Chow? Bradford? Matlow? Bailão? Nah. I’m voting Kiermaier for Mayor!

It’s Mayoral By-election SZN!

This coming Monday, Torontonians will elect a new Mayor.

102 candidates are vying to replace John Tory, who stepped down in February after…..well, you know.

What does this have to do with the Blue Jays?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, the Jays are off on Election Day.

However, there have been instances when municipal politics have crossed paths with the Jays. Some were significant, while others barely registered – like the time I walked past Olivia Chow in the level 500 concourse while she was campaigning for the City’s top job in 2014.

We start with the aforementioned Tory, who was spotted at an April game with TVO’s Steve Paikin. It’s unknown if they tried a poutine hot dog.

The former mayor caused a snit last year when he voted on a proposal submitted by Mark Shapiro to remove ActiveTO closures on Lake Shore Boulevard. The Jays president argued that the pedestrian-friendly program caused delays for fans driving to SkyDome by car.

Tory, as noted by many, is heavily involved with Rogers and its leadership team. Given his affiliation with the same company that owns the Jays, one would suggest a conflict of interest was at play. Tory still participated in the vote and was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the crossroads of baseball and civic governance revolves heavily around Paul Godfrey.

Many will remember Godfrey as the Jays’ President from 2000-2008. However, he also played a pivotal role in bringing Major League Baseball to Toronto while serving as a local politician.

Godfrey was an alderman in North York and later the Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto.* During his time in office, Godfrey led the group that ultimately landed the franchise.

He did everything from chatting up Bowie Khun, figuring out where a team could play (i.e. Exhibition Stadium), unsuccessfully moving the San Francisco Giants and making a rewarding bid to the league.

Godfrey has held many titles and positions. His contribution to Toronto’s sports landscape will be his biggest legacy.

With the current list of candidates, it’s impossible – and completely foolish – to find out how many of them care about the Jays or have any connection to the team. Nevertheless, we can have a little fun.

For example, is it just me or does Brad Bradford sort of look like J.A. Happ?

Here’s a meaningless stat: Five out of the 102 candidates have last names of former Blue Jays – Saunders, Davis, Lee, Williams and Romero. I might have even missed a name or two. Let me know if I did.

If we really want to push the envelope, let’s acknowledge that Kevin Kiermaier could EASILY win this election in a landslide.

Think about it – For years, he drove us crazy while playing for Tampa Bay. Let’s also not forget about the information card incident.

But with a smile, those baby blue eyes and a few big plays, we adore him now! Hell, I might just WRITE his name on my ballot if I can find space on it. The darn thing looks like an old All-Star punch card ballot on steroids.

Regardless of all this, please consider voting if you’re eligible. Learn about the candidates – maybe not all 102 of them – and find one that you can tolerate. After all, it’s your city. Might as well participate effortlessly.

Best of all, voting is a great distraction from the Jays’ frustrating play of late.

ER

*Apologies if you already knew this: Up until 1998, what is now the City of Toronto was called Metropolitan Toronto or Metro Toronto and was comprised of six municipalities – York, North York, East York, Scarborough, Etobicoke and Downtown Toronto. Each municipality looked after its own infrastructure (libraries, garbage pick up, etc.) and shared responsibility for larger entities (police, public transit, etc.).

Silly question, but I’ll ask it: Have you stopped to consider the human side of Alek Manoah’s struggles???

Why are we obsessed with jumping to conclusions?

Perhaps Mike Wilner gave the best answer when he worked at Sportsnet. To paraphrase: The perverted ability to brag about “calling it first.”

And there were lots of conclusion jumping and declarations recently.

The Blue Jays’ record in May was hideous. It made the fan base more unhinged than it already is. Death pronouncements were flying all over social media. Hard to believe it’s only early June with two-thirds of the season left to be played.

Unfortunately, it seems fans don’t want to let the story play out. Many are incredibly impatient with passion outweighing compassion.

This has been prominent in all the ongoing storylines. Most notably, Alek Manoah’s shocking underperformance.

One could argue that this all began last October when Alek had a poor start against Seattle in the ugly wild card series. All pitchers have bad games, even the greats. It just so happened that his bad game occurred at a very inopportune time.

However – and I acknowledge how ridiculous this sounds – that bad start may have bled into 2023.

This isn’t the Alek we’ve watched the past two seasons. There could be multiple reasons why he’s struggled. There could be multiple factors influencing those reasons. Nevertheless, watching this all unfold has been jarring and disconcerting.

It’s upsetting because we all know he’s better than this. He made it to the big leagues for a reason. He earned our admiration when many – myself included – felt he wasn’t ready for The Show.

Alek has been through a lot in his life. Just imagine the things he’s witnessed. Most people would become jaded, but Alek overcame all that.

His approach to the craft, success on the mound and support for teammates have made Alek the country’s favourite son. Seeing him struggle this year hurts.

This is a new strain of adversity that Alek is dealing with and it has had a clear affect on him.

That start against Milwaukee on May 31 – removed after four innings, giving up only two runs, but allowing too many baserunners. Poor Alek sat helpless in the dugout. He looked up to the heavens, experiencing a crisis of faith and energy in real-time. Like a father figure, John Schneider comforted his starter, being honest and supportive. Afterward, Alek talked about his mindset: “Don’t throw a ball here” vs “Throw a strike right here.”

We don’t need to revisit his start against Houston. We also don’t need to discuss his demotion to the Florida Complex League. MANY have already done that. The over-analysis is warranted and understandable, but it’s still noise. I just hope this is rock bottom for Alek and he begins to ascend back to the top.

He’s fighting and the opponent appears to be faceless. If that wasn’t enough, Alek has had to fight this fight in public. At least now he can (hopefully) fight privately in Dunedin.

Unsurprisingly, some immediately draw comparisons to Roy Halladay and Ricky Romero.

As pointed out by others, Doc was a prospect who was floundering and needed a complete makeover. Meanwhile, Romero saw his team being ravaged by injuries and inconsistencies. He tried to help out without listening to his knees.

Two separate storylines that should only be used for reference and not a slam-dunk comparison.

The panic over Alek from fans is somewhat reasonable. The window of opportunity is wide open and last season’s embarrassing ending is still present in our minds. The highly competitive AL East is also impactful. Anything negative or unexpected like Alek’s performance would be extremely alarming.

But could we all take a breath?

Yes, the proverbial stakes are high and there is no room for error. But please consider the human side.

Alek is a young man with incredible talent and right now, he’s desperately trying to regain that form. Forget the standings for a moment and visualize going from an all-star to being demoted after recording just one out in your last start. The toll it could be taking on his physical and mental health is unfathomable.

You’ve become one of the best starters in baseball and suddenly, your ability vanishes. That’s heartbreaking! It’s like Superman suddenly being unable to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

You might scoff at all this and say something that equates to “suck it up.” You might even point out the millions of dollars Alek earns, disqualifying him from basic human emotions.

That’s fine.

However, it’s necessary to acknowledge the human side because it’s there whether we care to see it or not.

Alek will continue to fight and I believe he will turn it around, returning to the dominance we’ve witnessed before. The challenge is not knowing how long that will take and what will happen before then.

Asking for patience and waiting to see how everything plays out is unfeasible.

But for Alek’s sake, we can at least try.

ER