If you drafted Tyreek Hill in your fantasy football league last season, there’s a pretty good chance your team was a contender — unless your name is Tim Mayza.
Mayza used his first-round pick on the Miami Dolphins wide receiver in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ league, and despite Hill leading the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns, managed to finish last.
During the Blue Jays’ spring training opener Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies, Mayza served his punishment for the last-place finish, spending the first three innings of the game as Toronto’s bat boy while wearing a jersey with his record, “4-10,” as his number.
After serving as an integral piece in Toronto’s bullpen in 2023, posting a 1.52 ERA over 53.1 innings, and the longest-tenured Blue Jay, Mayza is pretty identifiable at this point, but for good measure, he was the only player with their last name on their jersey Saturday.
“I’m out of breath. I took those duties seriously, and I was sprinting all over the field” Mayza told the Sportsnet broadcast once his punishment was fulfilled. “I had a couple injuries and probably a couple bad managerial moves.”
Mayza finishing in the basement wasn’t for a lack of effort, however, as the southpaw said he “got analytical” in trying to find a pathway back to contention.
“I scored the seventh most points in this league, and I go 4-10. I think that just speaks to some bad luck on my end throughout the course of the fantasy football season,” he said.
“The record on the back of my jersey kind of speaks to what happened. But, I enjoy it. A lot of the guys enjoy it and we have a blast doing it.”
Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen ended the season as the league’s champion, going from worst to the first.
“I’m gonna throw him under the bus a little bit,” Mayza said. “He finished last last year, and kind of got away with some stuff. Meanwhile, I think they saw I was at the bottom of the standings (this year) and said: ‘alright, let’s have some fun with this guy.’ “
Regardless, after seeing Mayza run back-and-forth from the dugout to home plate Saturday, you can bet that the Blue Jays’ league will be more competitive than ever in 2024.
