Pop

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

The only ballot not containing Sandlin, AKA the other guy in the trade for the platinum glove winner.

 

Team @1BJW

15-13

 

Barger

Betancourt

Burr

Garcia

Giminez

Little

Loparfido

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

Clearly the best ballot and most realistic shot at winning.

 

The Ant Farm

12-16

 

Barger

Burr

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Lukes

Martinez

Sandlin

Straw

Wagner

 

Big shout out to our in-house Tech Guy; none of this is possible without him.

 

We do appreciate all of you who decided to join us again. The number of entries for this challenge is dwindling faster than the number of home-grown infielders we have under contact for the 2026 season, but we’re glad to have you all. Good luck!

26 Man Roster Challenge: 2025 Edition

It’s that time of year again! The 26-Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch once again. Many thanks in advance to all of you who still take the time to play with us. We just cannot seem to give this thing up.

 

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 30 spring training games this year. 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 three outright winners in 14 years.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Our rotation looks pretty decent all of a sudden with the addition of crazy eyes, doesn’t it? Moving the Cuban to the bullpen should help with the depth there, however there should be at least a spot or two up for grabs in low leverage.

 

Ernie Clement, Tommy Nance 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. None of those players are even remotely game breakers (sorry to all seven Clement supporters out there) 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.

 

Varsho is banged up still and will probably stay behind in Florida to finish up his rehab/get some reps. That should open up an OF spot, but whomever it is needs to be able to play CF. We can’t let Gorgeous George anywhere near that spot ever again.

 

As always, the dreaded NRI/minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. Key off-season acquisition Myles Straw is on this list, as if we didn’t already have enough 4^th OF types clinging around already.

 

It’s worth noting that former 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 is a dead spot at 3B, and there are a few interesting kids that could break through there if given everyday AB’s.

 

All that being said, there are still a few impact players on the open market, primarily represented by Dick McNuts. We much preferred when The Beast just told Boras to piss off and go elsewhere rather than being “linked” “used,” followed by the predictable outcry that ensues from the spurned fan base.

 

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 12^th @ 11:59PM EST.

 

26 Man Roster Challenge Winner Declared (finally)

We just wanted to say a few words about the 2024 edition of the 26 Man Roster Challenge. First and foremost, it was a complete and total bloodbath. Guess that's what happens when the closer, the primary set-up guy and the number one catcher all go down during camp. Every contestant picked Romano, Swanson and Jansen to make the team, and we all failed. The winning ballot had a mere 20 out of 26 players correct.

 

As had become the norm around here, the tiebreaker played a huge role in determining the winner. With a remarkable nine-way (!) tie for first place, all eyes turn to your Toronto Blue Jays spring training record:

 

13-17 .433

 

Our boy Jesse 18-11-2 .613

The Ant Farm 18-12 .600

Blue Jay Hunter 18-14 .563

Jays are my 2nd favourite team 16-14 .533

Swedish Meatballs 15-14-1 .517

Keegan Matheson 16-16 .500

Jimmy Triggs 16-16 .500

Last Row 500’s 15-16 .484

MLB Depth Charts 13-19 .406

 

Some interesting transaction notes:

 

Who the fuck is Wes Parsons? Never mind, it ain’t all that important after all.

Manoah went from being the main guy on our 2023 fridge magnet to whatever he is now, which is what, exactly? Smart money is on depth.

Pretty Mitch White grabbed a bullpen spot on the strength of his increased velo. There is just no world where he is traded for cash three weeks later, is there?

Blue Jays gonna Blue Jays and take advantage of an out they surely insisted on in the new Cuban guy’s contract. He starts in AAA for some reason.  

 

In conclusion:

 

By our calculation, the winner this time around is Team MLB Depth Charts. Congratulations,

Jason! We will be in touch shortly to arrange getting the loot to you.

 

(P.S. We wrote this post as if it were done when it should have been done, which is about a month ago.)

2024 Roster Challenge Is Live

 

We are off and running! This year’s roster challenge had 12 brave people step forward to answer the call. As usual, some interesting trends developed and are worth taking note.

First off, there are no identical ballots, which continues to be pretty wild!

 

Second, a few minor-league deals went down after camp opened, because why wouldn’t they? Old friend Danny Vogelbach is back in town and a clear upgrade over a few of the existing bench options. He could be the reason why the perfect ballot remains elusive once again this year.

 

The following 21 players appear on all lists submitted:

 

Chris Bassitt

José Berríos

Yimi García

Kevin Gausman

Chad Green

Yusei Kikuchi

Tim Mayza

Jordan Romano

Erik Swanson

Danny Jansen

Alejandro Kirk

Bo Bichette

Cavan Biggio

Santiago Espinal

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Davis Schneider

Kevin Kiermaier

George Springer

Daulton Varsho

Justin Turner

 

If anyone out of this group does not make the opening day roster, this thing will get interesting in a hurry.

 

The next group of players are found on 11 of 12 ballots.

 

Génesis Cabrera

Trevor Richards

Alek Manoah

 

The Manoah omission prompted an exchange with the ballot holder. It came down to “gotta go off script." If you have eyes on winning this challenge outright, we could not agree more.

 

The next group of players appear on less than half the ballots:

 

Nate Pearson

Spencer Horwitz

Orelvis Martinez

Nathan Lukes

Mitch White

Yariel Rodriguez

 

We absolutely love the Orelvis pick, but do not see a world where he breaks camp with the big club since we already have a dozen or so players who can play second base. Somewhat surprised that the person who the braintrust gave 30-plus million dollars to this offseason was not picked more often.

