Shoots Left and Writes

 Simon B Nate Pearson. If you're a Jays fan this name probably makes you think of the bright future this young ballclub has. If you're not a Jays fan, or maybe you're just getting into baseball this year, here's a bit of a backstory. Who is he? Pearson was drafted 28th overall by the Jays in the 2017 MLB draft. He quickly got the attention of many coaches, managers, scouts, and fans because of one thing: his velocity.  The 6'5” ft Floridian would consistently light up the radar gun like crazy, hitting triple-digit speeds with his fastball as a 20-year-old. In this day and age, teams are all over youngsters who can throw pure heat. The thinking usually is that he's got the velocity so they'll develop and train him to get constant command of his pitches. All this talk about this righty out of Florida who could get his fastball up to 102 mph skyrocketed him up to becoming the top pitching prospect in baseball. From the Minors to the Majors Pearson dominated his...

 Game 53: Habs vs. Leafs Simon B So last game I mentioned how other than first place in the division, the only thing the Leafs have to play for at this point in the regular season is to get Auston Matthews to 40 goals. Well, I might've been a bit off on that take. There is another thing that the Leafs can do in these last couple of games: get everyone some playing time and  rest  the team’s powerhouse players as they gear up for what will hopefully be a deep playoff run. For a team with a fair number of veterans in the lineup, it's important that the Leafs  "load-manage" with great care.  This term is all too familiar to Toronto sports fans: remember the Raptors’ 2019 season when Kawhi Leonard came back from a knee injury that kept him out the next before. The Raptors sat Leonard out every once in a while so that he wouldn't be as tired. Once the playoffs rolled around, Kawhi was a different beast and all that regular season rest paid off. The Leafs would do wel...

  Game 52: Leafs vs. Habs Simon B I'm going to do a bit of a different post-game piece today. Normally my post-game articles are more analytical and are basically "game recaps'' but today I thought I'd try something a bit different. This post game, and until the end of the regular season at least, will be more opinion-based. After practice yesterday, head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke about the importance of this three-game mini-series against the Montreal Canadiens. He said that this series is going to show us the kind  of hockey we can expect to see in the postseason, so it's important that his team does well.  If Toronto can get a few more wins here, they'll lock in that top spot in the division, too. At this point, Montreal sits in fourth place, two points back of Winnipeg in third, so  both teams have a lot at stake for in their final games of the season. I'm sure we’re going to see a lot of great hockey across the board as every player gives it their ...

 Game 51: Canucks vs. Leafs Simon B The countdown for the playoffs is on! The only thing the Leafs need to do until the end of the regular season is to finish in that top spot. The way things are trending, that outcome is a foregone conclusion. Toronto had a 9 point cushion on second-place Edmonton heading into last night's game against the Canucks and, with only five games remaining, a lot would have to go wrong for them to lose first place. Yesterday was the last of 9 meetings between the Canucks and Leafs in this shortened regular season, and the season series is tied 4-4. There's no real significance to winning a season series but that's pretty much all that was on the line for this one. Toronto's lineup was back to what it was on Wednesday against the Habs, with both Rielly and Muzzin back in the lineup, Nick Foligno on the top line with Matthews and Marner, and Jack Campbell as the starter in the crease. The Game The first period was similar to the last game: not ...