The timing had lined up perfectly for Jamie Ritchie to enjoy an off-day in New York. The Buffalo Bisons played in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa. last Sunday and weren’t due back in Buffalo until Tuesday, so Jamie and his wife, Lauren, opted to fit in a day exploring NYC.

The timing of The Call was less kismet.

Ritchie was nearly back in Buffalo when Bisons manager Casey Candaele called to let him know he was joining the Toronto Blue Jays on their taxi-squad; He was headed for New York, where he’d just returned from, the following morning as the Blue Jays had a series against the Yankees. The flight from Buffalo to New York was a short one; the jump from minor-league off-day to major-league taxi squad was not.

“Taxi squad” is a term for a group of players that a team can have around as additional depth without putting them on the active roster, “taxi-ing” between triple-A and the majors as needed. It was used heavily during the pandemic-adjacent seasons and is available for the playoffs, but its use is limited in a normal season. Teams can have a player on the taxi squad only if they’re anticipating putting a player on the injured list or, in some cases, a third catcher.

Enter Ritchie, who has spent the last few years working his way to this emergency-catcher status.

Drafted in 2014 by the Houston Astros, Ritchie has played at triple-A since the middle of 2018. After Houston, Ritchie spent a year in the Arizona Diamondbacks system, then nearly made the Pittsburgh Pirates out of spring training in 2022 before suffering an oblique injury. In January, the Blue Jays signed him for additional depth at the attrition position.

“I was fortunate to get that opportunity and just tried to keep my head down this year and play,” he said. “Whatever the opportunity was, just try and take advantage of it. Some things have gone my way this year to be on the taxi squad, so just trying to prepare and be ready for anything because you never know what tomorrow brings in baseball.”

Even then, Ritchie wouldn’t have guessed he would be the player in this spot. He entered the season as Buffalo’s depth catcher, without a guarantee of significant playing time. Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen, Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly, and Stevie Berman were all ahead of him on paper. Slowly, Ritchie moved up the depth chart and was the top triple-A catcher standing when the Jays wanted to add insurance behind Kirk and Heineman ahead of the playoffs.

The role is not a glamorous one. The idea is for Ritchie to shadow the team’s other catchers so that he’s up to speed in the event of the most dire of situations, where Kirk and/or Heineman join Jansen on the injured list. He is the extinguisher inside the glass that’s broken in case of emergency, tucked behind an additional pane of emergency glass.

Ritchie’s first time visiting new Yankee Stadium saw him arrive as early as possible to get his hitting work in before roster players arrived to do theirs. He is the lowest priority, so if Ritchie can’t get batting practice in on the field with the first group, he’ll look for a spot with a later group or, if all else fails, hit in the cages when there’s a gap in his day. There are also hitters’ meetings to go over scouting reports, and possibly some work in the field.

The headline item for Ritchie, though, is the pre-game battery meeting. Those sessions include pitching coach Pete Walker, that day’s starting pitcher, Kirk, Heineman, and the injured Jansen. The group goes through the various reports and game-plan for that day’s hitters. Each series also has a similar meeting with the team’s relievers.

The goal is to take a wealth of information and narrow it down to something actionable in a pitch-calling situation. That’s especially important for a call-up who hasn’t been in the organization very long.

“Working through all the data information to condense it to try and make it as easy as possible to understand,” he said. “Every organization has their different system of analytics that they use and not everyone’s the same as far as their data points. Like the wrist bands that we use to call pitches. Reading those and understanding, I guess you could say, the language that they use.”

As needed, Ritchie will also help catch pitcher side-sessions and other work. At this point in the year, few relievers are doing true bullpen sessions, but even flat-ground catch gives Ritchie a chance to get familiar with a pitcher and his stuff. The goal is for Ritchie to have familiarity with every pitcher on the roster, whether from spring training, Buffalo, or this recent stint.

“So you’re not back there for the first time catching Jordan Hicks’ 102-m.p.h. fastball or something,” Ritchie joked.

Once the game begins, Ritchie can be in the dugout observing or in the bullpen helping pitchers. Most relievers have a routine with bullpen catchers Luis Hurtado and Alex Andreopoulos, so Ritchie’s games are spent in a mental dress rehearsal, talking through situations with the pitchers who aren’t in the game and anticipating what he would call in each spot.

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“You go through the scouting report in your mind,” he said. “The pitches that are called, are they matching up with what I’m thinking? I can go back during the game and look at where (Chris) Bassitt was throwing his two-seam and where Kirk was setting up. That type of thing, to reiterate in my mind what we went through in the pregame.”

The experience is short-lived. After series in New York and Tampa, the Jays have returned home, where roster rules are more restrictive. The post-season is still a week away, so this is a kind of limbo-week for Ritchie and other Bisons who may join the postseason taxi squad — Buffalo’s season ended Sunday.

He now waits armed with more experience, more intel, a few better pre-game meals, and the knowledge that at age 30, his major-league dream is close.

“it meant a lot,” Ritchie said. “It did, because this game, if you play it long enough, will bring a lot more downs than ups. That was definitely an up in that situation, to kind of get that feedback and some affirmation to how the Blue Jays maybe think about you as a player. So it’s meant a lot to be here and be around these guys.”

More from Sportsnet

MLB Playoff Push: Blue Jays start week in prime position to clinch wild-card spot

Strategic subplots to watch as Blue Jays push for playoffs in final week

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The Toronto Blue Jays are in excellent position to nail down a wild-card berth in the final week of the season.

