Blue Jays 4-game series

[Just Regular]

Practicing some discipline amid the trade frenzy, a tough road series at a powerful division opponent starts in even less than 31 hours.

Active Roster k-bb standing (60 IP min.) among AL SP:

(47) Gibson v. (37) Bassitt

(29) Bradish v. Hyun-Jin Ryu (2023 debut)

(30) Grayson v. (24) Kikuchi

"TBD" v. (2) Gausman      (Roster Resource has a Bruce Zimmermann placeholder)

If the Verlander scenario materializes, he threw yesterday so can't pitch Thursday.     Also, debuting him at OPACY against Buck this weekend would be more baseball poetic.

Back end of bullpen, Jordan Romano just hit the IL.    Erik Swanson has been very good in their 8th innings, I'd guess he has a little edge on newcomer Jordan Hicks but what the manager actually does is yet unseen.

It was a Scoreboard Watching sigh of relief Shohei's team managed to avoid getting swept yesterday.    The Blue Jays have been running good for awhile, and I think that Clubhouse's self-image is still that this division is theirs.

[DirtyBird]

The Verlander scenario?

[AdamK]

MLB.TV has tonight's (Monday, 7/31) game as the free game of the week: https://www.mlb.com/news/watch-orioles-vs-blue-jays-on-mlb-tv-free-game

 

Game 3 will be streamed on ESPN+, whatever that is.

Edited July 31, 2023 by AdamK

[AdamK]

After this 4 game series, we'll face them for a 3-game set in Baltimore August 22nd-24th.

Thanks in large part to a May series sweep in their own home and taking 2 of 3 in Baltimore in June, if the O's split this 4 game series in Toronto they can win the season series.

 

Hoping a quiet Trade Deadline doesn't distract the team or suck any fun out of the clubhouse.

 

[glenn__davis]

A split would be just fine here.  I'd settle for 1.  Anything above 2 is gravy.

Edited July 31, 2023 by glenn__davis

[dystopia]

No Berrios, so that’s nice. 1 win here would be disappointing. 

[Moose Milligan]

48 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

The Verlander scenario?

It's the name of a @Can_of_cornindie rock project.

[Moose Milligan]

Hoping for at least a split.  3/4 would be great.  

[clapdiddy]

A split with the Jays would be fine with me.   They've been playing pretty well over their last 20 games.   Should be an interesting series.  

[AdamK]

In both previous series, facing the Os seemed to coincide with relative cold streaks from the Jays.

Looking at their season so far they are streaky with both their wins and their losses. Only 5 times in the first half did Toronto not follow up a Win or a Loss with a streak of 2 or more Ws or Ls.

We'll see if that trend continues having just lost to the Angels... Will they rattle off 3 wins or 2 more losses over the next few games with us?

 

And FWIW, since the All-Star break, Jays are playing .600 baseball (9-6) compared to .549 before that, with 3 of the 6 losses coming against AL teams.

• AVG is .31 points higher (.280) than before All-Star...
• OBP .35 points higher (.361)
• SLG is .35 points higher (.450)
• OPS is .70 points higher (.811)

In the same span, the Os are playing .625 (10-6) with only 2 of the 6 losses coming against AL teams:

• AVG .28 points lower (.225)
• OBP .43 points lower (.281)
• SLG .29 points lower (.394)
• OPS .70 points lower (.676)

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by AdamK

[baltimoriole]

Huge series personally. I'm at a family reunion in Waterton, Alberta, Canada the next four days. All my family are Canucks and big Blue Jays fans. I need at least a split. Don't let me down O's!

[interloper]

Kick them in the teeth. 

[Just Regular]

Brian Kenny's show just caught me up on Friday night drama.    After Shohei took Gausman deep in his first PA of the series, there was a decorum break and video of Matt Chapman berating the manager in the dugout.

It was an easy lip read, Chapman expressed his feeling the other Angels Bats were not of good quality, with some grown up adjectives.     Shohei went on to get a bunch of IBB's the rest of the weekend.

I do think the Blue Jays are now at about their peak strength of whatever these teams become, and Chapman's impending free agency is part of that.    I don't think they'll pay for a '24 third baseman as good as him, and while Bo/Vlad may not be at their very best yet, the important supporting players overall are getting a year worse.

[Frobby]

I was typing up a long OP on this subject this morning, only to have it disappear on me when my phone refereshed.   So, I'll just toss in a few points.

Gibson (4.66 ERA) pitched a 7 inning 1 runs game against the Jays earlier this year, while we torched Bassitt (3.91) for 8 runs and 11 hits in 3 innings when we saw him.

Bradish also tossed a 7 inning 1 run game against Toronto, but took a tough luck loss.

Rodriguez pitched a decent 5 IP 2 ER game against Toronto back in May.   We have seen Kikuchi twice this year, both times chasing him after 4.2 innings, with him allowing 3 and 2 ER in the two games.

We saw Gausman in May and he allowed 2 ER in 8 IP in a game we eventually won.

Toronto usually has a great offense, but this year they have averaged 4.54 runs/game (7th in the AL) to our 4.87 (5th).   The two teams have been about equal in July, 4.88 for us and 4.87 for them, though Toronto has the better OPS.

If it comes to the bullpens, both teams are decent, 3.65 ERA for Toronto, 3.71 for us.  Toronto has been better at protecting leads, 73% save rate to our 60%.   As noted, their closer is on the IL, so that helps.   

Overall, this feels like a series Toronto need to win if they want to climb into the race to win the division.   

[RZNJ]

Anything less than a split would be disappointing.  3 of 4, please!   One at a time.   A Cowser breakout in Canada?   Stranger things have happened.