SIMMONS SUNDAY: Blue Jays manager John Schneider must be doing something right

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This is probably John Schneider’s best season as manager of the Blue Jays.

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Look what he has on his roster. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., ranks 109th in the American League in home runs. That is rather preposterous. But is that number on the player or the manager?

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The Blue Jays, as a team, have an OPS of .685. Is that on the team or on Schneider? In the Jays’ first season, 1977, the sad-sack expansion team had an OPS of .680.

George Springer was second in the American League in OPS last season. This year, he’s 51st with a bum shoulder and diminishing numbers. Is that on the manager?

Schneider is juggling a roster of minor-leaguers and never-will-be’s and is somehow fighting for a playoff spot in the worst American League anyone has ever seen before — and has maintained an attitude of positivity just about every day.

He thought he had depth in starting pitching. That was before Trey Yesavage went down with injury, before the seasons of Cody Ponce and Jose Berrios disappeared, before Shane Bieber missed a pile of starts, before Kevin Gausman was traded, before Eric Lauer talked his way out of Toronto. Now it’s Dylan Cease and Jose Soriano and pray for rain, if that famous baseball rhyme is at all applicable here.

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And here’s the weird thing: The Jays have recently played and won series against Tampa Bay, Boston and the Yankees, teams way ahead of them in the standings. And in each series, they looked like the better team, with the big moments coming from pickups such as Brett Bateman and Charles McAdoo, along with the usual suspects, Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement.

Sometimes Schneider’s use of his bullpen can be questioned. Sometimes his loyalty to his players and his every-day lineups can also be questioned. But somehow, with this roster full of holes, with defensive players who can’t play defence, with a starting staff running out of arms, with a team that can’t hit — with or without runners in scoring position — and can’t hit home runs, the Jays are position to win a wild card playoff spot.

Somebody is doing something right and that somebody might be the manager.

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Morgan Rielly must do his talking on the ice

Everything about Morgan Rielly is nice. And you know what, it’s doesn’t matter what he thinks or what he says about the coming Maple Leafs season. What matters, really, is how he plays. The past few seasons, that’s been not very well. The Leafs tried to give him away and nobody wanted him. Now they have to hope that a new-look roster, with new coaches and maybe a new defence partner can bring back the Rielly of old … Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Joseph Woll winds up as the starting goaltender in Philadelphia. He’ll likely open the year as the backup to Dan Vladar. But if, somehow, Woll is OK, mentally and physically, he has the talent to be a top-flight NHL netminder … Andrei Vasilevskiy is the best goalie in the Atlantic Division. Jeremy Swayman in Boston ranks right after him. But then there are questions and more questions: Where does Sergei Bobrovsky, the new Leafs saviour, fit in? Can Jacob Markstrom carry the Florida Panthers back to greatness? Where do you rank Linus Ullmark in Ottawa or John Gibson in Detroit, talents that sometimes drift? And what will Jakub Dobes look like in his first full season as the starter in Montreal? And can the Buffalo Sabres get by with the goaltending of the human typo, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen? The top two in the division are obvious. The rest is open to interpretation … When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is talking about international expansion, adding one team outside the United States, he isn’t talking about Canada or Toronto. He’s talking about somewhere in Europe. Probably Berlin, Munich or London … The very wealthy Mark Walter has big-time financial problems. He has already sold the Los Angeles Lakers. His team president, Stan Kasten, insists Walter is not selling the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Professional Women’s Hockey League, which, before this season, was entirely owned by Walter — the championship is the Walter Cup — says all is well financially with its operation. But truth is, the PWHL wouldn’t have a clue. In the big picture, it is lunch money in Walter’s empire and financial morass. But it might wind up victim, or under new ownership, when the dust settles on this Walter investigation.

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Men’s tennis needs Sinner and Alcaraz healthy, playing

Poor tennis. It can’t keep its stars healthy. Jannik Sinner, the Wimbledon champion, won’t play in the U.S. Open. Carlos Alcaraz returns after missing Wimbledon and the French Open. Now that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal are out of the game, tennis badly needs Sinner and Alcaraz, healthy and competitive to make the game better … The U.S. Open is one of my favourite stops of a much-travelled career. The atmosphere, especially at night, is unmatched. As a live event, it’s right up their with Wimbledon, the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500, the summer Olympics in Sydney or Paris, the winter Olympics in Lillehammer and Vancouver for things I’ve been fortunate to be around. And before you scream at me, understand this: I have never been to The Masters … Watching Serena and Venus Williams play tennis now is like listening to Paul McCartney sing these days. You know they were once great. You know they aren’t any longer and you hope you don’t cringe too much on their latest journey … Why do major-league batters swing against Brendon Little? He doesn’t throw strikes. If you’re patient against the Blue Jays lefty reliever, you’re going to walk … For an apparently good team, the Yankees sure are a sloppy mess defensively … A history lesson: From 1974-76, Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo of the Buffalo Braves led the NBA in scoring. In those seasons, the Braves happened to play some games at Maple Leaf Gardens and were regularly on television here. McAdoo was a fan favourite in those days. All these years later, McAdoo’s distant cousin, Charles McAdoo, picked up in a deal for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, looks like a keeper with the Jays … The NHL, which doesn’t need to expand, will be expanding again. The likely place: Houston. The likely time: A year from now. And personally, I’d rather see the league contract rather than expand, but it’s not my money. As Ted DiBiase used to say: Everybody’s got a price and the NHL is getting theirs met … If the late Jim Stillwagon had played middle linebacker, he, not Dan Kepley, would be considered the greatest MLB in CFL history.

