Nick Ashbourne

How past Blue Jays signings indicate what they'll do this year Among the many tools for predicting the future, past behaviour might be the best. With that in mind, Nick Ashbourne takes a look at which free agents best match the ones the Blue Jays have signed in t...

It's tough to predict what precisely the Blue Jays will do in free agency, but there are some players available with similarities to the guys they've gone for in the past: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...

🎧BJHH: 204 - The Perennial Contender *EXTREME WINGS-ERA PAUL McCARTNEY VOICE* Jeff!

This week @nickashbourne.bsky.social and I take a look at a Jeff Passan piece that was music to Jays fans' ears.

Plus!: Qualifying offers, Nick Sandlin (and Andres Gimenez), Ricky Tiedemann, the team we’d least like to see Bo end up with, and a whole lot more!

Have a listen! 👇

I wouldn't go that far, but I appreciate the comparison considering I sunk way too much time into the Bo Jackson game back in the day.

What we learned about key Blue Jays players during World Series run A small benefit of the Blue Jays' run to the World Series was seeing how the team performed under the highest pressure. Sportsnet's Nick Ashbourne looks at four key players who changed their outlooks ...

One of the many benefits of a deep playoff run is the additional time you get for internal evaluation.

Here are some things the Blue Jays learned about their own guys in the postseason that could affect how they move through the offseason: www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...

How far are the Leafs from the coaching change conversation? - MLHS Podcast EP104 How far are the Leafs from the coaching change conversation? - MLHS Podcast EP104

🎙️ New MLHS Podcast 🎙️

@APetrielli.bsky.social & @NickAshbourne.bsky.social on the Leafs’ troubling losses to Boston and Carolina, the biggest areas of concern and reasons for hope, and Craig Berube’s current job security 👇

#LeafsForever

🎧BJHH: 203 - Shane, Come Back! Shane Bieber made a curious decision to return to the Jays, and Bo Bichette has finally reached free agency—though so have plenty of other intriguing targets for a Jays team with a real chance to be e...

This week it was time to turn the page and look to the future, so you'll find @nickashbourne.bsky.social and I talking about Shane Bieber's surprise return, Bo Bichette's free agency, other names of intrigue, and a whole lot more!

Have a listen! 👇

The Maple Leafs are streaking, and Matthews is coming alive - MLHS Podcast EP103 The Maple Leafs are streaking, and Matthews is coming alive - MLHS Podcast EP103

🎙️ New MLHS Podcast 🎙️

- Leafs' winning streak & Matthews heating up
- Should the Leafs be more vocal about officiating?
- Robertson making his case
- The awkward Kampf situation
- Cowan joining the Marlies

+ much more via @NickAshbourne.bsky.social & @APetrielli.bsky.social 👇

Stoeten and I did our best to sort through this bittersweet moment in Blue Jays history:

You genuinely can’t get much closer to winning the World Series without doing it.

That Blue Jays run was incredible, and nothing that came before today was invalidated by that result — but a win sure could have elevated it.

One thing that's in play for this chaotic game is a home run that trumps Joe Carter's (impossible to beat Game 7, extra-inning walk-off).

That's wild considering Carter's is one of the most important/iconic in the sport's history.

When the World Series is on the line, you want the ball hit to Andrés Giménez.

This game is an instant classic. It's got everything.

I'm sure folks don't want to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but there's no guarantee he's going to be effective on no rest whatsoever.

As good as he is, this is a serious gamble by the Dodgers.

There's no way Addison Barger has that at-bat against an elite LHP a couple of months ago. He's matured so much as a hitter.

Players with 30+ hits in a single MLB playoff run:

Ernie Clement

That's it.

The Blue Jays only needed 8 more outs to win the World Series when Freddie Freeman stepped up to the plate and Vladdy took care of 25% of them.

No one's ever had more hits in a playoff run than Ernie Clement has in 2025.

That sentence is pure lunacy.

Between spring training, the regular season, and the playoffs, Louis Varland appeared 99 times and pitched 100 innings.

With Chris Bassitt in the game, he can finally rest.

By coming into this game, Louis Varland sets the MLB record for pitching appearances in a single playoff run (15).

That may have been the last time we see Max Scherzer in the MLB playoffs, where he’s been an institution.

He’s appeared in 11 playoff runs with 157 IP (8th all-time), 182 Ks (5th), 2 World Series Game 7 starts, and 2 World Series rings (and counting).

That Daulton Varsho catch was on a 109.8 mph liner with a .660 xBA.

Critical play from the Gold Glover.

Gotta go to Dominguez here. That's the best right-on-right option you've got.

Plenty of ballgame left, but so far one team is swinging it and one team is not.

Bo Bichette's first home run in almost two months is the biggest hit of his life.

One possible outcome tonight is that a team that went 74-88 last year will try to bring a World Series to a country that hasn't had one in over 3 decades, with a 41-year-old legend on the mound backed by a lineup no playoff team has ever outscored.

That'd make for a good story.

12 teams have World Series droughts longer than the Blue Jays:

CLE (77), MIL (57), SD (57), SEA (49), PIT (46), BAL (42), DET (41), NYM (39), A’s (36), CIN (35), MIN (34), COL (33).

Plenty of teams haven’t won it for a generation, if they ever have. These chances are special.

Time is the most valuable resource any of us has, and it is downright idiocy to wish away a single, precious second of your life under any circumstances.

That said, I'd be OK skipping to the first pitch of Game 7.

When Max Scherzer signed with the Blue Jays, he said:

"I’m not just playing to play. I’m playing to win. I really feel like Toronto offered that."

There was reason to be skeptical. Surely there was a safer bet out there. Now he's starting GM 7 of the World Series.

Turns out Scherzer knows ball.

The Blue Jays have played 179 games now, but it all comes down to one ballgame on Saturday night.

Won the division on a tie breaker, won the ALCS in Game 7, will need to earn a World Series in 7. Everything has been a tooth-and-nail fight.

Really unfortunate sequence for Addison Barger after such an important hit. That ball wasn't particularly close to dropping.