Blue Jays Happy Hour

The Blue Jays have continued to roll over the last week, finally managing to reel in the New York Yankees a little bit, and have kept on doing so with contributions from unexpected places. And they’ve made it so they’ll need to keep on relying on those for a while yet, thanks to a number of transactions made in recent days, the most notable of which saw a pair of expected contributors—Bowden Francis and Erik Swanson— banished to the injured list and designated for assignment respectively.That the Jays decided Francis keeping his spot had become untenable was hardly a shocker, but the presumed end of the Swanson Era—after just 30 batters faced—was at the very least a mild one. And it gave us a chance to talk about all things bullpen construction, to relitigate the Teoscar Hernández trade, and to look into the future at how the staff as a whole will function with a bullpen in transition and a rotation desperate to get Max Scherzer back—and, eventually, Alek Manoah—and could still probably use reinforcements beyond them as well.Plus a whole lot more!

After what's seemed like years of waiting for their offence to arrive, over the last month the Blue Jays seem to have figured out how to hit and score runs. They're flying high, playing like one of the absolute best teams in baseball despite a rotation in shambles beyond the front three. This week we look at how internal improvements have powered their offensive outburst, and where improvements still need to be made in order to fix the pitching staff and weather the storms that surely lie ahead.

It's been a good week for the Blue Jays, with some actually encouraging signs showing up in their offence. Addison Barger might be for real, Alan Roden and Davis Schneider are back after successful spells in Triple-A, but more important than that is the fact that lately we've been seeing the best of guys like Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk, and George Springer—some of the very guys the team had futilely pinned their hopes for "internal improvement" on over the last two or three years.Plus, we look at some of the club's recent roster shuffling and injury woes, check in on the state of the rotation, the bullpen, and some prospects, and take a look through the Athletic's recent Blue Jays All-Quarter-Century Team. Blue Jays All-Quarter Century Team: Toronto’s best since 2000 - Mitch Bannon - https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6381601/2025/05/27/blue-jays-all-quarter-century-team/

The Blue Jays won a series in Texas by scoring just four runs, and while normally that would be cause to celebrate some extraordinary pitching performances, that certainly doesn't feel like what we just witnessed. The Jays and Rangers were abysmal offensively over the three games, with Toronto batters going a staggering 2-for-31 with runners in scoring position. Ugly stuff!But RISP numbers are so dependent on luck that, even though they greatly help to tell the story of individual games, they're barely worth talking about without also addressing the offence as a whole. So that's exactly what we do, before moving relatively quickly on to topics like the resurgence of Bowden Francis and Kevin Gausman, whether Daulton Varsho should get a contract extension, and more!

The Blue Jays are not a team without problems, as we've been seeing all season. But after (eventually) picking up a much-needed and well-deserved sweep of the San Diego Padres—and potentially finding some solutions to some of their run-scoring problems in Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, and a Daulton Varsho suddenly leaning in on his power—they now find themselves over .500 for the first time in more than a month. And just like that things feel about as good as they have all season.

After an episode last week that felt about as grim as any show we've recorded in-season for this podcast, the Jays brought us—and themselves—back to life. They've won five of six since we last spoke, and if not for three ugly bullpen blow-ups could be on an eight-game winning streak. Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho have been especially aggressive at the plate, and it's paying dividends as the club has averaged 6.5 runs per game over that span. But can the good times keep rolling?

The vibes around the Blue Jays would certainly feel a whole lot better if not for two stomach-churning late-inning losses in Anaheim this week. But they did lose those games. And though the immediate fault lies with the bullpen for failing to close out leads, the relievers would be in much better shape if the offence could build a lead bigger than one or two runs every once in a while, or if the back-end of the rotation wasn't down to relying on guys pulled off the street. Will Jonatan Clase and José Ureña prove to be the answers they've been looking for? Probably not!

It's been an awful couple of weeks for the Blue Jays, who looked like they were about to suffer their ninth defeat in ten games on Wednesday before embarking on a massive, home-run-powered, six-run comeback that reminded all of us what they ought to be capable of. And that entirely changed the tone of the conversation around the team—at least for a day.

The Blue Jays have lost five straight, their power output has somehow been worse than expected, and they don't have a lot of levers to pull. The vibes? They're bad. And this week we talk about our confidence levels of the big three at the top of the lineup turning things around, where solutions beyond their best four starters and relievers will come from, and a whole lot more!