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What Tavares’ tax fight means to Canadian pro sports teams

Sports fans across Canada should be cheering for John Tavares and Patrick Marleau to win their tax fight with the CRA. Not that I care if athletes pay more or less in taxes. I do care that Canadian franchises, in all sports, will have the ability to woo free agents from the U.S. And if a defeat here limits that ability, it defeats every franchise in the country going forward … You won’t find better atmosphere at Toronto sporting events than what we saw at the World Cup soccer games played here earlier this summer and what we saw Tuesday night with the Tempo’s WNBA game against the Indiana Fever at Scotiabank Arena. Sports is so much better when the crowd is electric … Under the Department of Dumb: The Tempo did not issue credentials for the Indiana game for Globe and Mail columnist Cathal Kelly. Why? They claimed they had no room for him. Kelly is the No. 1 sports columnist at the No.1 national newspaper in the country. He should get the first seat. Everybody else, after him. Leaving him out is just creating a wound that doesn’t need to be opened … For the record, the Fever is going to the playoffs for a third straight year: In the seasons before Caitlin Clark, it missed the playoffs seven years in a row … In no particular order, my all-time list of favourite Canadian sports writers to read: Trent Frayne, Milt Dunnell, Scott Young, Allen Abel, Michael Farber … My favourite American sports writers to read: Leigh Montville, S.L. Price, Joe Falls, Tim Layden, William Nack … Boy, Stephen Brunt did great work putting together Blue Jays Way, the documentary series currently airing on Sportsnet. If you haven’t watched these episodes, you should … This Dylan Cease-Cam Schlittler Cy Young Award race may come right down to their final starts of the season. The statistics are that close … Fascinating MVP race in the National League. The annual winner, Shohei Ohtani, and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs have almost identical offensive numbers. Crow-Armstrong is an excellent outfielder and Ohtani doesn’t play the outfield much any longer. Edge to PCA. But Ohtani has a 1.79 earned run average in his 14 starts as a pitcher. Edge to Shohei. So, who do you vote for? Ohtani has won four MVP awards in the past five seasons … How much does OPS mean? Well, consider this: Tampa Bay is first in the American League in OPS and first in wins. Tampa is also first in on-base percentage. The Blue Jays were first in all of baseball in OPS last year.

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O.J. Brigance takes a unique accomplishment to his grave

I hate to miss the Argos game when the CNE is on, but I couldn’t make it on Saturday night. The Food Building will have to wait for me for another day … Jamaal Magloire turned down more opportunities to play for Canada than any basketball player of quality I can think of — a lot of it without any explanation. And now he’s in the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame. How? … I once made Ray Lewis cry. I asked him about O.J. Brigance and the influence he had on the Baltimore Ravens. He had difficulty answering. Brigance, maybe the bravest, toughest, strongest athlete I’ve ever known, passed away this past week after a 19-year battle with ALS. Lasting 19 years with ALS is like fighting for the heavyweight championship in a 50-round fight. The pounding never stops. Brigance will leave this planet as the only football player in history to win a Grey Cup and a Super Bowl for the same city. He did that in Baltimore … Welcome to Canada, Marina Mabrey, star of the Toronto Tempo. She is officially one of us now. She complained this week that her Rogers cable and internet weren’t working properly. And who among us hasn’t done the same? … Mabrey, by the way, is fourth in the WNBA in scoring. She is 0.9 points per game behind Clark and just 0.5 ahead of Paige Bueckers on the scoring list. That’s pretty good company to be keeping. Wonder how their cable is doing? … If Ryan Dinwiddie had to do it over again, would he have stayed with the Argos? His Ottawa Redblacks are 0-10. Dinwiddie, who won two Grey Cups in Toronto, might not win a game this season … Replacing Joe Bowen with Todd Crocker is a lot like replacing Ed Belfour with Vesa Toskala … I’m confused by the giant salaries paid to NFL broadcasters. Like, why do it? I’m going to watch because it’s football. Tom Brady or Tony Romo, or anyone else for that matter, aren’t the reason I tune in … That said, Luke Willson has been a refreshing game-changer on CFL Friday night games this season … A smart move by the historically smart DeMar DeRozan. Denver is a perfect fit for the kind of scorer DeRozan is … Seven NHL teams have changed general managers this summer. The Red Wings will be the eighth to do so. And to date, none of them have hired the recent Hall of Famer Brian Burke for their openings … Happy birthday to Pat Gillick (89), Jon Cooper (59), Paul Molitor (70), Vince McMahon (81), Ray Ferraro (62), Bill Parcells (85), Carl Yastrzemski (87), Mike Yastrzemski (36), Brock Faber (24), Glenn Healy (64), Mats Wilander (62), Maxx Crosby (29) and Julio Franco (68) … And hey, whatever became of Ron WIlson?

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