It was a looooong and chilly Winter in Toronto. It typically feels that way when the local baseball team gets swept out of the playoffs in early October and the highlight of the offseason is *almost* signing some guy. Regardless of all the stuff that has already happened, and doesn’t need to be talked about anymore, it really was great to see the Blue Jays back in Toronto for their first home series of 2024, in which they took 2 of 3.
I was lucky enough to enjoy the first 2 games in person and can honestly say the Ballpark looks incredible. As someone that’s been going to the Rogers Centre since I was a little kid, I kind of took for granted that really was just not a nice stadium, and never really cared for the idea that it could be improved. However, what Mark Shapiro and the Blue Jays have been able to get done these past 2 offseasons is genuinely amazing and it’s turned a stadium that’s felt dated and *meh* for decades into a place that feels like it’s meant for baseball’s biggest stage.
As for the baseball, games 1 and 2 against the Mariners were fun. After a 30-something minute(!) Opening Day ceremony in which anybody announced as a hitting coach was healthily booed, José Berríos dog-walked the Mariners through 6.2 innings giving up just 4 hits and a walk with 6 punch-outs. And despite the Jays being up a healthy 4-0 and Berríos being over 100 pitches, John Schneider was heavily booed on his way out to the mound to go to the Bullpen. Berríos received a pretty impressive ovation on his way back to the dugout. Some timely hits with runners in scoring position from Alejandro Kirk, Davis Schneider, Vladdy Guerrero Jr. and Isiah Kiner-Falefa led to a pretty smooth 5-2 Blue Jays win. The pre-game street-meat was delicious, the beer was cold, and the Blue Jays won the home opener, it was a pretty perfect evening.
Game 2 of the series had a pretty similar vibe to the first one. The crowd was a pretty impressive size for a week-night game directly after the Home Opener, although Loony Dogs may have had something to do with that. Chris Bassitt was really good as he worked around 4 walks over 6.2 innings and gave up just a single run. Bo Bichette hit an absolute moon bomb homer in the third inning and the Jays never really looked back, taking the game 5-3.
Video via MLB and Youtube
A couple of sections including where I was sitting in centre field really got into it with Julio Rodríguez of the Mariners, and got his attention a few times. He made it really clear he could hear what we had to say and definitely had a little bit of fun with it, making a *yap yap yap* motion with his glove a couple of times.
It was a ton of fun being back at the Dome for those games and getting the chance to see the Jays win a couple of ballgames.
Now we get to this afternoon’s game. A 3:07, get-away day start time with the Mariners absolutely scuffling and a Jays team that was right on the edge of a sweep. This is exactly the type of game great times win. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but with the Colorado Rockies coming to town this weekend, getting out of this game with the W could have easily meant a cute little 6 game winning streak.
Unfortunately, that is just not how our Toronto Blue Jays do things. Yusei Kikuchi got the start and went head-to-head with Logan Gilbert in what turned out to be a solid pitcher’s duel for the large part of the game. Kikuchi was great, punching out 9(!) and giving up just a single run over 6 innings. Gilbert was just as impressive, only getting tagged for a (massive) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homerun in the seventh inning. Yimi Garcia was lights out over 2 impressive innings and the Jays were (unsurprisingly) unable to cash runners in scoring position in both the 8th and 9th and the game went to extras.
Tim Mayza immediately got shelled, giving up a homer to Cal Raleigh, because obviously.
The game finished 6-1 and the Jays were unable to complete the sweep. Despite a number of positives throughout the series, we’re going to be left with that bad taste in our mouths for Thursday’s off-day. This was exactly the type of game that great teams win, and ultimately it’s the type of game the Jays are going to have to win a whole lot more of if they want to compete for a division that is already being taken over by the 10-2 Yankees.
The Blue Jays are 6-7 after a really difficult 13 game stretch to start the season, and are going to have to win the games just like this one soon or else, the Wild Card could quickly become the only chance they have at the playoffs.
