On behalf of the Blue Jays I apologize to the Orioles for our failure to field a team for the first round playoff game. A head count taken before the weekend indicated that we would have nine or ten players for Saturday morning. Unfortunately, a couple of work call-ins and a family emergency left us short players. Fortunately there were enough Blue Jays present to at least give the Orioles a tune-up for their playoff run.
At the end of 2009 the Blue Jays made a commitment to the league that we would field a more competitive team in 2010. In many ways, we feel that we met that commitment. We played competitve baseball throughout the season. We lost two games to the season champion Outlaws by a total of three runs and two games to the 2nd place Cubs by a total of eight runs. We did not lose by the mercy rule this year (7 times in 2009). Despite our final record, we feel that we made siginificant improvements on the Blue Jays team. I do not feel that the Saturday forfeit reflects the commitment and effort of our players.
We wish the Orioles and all of the remaining teams best of luck in round two of the playoffs. We hope to provide you with even stronger competition in 2011.
