When you look up 'slow news day' in the dictionary, there's surely a picture of a calendar with today circled on it. With the MLB taking a break to allow the NHL playoffs to come to the forefront of the sports conversation, everyone in the baseball world is biding their time until the American League Championship Series opens up in Baltimore tomorrow. Since we're forced to watch the Royals and Orioles play each other, we might as well think about things we could steal from the two teams to make the Blue Jays more entertaining.
With the lack of baseball on TV these days I've played a lot of the Ultimate Team mode on the FIFA 15 video game, which is essentially like Pokemon for soccer, which is essentially like crack (I would imagine). In this mode you can get cards that allow you to change your jerseys, stadium, logo, coach, and players all in an effort to make your team as good and aesthetically pleasing as possible. Why am I talking about FIFA Ultimate Team mode on a Blue Jays website? Well it seems like a good exercise to do for the two ALCS teams on the off-day before their series gets underway.
The rules are that you can take one aspect of each of the Royals and Orioles and apply it to the Blue Jays. This includes stadiums, logos, jerseys, managers, and of course players. Try to keep important factors like contracts in mind because they still play a role in this made up game.
For me, taking Camden Yards from the Baltimore Orioles is a no-brainer as watching baseball at the Rogers Centre can be pretty brutal when the roof is closed. I think a stadium like the Orioles have would make the Blue Jays a much more viable entertainment option in the city, not to mention the fact that real grass would attract more players to the team. If the weather was too much of a concern for moving to an outdoor stadium, then I suppose my next choice would be to steal Buck Showalter as the new Blue Jays manager mainly for his GIF-ability:
via SB Nation
The Royals presented more of a challenge for me personally as they really aren't all that appealing in my eyes. Kauffman Stadium is considered one of the league's best stadiums, but it's never looked very good on TV along with the fact that the Blue Jays are now playing in Camden Yards. Ned Yost is one of the worst managers I've ever seen in my life and their logo and jerseys scream "We're from Missouri and we're boring". I guess that leaves me to pick a player from the roster to add to the Blue Jays. I think I'll have to settle on flamethrower Yordano Ventura, fully accepting the risk that his arm may come off during a pitch in the near future and hurtle at the batter at the speed of around 100 mph. This past season was his first year of service time, so he's pretty affordable and he would be able to slip into the middle part of the rotation to replace the departed J.A. Happ.
Now it's your folks turn to steal something from both the Orioles and Royals before they begin battling in the ALCS tomorrow. If you want to get creative and take something more interesting like Dayton Moore from the Royals, then be my guest.