It is spring training. Perhaps the most bizarre one ever that doesn’t involve replacement players.
So less than two weeks ago Jordan Montgomery was facing teenagers from his alma mater, Sumter High School. On Tuesday, he was making his first start of this strange exhibition season simultaneous to the rescheduled deadline for him and 100-plus other arbitration eligible players to reach a settlement for a 2022 contract or file numbers for a hearing. The lefty said it was distracting and that his agent, Scott Boras, was upset that he even had to pitch on this vital negotiating day.
Yet, even with all of the elements to downplay the relevance of any results, it was hard to miss what Montgomery didn’t miss — which were the bats of the Blue Jays’ mostly “A” lineup. George Springer, Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Lourdes Gurriel scorched hits to open the first inning and Matt Chapman darted a sacrifice fly. Montgomery was knocked out. This being a bizarre spring, he was allowed re-entry in the second inning and was knocked out again.
Yes, Montgomery was trying to refine a fastball that he would not throw in certain regular-season counts. But this lineup is ferocious, a March 22 calling card of the atmosphere the Yankees will again be operating within in the AL East. Four teams won at least 91 games last year and those four — the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays — are viewed by pretty much every projection model or gambling site to be four of the AL’s six best teams this year.
In 2022, with playoffs expanding to six teams in each league, maybe all of them can get in . Either way, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro described this assemblage this way: “The division is a beast. You’ve got one of the best-run franchises [Rays] in professional sports. They make outstanding decisions and get the most out of their players and how to use them and how to game plan and how to develop.
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