Mariners, Blue Jays Swap Michael Saunders, J.A. Happ. Another Canadian here, and we lose an expensive #5/6 starter.

All of the awards are out now.  From MVP (at last) Mike Trout to the managers of the year.  How did the Jays do? Not so good, but no shock although some surprises.

The St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants are one win away from joining baseball's final four as they host Game 4 of their respective National League Division Series.

Your 2014 Toronto Blue Jays appear to be set now, unless a trade happens.

Quiet for the Jays right now - 2 new catchers and a reliever with a catcher and reliever going away.  Other teams are busy, but AA has been far quieter than normal.  What else is going on and what should AA do from here on out?

RA Dickey edged out Mark Buehrle and Doug Fister for the pitchers Gold Glove.  The first time a Jays pitcher has won one.

We are here at the final three games of the 2013 regular season, still with much to be decided as far as postseason baseball goes.

As another baseball postseason without the Blue Jays approaches, let's take a break from the axe grinding world of our team and think about some of the other squadrons around the league.

The Jays have made a stack of September call-ups.  No shockers, but a few headscratchers.

Yeah, it is a quiet time right now.  Colby Rasmus signs for another year, avoiding arbitration.  Adam Loewen signs up for another tour of the Jays minor leagues. 

Maicer Izturis. AA signed him today to a 3 year deal plus an option year (he does love having options) for $3 million per year.

Ben Francisco hardly got into a game during his half-season in Toronto. Nevertheless, he’s starting in right field for the Tampa Bay Rays as they squaring off against the White Sox in Chicago, facing elimination. The Rays have handed the ball to David Price, while the White Sox, currently two games behind the Tigers in the AL Central, are starting Jose Quintana. The Tigers are in Minnesota with Anibal Sanchez and Liam Hendriks on the mound.

Because when you've lost seven straight and 10 of 11, nothing helps you right the ship like a trip to New Yankee Stadium.

The Phillies are in town for the weekend, but due to injury and scheduling Toronto only gets one of Philadelphia's big 3, Cliff Lee. Lee is winless in 10 starts despite ERAs and FIPs right around 3; though the Phillies offense really isn't that bad for the NL, it's no longer the juggernaut it once was. Philadelphia and Toronto are actually in pretty similar positions as we speak, albeit on differing sides of a curve. Toronto's been a game better, but both teams are hanging around just under .500, with positive run differentials, and yet both reside in the cellars of their tough respective divisions, 6.5 and 9 games out with lots of teams to catch. At some point in the next month both teams are going to have to decide whether they should go for it, whether they're going to just hold on, or whether to pack it in for the season. I say that both teams are at differing points in the curve because for Toronto this was supposed to be their first season on the cusp of something; they have a young team, plenty of talent in the minors, and look to be on the way up. The Phillies are the mirror image of this. This year or the next might be the last in which they can realistically hold things together. They're old, and in the offseason they're going to have to pay Cole Hamels $20 million a year, at least. Much of their young talent has been used up bringing players like Hunter Pence or Roy Halladay over, and these guys are only getting older.

So, what to do?

April 15, 1947 -- the most inportant, significant debut by a rookie player in Major League Baseball history took place as the Boston Braves visited Ebbets Field to take on the Brooklyn Dodgers. Attendees at the game saw a lot of notable ballplayers that day -- Johnny Sain, Mort Cooper, Sibby Sisti, Tommy Holmes, Earl Torgeson, Bobby Bragan, Pee Wee Reese, Hugh Casey, Carl Furillo, Arky Vaughn, Dixie Walker, Pete Reiser, Eddie Stanky - plenty of All-Stars with a few future Hall of Famers mixed in. But none more significant than the young fella playing 1B and batting second for the Brooklyns.

Kid named Jack Roosevelt Robinson. Jackie.  #42 ... a number that, after this season, will never be worn by another major league baseball player again. After Mariano Rivera, perhaps fittingly the greatest closer to ever play the game, hangs up his spikes, that number, the one Douglas Adams once wrote was the answer to the great question of  Life, the Universe and Everything, will fade into retirement as well, to honor Robinson, not the greatest, but absolutely the most significant player ever to wear a big league uniform.

To mildly misquote the renowned Simon and Garfunkel tune, So here's to you, Mr. Robinson ...

Thank you, Jackie.