Match #3: Anthony Santander strikes fourth

Match #3: Anthony Santander strikes fourth
Credit: MLB.com

Tonight, the Blue Jays travel to Seattle for Game #3 of the American League Championship Series. Trailing 0-2 in the series, John Schneider's men will need to win tonight if they don't want to face elimination tomorrow.

The club will need a big outing from Shane Bieber, today's starter.

But above all, the Jays will need their forwards to wake up. After having broken everything in the series against the Yankees, it's much harder against the Mariners, when the club has scored just four runs in 18 innings.

And obviously, John Schneider wanted to stir his soup: Anthony Santander, who missed the last game, will bat fourth tonight.

Addison Barger, meanwhile, drops to seventh. Ernie Clement drops to eighth, while Davis Schneider is not in the starting line-up.

Santander isn't having a great series (he's got a .462 OPS so far), but we know he's a guy with power to spare. Schneider's objective is clear: he wants to give Santander the chance to hit long, paying balls.

Because even if the numbers aren't reassuring, Santander has some good batting presences these days. He seems to be on the verge of breaking through.

The Jays' manager makes no secret of it: he wants his club to find a way to unlock and score a lot of runs. He wants to see more uppercuts and fewer jabs, in his words.

We'll also have to keep an eye on whether Santander will be able to hold his own defensively, as he'll be in right field (while George Springer will be the designated hitter).

But in the event that the Jays' offense turns neutral, Schneider stirs his soup and uses his wild card in Santander. Let's see if that turns the tide in the series, now.

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