A 3-3 homestand will seal the deal — something less also could get the job done — after the Blue Jays won seven of their past nine games while the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners faltered.

The Blue Jays’ quest to lock up a wild-card spot for a second year in a row continues with a three-game series against the playing-out-the-string New York Yankees at Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays are second in the American League wild-card standings (three wild-card teams make the playoffs in each league). They are 1.5 games in front of the Astros and three ahead of Seattle.

Here’s a look at the Blue Jays-Yankees series.

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Probable Pitchers

Tuesday, 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman (12-9, 3:29 ERA) vs. New York RHP Michael King (4-7, 2.66 ERA)

Wednesday, 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Jose Berríos (11-11, 3.58 ERA) vs. New York RHP Gerrit Cole (14-4, 2.75 ERA)

Thursday, 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT: Toronto RHP Chris Bassitt (15-8, 3.74 ERA) vs. New York RHP Luke Weaver (3-5, 6.47 ERA)

All games on Sportsnet and Sportsnet Plus.

Latest on the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays completed a 4-2 road trip against the Yankees and Rays (the same two teams they face this week) with a 9-5 win in Tampa on Sunday.

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George Springer hit an inside-the-park home run and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered twice as the Blue Jays won the rubber match.

Bo Bichette also homered for the Blue Jays, who got some much-needed offence after a sub-par start for Yusei Kikuchi (three runs on nine hits in four innings).

Trevor Richards replaced Kikuchi and pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the win.

The Blue Jays scored 37 runs in the six games on the road — a good sign for an inconsistent offence.

On the injury front, it’s possible Brandon Belt (back) returns after missing the past two weeks.

Latest on the Yankees

The Yankees (79-77) will not be going to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

New York was officially eliminated on Sunday after a 7-1 loss to the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

It’s a far cry from last year when the Yankees won 99 games to take the AL East title and Aaron Judge hit an AL record 62 home runs.

“There’s a lot that went wrong,” Judge said. “We can hit it from a lot of different aspects but when it comes down to it, we just didn’t come out here and do our job.”

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The Yankees beat Arizona 6-4 in a rescheduled game on Monday to notch a 2-1 series victory.

Earliest Cinching Scenario

The earliest Toronto can secure a playoff spot is Wednesday. It would require two wins against the Yankees and the Astros completing a sweep of the Mariners. That scenario likely would see the spot wrapped up around 12:30-1 a.m. ET as the Mariners-Rangers game starts at 9:38 p.m. ET / 6:38 p.m. PT.

If the Blue Jays can secure a wild-card berth before Sunday’s season finale, they can save Gausman for Game 1 of the playoffs.

Press Repeat

The first two pitching matchups are identical to the last two matchups from last week’s series.

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The Blue Jays pounced on the Yankees bullpen after King struck out 13 and allowed one run in seven innings in a 6-1 Toronto win — Gausman allowed no runs and struck out 10 in six innings. The next night, Cy Young favourite Cole allowed one run on two hits and struck out two in eight innings in a 5-3 Yankees win over Berríos and the Blue Jays.

What’s up for Judge?

While Judge told reporters he plans to play the rest of the season on Sunday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone called the situation “fluid” on Monday.

Judge has been sidelined by hip and toe injuries this season.

Season Series

The Blue Jays are 5-5 against New York after winning two of three at Yankee Stadium last week.

Out of Town

The Mariners are hosting the Astros in a three-game series. Houston won the opener 5-1 on Monday. The Texas Rangers, who lead the AL West by 2.5 games, are in Los Angeles for a three-game series against the Angels. Texas won the opener 5-1.

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The Blue Jays have the tiebreaker on Houston, but not on Seattle or Texas.

Up Next

The Blue Jays conclude the regular season with a three-game series against the visiting Rays. Wild-card games, if they make it, will be Oct. 3-5.

— With files from the Associated Press

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The Boston Celtics are reportedly looking to get into the Damian Lillard sweepstakes as well.

Of course, fitting his big salary on their books is going to be tricky, considering they just signed Jaylen Brown to a $304 million contract extension and will have to pay even more for Jayson Tatum next offseason, not to mention they also have Kristaps Porzingis.

But big market teams usually find a way to get deals done, and this shouldn’t be the exception to that rule.

With that in mind, NBA insider Kevin O’Connor reported that the Celtics could offer up to four first-round picks and Jordan Walsh, who was viewed as a first-round pick by some scouts, for Lillard (via Dru).

“Boston can trade up to 4 firsts [for Dame]—Jordan Walsh was just an early 2nd round pick that some teams had ranked as a first-rounder, so really like 5 firsts. I don’t think it’s better than what TOR can do. But I do think it’s better than what Miami can do”@KevinOConnorNBA

pic.twitter.com/sEFyPzdDdj

— Dru (@dru_star) September 26, 2023

Of course, he acknowledges that the Toronto Raptors might be able to top that offer, but he believes that could be enough to take the Miami Heat out of contention.

There have been multiple reports about several teams looking to join the sweepstakes for Lillard, such as the Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and now, the Boston Celtics.

NBA insider Chris Haynes — who has always stayed close to Lillard — pretty much ruled the Celtics out of contention early in the offseason, stating that Lillard would never want to play there.

Then again, given how tough it’s been for him to force his way out of Portland, he might have no choice but to reconsider his stance.

As of now, just one thing seems certain, and it’s that Lillard is unlikely to be a part of the Trail Blazers by the start of the season.

The post Analyst Details Potential Boston Celtics Offer For Damian Lillard appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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