While the Blue Jays have so much stock put into their offensive-prowess, the defence has something yet to be desired just one series into the MLB season.
If you’re one of those people who think baseball is boring, direct your focus to the new and improved offensive juggernaut, the Toronto Blue Jays— a team with enough offensive weapons to have you shaking in your cleats.
After falling behind by seven runs early into the 2022 season, the Jays stormed back in game No. 1 of 162 in style, eventually winning their first game of the year 10-8. Not necessarily the start they had envisioned, but hey, a win is a win, right?
Then, despite a low-scoring contest in game two, both teams came out firing in their third meeting of the season with Texas winning the final game of the series 12-6. Doubling up on the Blue Jays is no small task, but the Rangers may have exposed the Jays biggest weakness this season.
Giving up 23 runs is concerning. Giving up that many to a team like the Rangers is cause for even greater concern.
Not to speak ill of a professional baseball team, but with all due respect, it’s the Texas freakin’ Rangers! Outside of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, they field an above-average Triple-A squad with limited options compared to other teams around the league.
And despite the lack of offensive depth, Texas sent Toronto’s starting pitchers packing, an abysmal start to the year. Fans witnessed Jose Berrios imploding in the season opener, were shown signs of life with Kevin Gausman’s Blue Jays debut on Saturday, and endured a lackluster performance from Hyun Jin Ryu, who absolutely needs to be put in the five-spot until the end of the season.
Unfortunately, the pitching woes continued for the Jays, as their bullpen was mediocre at best the entire weekend. More than five of their pitchers finished with ERAs over 5.00.
Outside of Jordan Romano recording two saves in back-to-back appearances, it is worth mentioning that the trio of Yimi Garcia, Tim Mayza, and Trevor Richards also had ERAs under 0.00.
Overall, the Blue Jays bullpen left too many hittable pitches in and around the strike zone all weekend and their need to fix that is as urgent as ever, given their rigorous schedule. Although it’s assuring to see the team using all their offensive capabilities to come away with a series win, that same offense cannot be expected to bail them out all season.
While one series is an incredibly small sample size in a 162-game season, addressing these problems is crucial for a successful opening month and eventual late-season push come playoff time.
Andrew Stuetz
I think every team has some early year struggles, and chemistry comes into a huge amount of play. I look forward to what is in store for this team this year!