CLEVELAND – The Toronto Blue Jays have finalized their starting rotation for the first four games of the ALCS.
J.A. Happ will start Game 2, followed by Marcus Stroman in Game 3 and Aaron Sanchez in Game 4, the team announced Thursday. Marco Estrada starts Friday against Corey Kluber, when the ALCS begins in Cleveland.
“We feel good about them all,” manager John Gibbons said. “And really, they’ve all performed well this year. It is kind of a luxury you get to this time of year. But you’re not going to find teams out here that don’t have good pitching staff, really. You don’t get to this point.”
Blue Jays starters led the American League in ERA (3.64) and innings pitched (995.1) during the regular season, and they’ve built on those results with a 3.60 ERA in the playoffs.
By starting Sanchez in Game 4, the Blue Jays limit the workload of a pitcher who logged 192 innings in the regular season plus 5.2 innings in his ALDS start against the Texas Rangers.
The Blue Jays are also hopeful that Francisco Liriano will be on their ALCS roster, which has to be announced by Friday morning. Liriano, who’s recovering well from what the team described as a mild concussion, would be eligible to return in a relief role Saturday.
“He’s been incredible. Hopefully he’s ready to go for this one,” Estrada said, “And it really doesn’t matter who’s out there, we all feel pretty confident with any single one of us being out there.”
If the Blue Jays carry Liriano on the roster, they’ll only have 24 active players Friday.
