Credit where it’s due: Blue Jays’ bullpen comes up huge

Headed into the American League Championship Series (beginning Friday in Cleveland at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and, in Canada, Sportsnet and RDS) it’s probably fair to assume that most will place the bullpen edge squarely with the Indians, since we’ve seen what Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, Dan Otero and friends can do.

That’s probably not unfair; they’re very good. Even so, it’s time to take a minute to praise what was universally considered to be the weakest part of Toronto’s otherwise strong team: the bullpen.

Remember how the Blue Jays got here, anyway. In just four postseason games, they’ve had two huge extra-innings moments that Toronto fans will remember forever — Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off homer against Ubaldo Jimenez in the AL Wild Card Game, and Josh Donaldson’s mad dash home to finish off the Rangers in Game 3 of the AL Division Series.

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 14 8 p.m. TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 2 Oct. 15 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 3 Oct. 17 TBD CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 4 Oct. 18 TBD CLE @ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 5 Oct. 19 TBD CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 6 Oct. 21 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 7 Oct. 22 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *- If necessary | All times listed ET  • Complete postseason coverageShop for postseason gear: Blue Jays | Indians

But remember this, also: You don’t get to the 11th inning of that Wild Card Game if five Blue Jays relievers don’t combine to throw five innings of scoreless, hitless baseball to back up starter Marcus Stroman. You don’t get to the 10th inning of Game 3 of the ALDS if four relievers don’t combine to throw 4 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball behind starter Aaron Sanchez.

Overall, Toronto’s relievers have allowed two earned runs in 14 innings over four postseason games, all wins, and just a .106 average against, which is five hits allowed in four games. Not only have they been the unexpected anchor, they’ve been actively helping the team win.

Now we should be perfectly clear here — four games shouldn’t meaningfully change your opinion of any team or unit, and this still isn’t one of the best bullpens left in the postseason, not when compared to the arms that teams like Cleveland and Chicago can offer. This is less about projecting them to be very good going forward and more about doling out appropriate credit for what’s happened so far.

In fact, of the six relievers …

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