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Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoya, center, takes the ball from starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, left, as he is taken out of the game against the Tampa Bay Rays during the second inning of Game 2 of an American League wild-card baseball series Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Looking on is catcher Danny Jansen.
TORONTO (AP) — A brief taste of playoff baseball gave the young Toronto Blue Jays a big appetite for another shot at October glory.
“We’re hungry for more, so we’ll be back,” catcher Danny Jansen said after the Blue Jays were swept out of the wild-card round by the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays.
Manager Charlie Montoyo expects the disappointing exit will increase his team’s desire to get better and go deeper into the postseason.
“They’re more hungry now with what just happened,” Montoyo said.
Toronto’s lineup of position players was baseball’s youngest this year.
“They believe they can win and they believe they can get better,” Montoyo said. “The sky’s the limit with these kids.”
The Blue Jays returned to the playoffs for the first time in four years, but with an entirely new cast — there’s not a single player left from the team that made consecutive trips to the ALCS in 2015-16.
Instead, a new core of stars led by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Cavan Biggio and Teoscar Hernández bounced back from a 95-loss season in 2019, taking advantage of an expanded playoff field to make their first postseason appearance.
“We understand that we’re talented,” Bichette said. “Something great is, we never give up. We’re going to take that into next year, continue to try and get better. Just tighten up the little things.”
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