*outduelling. And after his one year with the Jays, he had statistically (by both FG and BR) his best season with the Cardinals in 1978 (notably NOT his 1982 Cy Young year) before being sent to Milwaukee with Ted Simmons and Rollie Fingers, in maybe one of the top 50 trades of all time.

Wonderful, celebratory episode, Mike. Thanks for the bonus pod. Quite thrilled to hear a Pete Vuckovich reference. You might be one of the only people to know this, but just in case, DIY: Vuckovich nabbed the Jays’ first ever save, AND their first ever shutout (outselling Jim Palmer, of all people).

Me too! On the active players’ list, Lowe ranks 17th with a .955 OPS and Mountcastle is 23rd with a .936.

And here are the all-time Jay killers (same criteria):

1 Jayson Werth (1.257)
2 Carlos González (1.201)
3 Russell Branyan (1.195)
4 Chris Iannetta (1.137)
5 Corey Seager (1.127)
6 Wilson Ramos (1.126)
7 Larvell Blanks (1.105)
8 Shohei Ohtani (1.088)
9 John Wockenfuss (1.080)
10 Joe Nunnally (1.065)

For your perusal: top ten active Blue Jay killers by OPS (min. 50 PA)

1 Corey Seager (1.127)
2 Shohei Ohtani (1.088)
3 Ramón Laureano (1.056)
4 Yordan Álvarez (1.051)
5 Jaun Soto (1.051)
6 Mike Trout (1.032)
7 Jo Adell (1.020)
8 Cal Raleigh (1.016)
9 Aaron Judge (1.006)
10 Adley Rutschman (.993)

Great episode Mike! Your mention of Brandon Lowe as a Blue Jay killer this season got me thinking about the biggest Blue Jay killers in the game right now. By OPS (min 50 PA), the Jays’ greatest foe is Corey Seager. Lucky that they missed him during the Texas series.

Oh wow. Very cool to learn that about Litsch. Yet another name for Vladdy to supplant should he indeed remain a Jay for life. Nice sleuthing!

That’s awesome Mike! Glad to share this fun tidbit. Further to Leal, here are all the other lifelong former Jays in descending career bWAR order (min 4 seasons played):

Ricky Romero
Jerry Garvin
Devon Travis
Jesse Litsch
Garth Iorg
Mike Willis
Chad Jenkins
Dalton Pompey
Russ Adams
Scott Richmond

Great episode Mike! And excellent news to wake up to. I’m sure you already know this, but not including current players, the best lifelong Jay by bWAR is Luis Leal (10.6). This is the lowest total of all 30 teams’ best lifelong players. Vlad is already at more than double Leal’s total (21.6).

Rico’s Toronto connection goes beyond his two Blue Jays tenures. He is one of only two people (along with Phil Roof) to play for both the Jays and the AAA Maple Leafs! While with the Leafs in 1963, he was teammates with a 29 year old Sparky Anderson.