Reds and Blue Jays Close Out Ugly Seasons at Rogers Centre
Two teams well below .500 meet in Toronto on Sunday afternoon with nothing but pride and individual milestones left to play for. Our model has no validated read on this one — so let's focus on what the numbers actually tell us.
Neither of these clubs is going anywhere this October. Cincinnati sits at 75-86, Toronto at 78-83 — two franchises that will spend the offseason asking hard questions. But late-September games still matter for the players on the field, and this one has some genuine intrigue in the pitching matchup alone. Brandon Williamson is expected to take the mound for the Reds, while Max Scherzer is set to start for Toronto. Whatever Scherzer has left in the tank at this stage of his career, he remains a name worth watching every time he toes the rubber.
On the offensive side, the story in Cincinnati's dugout is Sal Stewart. The Reds' power threat has posted 32 home runs and 111 RBI on the season — that RBI total is a legitimate standout number for a team that won't be playing meaningful games in late September. Elly De La Cruz, meanwhile, is hitting .283, giving the Reds a legitimate top-of-the-order threat who can make life uncomfortable for any pitcher. For Toronto, Kazuma Okamoto leads the club with 33 home runs and 92 RBI — he's actually edged Stewart in the long ball department, and a matchup between two sluggers with 30-plus home runs gives this otherwise low-stakes game a reason to tune in. Ernie Clement is the Blue Jays' batting average leader at .261, a modest mark that reflects a Toronto lineup that never quite came together this year.
Our model doesn't have a validated read on this game, and I'm not going to manufacture conviction where there isn't any. What I will say is this: when two losing teams meet in the final days of a season, execution at the margins — pitching depth, situational hitting — tends to decide things more than raw talent. Watch whether Okamoto and Stewart can do anything against two starters who have every reason to be sharp in a low-pressure finale. That's the real game within the game here.