 

And finally, the long shots/dart throws/probably-not-going-to-happen guys:

 

Bowden Francis

Robbie Grossman

 

Here are the tiebreakers for all ballots submitted:

 

Our Boy Jesse 18-11-2

Last Row 500’s 15-16

Jays are my 2^nd favourite team 16-14

Winter of Discontent 15-14

MLB.com 16-16

MLB Depth Charts 13-19

@1BJW 16-15

Swedish Meatballs 15-14-1

The Ant Farm 18-12

Jimmy Triggs 16-16

I Like Nuts 14-16

Blue Jay Hunter 18-14

We wish everyone good luck, and many thanks for playing!

Click here to see all the ballots

26 Man Roster Challenge - Shitty Offseason Edition

It’s that time of year again! The 26-Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch once again. Many thanks in advance to all of you who still take the time to play with us. We just cannot seem to give this thing up.

 

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 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 32 spring training games this year. 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 three outright winners in 13 years.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Admittedly, this offseason has been lackluster. The brain trust seems to be convinced they can just run this thing back and hope for a different outcome. It is almost as if they flunked grade nine French last year, and the plan this time around is still to not study again. At all.

 

It does need to be said that your Toronto Blue Jays are still a pretty dangerous playoff-calibre team! We just can’t score any runs, which is not exactly the brand we’ve gotten used to seeing up here in Baseball North.

 

It’s worth noting that the reigning champion, friend of the site and all around decent human, Jimmy Triggs, drew our attention to the official MLB roster rules. It states that there must be at least an even 13/13 split between hitters and pitchers. Naturally, there are some exceptions because of that 2-million-dollar man that enjoys the odd mystery flight across the nation, but even our GM, as shifty/greasy as he is, probably can’t get around a hard cap on the number of arms in the bullpen.

 

Mitch “Pretty Boy” White, Otto Lopez and Ernie Clement are out of options and need to head north with the team or risk being lost on waivers. None of those players are even remotely game breakers 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.

 

One exception could be Clement who in 50 at bats slashed .380/.385/.500…..which is just slightly above his career line of .231/.279/.299. Did he figure something out? Is the regression monster coming for visit to his 144wRC+? Was it the age 27 theory actually working out? Who really knows but unless he gets some reps in the OF, we sincerely doubt another utility infielder is needed on this team as it is currently constructed.

 

As always, the dreaded minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. It isn’t completely nuts to think one of these dudes comes in, blows the doors off the hinges and wins a job with the squad. Or is it?

 

One potential X-factor are the fine folks at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They just cannot seem to get a visa in the hands of our newest Cuban import, Yariel Rodriguez. That could be an ongoing saga at the beginning of camp and, if it drags on, might effect his chances of joining the squad as the multi-inning guy.

 

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 are not many MLB jobs on the line for this team at all.

 

Prizes:

 

V Dub signed ugly black uniform for all you idiots that think they look cool!

 

1992 Topps team card set with a Guzman rookie in there

 

A lock for your luggage that doesn't arrive at destination

 

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 14th @ 11:59PM EST.

26 Man Roster Challenge: We had an outright winner

 

Your Toronto Blue Jays had a very healthy camp this year and the roster challenge certainly reflected this. Team Blue Jay Hunter and Team Briggs were the only ballots to contain the longshot Nathan Lukes on it. 

Congrats to friend of the site Jimmy Triggs for nailing 25 out of 26 names on the opening day roster. He was the only team to reach this lofty total, no tiebreaker needed. We will reach out soon to arrange delivery of your well-earned loot. 

We just want to thank everyone for joining us again this year!

26 Man Roster Challenge: 2023 Edition

 

The Roster Challenge is off and running for this season! Thanks to all who took the time to join us.

 

We have to start by apologizing for the lateness of this post. We had a vacation booked and MLB did not bother to check with us first before setting the camp start dates. The nerve.

 

Seems as though the interest in the challenge may be waning a little bit, and that’s okay. Perhaps it has run its course, but we still enjoy trying to predict the opening day roster and are glad there are others who feel the same way.

 

This year we received 10 ballots containing 32 total names picked. That is a somewhat shockingly high number, considering we are not rebuilding and the MLB roster is pretty much set.

 

On those ballots, the following 20 names were included on each of them:

 

Bass

Bassitt

Berrios

Bichette

Biggio

Chapman

Cimber

Espinal

Garcia

Gausman

Guerrero

Jansen

Kiermaier

Kikuchi

Kirk

Manoah

Mayza

Merrifeld

Romano

Varsho

 

A solid core to be sure, but we thought this number might have been even higher, say 22-23. Riveting stuff!

 

The following teams picked an identical ballot, so the tiebreaker will come into play: Team Ant Farm (16-15), Team Gregor (no tiebreaker) and Team I Like Nuts (16-16)

 

There was a different identical ballot picked by two other teams, which in retrospect was a ballsy move because they included the name Robbie Grossman, who has since signed a deal with the Rangers. So, ya, A Serious Team and Team @1BJW are not looking so smart now. We both just thought there was no way your Toronto Blue Jays would roll into the season without a decent 4th OF who could be a replacement-level type guy for a couple of weeks, but it looks like the team just may do that. There will be opportunities later in camp or in season to address this issue, but Grossman seemed like a great fit. 

 

The below names can only be found on a single ballot, which qualifies them as the long shots. Keep an eye on Zulueta, Pearson and Bernard because, if they do crack the roster, glory will surely follow.

 

Shout out to friend of the site The Blue Jay Hunter for also taking a chance and not picking George Springer. History could show this is a good bet.

 

An honourable mention goes to Team Last Row 500’s for not buying that new guy Belt is going to make the squad. Not sure if this was an oversight, or if perhaps he has some intel on the DH’s troublesome knee(s) that he is keeping close to the vest.

 

Click this link to see all the details including tiebreakers. Good luck to all!