The Yankees finished last year with a 94-68 record, tied with the Blue Jays for the best record in the AL East and the American League as a whole. An 18-7 record in September and an eight-game win streak to close the season put a bunch of pressure on the Blue Jays to keep winning. Unfortunately for the Yankees, though, a 5-8 record against the Jays swung the tiebreaker in Toronto's favour.
One of the bright spots for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been Oliver Ekman-Larsson. In four games this season, he has racked up a goal and two assists for three points. All of these points came in the Leafs ' 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, October 14th. This performance earned him the second star. It's the type of performance we were used to seeing from vintage Ekman-Larsson. Going into this season, not much was expected of Ekman-Larsson.
During the eventual 5-2 win, there were signs of offensive cohesiveness and it largely seemed to be coming from the blue line. Morgan Rielly was everywhere and ended up leading the Leafs in shots on goal with five, shot attempts with nine, and was even tied for the team-lead in high-danger attempts with two. The veteran defenseman was omnipresent in Scotiabank Arena, but if anyone is the main hub for the team's offense, it should be Matthews.
"With all respect to Realmuto, however, even his best years haven't seen him offer the kind of offensive firepower that someone like Nelson Cruz could offer within that very same free agent class."
