Blue Jays Happy Hour

The Blue Jays finally won a series this week, and with Nathan Lukes finally getting over a case of vertigo he somewhat selfishly played through, their offence has started to look downright functional at times. And yet the biggest story around the Jays—outside of the ongoing Jeff Hoffman saga, which I assure you we do touch on in this episode—is the making of one man: Eric Lauer.

The team's long man, turned starter, turned reliever, turned arbitration case loser, turned long man, turned starter, turned opener-hater, turned tape-wearer, turned malcontent has once again been making himself the centre of attention, weirdly choosing to fight a war of words with his manager through the media while continuing to not pitch especially well. What's up with that?

We talk all about it in this one, plus injury updates, EloyWatch, Yesavage expectations, and more!

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** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **

For this week's Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, with Max Scherzer's wobbly start to the season front of mind (*recorded before his Arizona start*), we decided to "remember some guys" by looking back at several players who finished out HOF-calibre careers with the Blue Jays—or played briefly with the Blue Jays at or near the end—as diminished versions of their former selves. Turns out there have been quite a few!

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The Blue Jays bats showed signs of life on Tuesday, but went immediately back to sleep in consecutive 2-1 losses to the Brewers in Milwaukee that sent to club to its fifth straight series defeat. Their hitters are struggling, and even on the pitching side—where help is on the way—a strong performance from Patrick Corbin and back-to-back duds from Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer are complicating the path forward. Fun, huh?

The American League has hardly gotten away from them yet, but getting back to a .400 winning percentage shouldn't be this tall of a task. Especially when, through all of this, we're simultaneously having to deal with Insufferable Closer Discourse (TM).

** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

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** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **

This week, to take our minds off some of the doom and gloom, we went through the Jays' active roster and rated each player based on likeability to see if things really have changed from 2025's ultra-likable squad.

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The Jays avoided a total bottoming-out of their vibes with a 4-3 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday, avoiding a sweep, but with a Patrick Corbin start on the horizon, a lengthy injured list, and a sputtering offence, the real worry isn't so much what happened over the last week or so, but what happens between now and when Alejandro Kirk, and some of their injured starters, are able to return.

This week we talk about which of their problems is really worth taking seriously, plus a look at some minor moves, a check in on struggling hitters, thoughts on some new guys, and a record-shattering hot-dog event.

** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

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** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **

We're in the early stages of MLB's newest rule change, and while we've seen the ABS challenge system in the minors for a while now, it's a different thing when it's on the big league stage. So, in this week's Patreon exclusive bonus episode, we're discussing what we've seen so far, and what we think of it. 

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The 2026 Toronto Blue Jays season has begun, and though the team has already had its share of setbacks—the Cody Ponce injury, all the returning guys expected to carry the load offensively coming out flat, Brendon Little—they've played well on the whole, and were just one hit from several huge opportunities against Colorado away from starting the season 5-1. So, with not all that much to nitpick, this week we spend a lot of our time discussing first impressions.

We've finally got our first (official) looks at Kaz Okamoto, Dylan Cease, Tyler Rogers, and Jesús Sánchez. And we also check in on the early results from the groups of Jays we each chose in our WAR Projection Over/Under Draft back in February.

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The Jays have added several new items to the menu at Rogers Centre for 2026, and this week in our Patreon-exclusive bonus episode—which we've unlocked for all listeners—we went through each and every one of them to answer the question: Would we actually eat this?

Be sure to check us out at Patreon.com/BJHH for more exclusive content, including Stoeten's instant reaction to the Jays' Opening Day win over the A's, a recent appreciation of Vladdy on the occasion of his 27th birthday, thoughts on how we might change the World Baseball Classic, and more! There's a bonus show every week. And don't forget that Patreon membership gives you access to a feed of our shows that you can listen to completely ad-free, and without ever having to see the occasional "preview" episodes we sometimes drop.

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider and GM Ross Atkins were both heading into the final year of their contracts, and so before the 2026 season kicked off, the team did the only thing they possibly could, extending both of them for multiple additional seasons. Some of the reactions to this were oddly negative, and this week we discussed it—along with all the latest news on the club's roster decisions heading into Opening Day. 

** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

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This week, in yet another pitching-heavy show, we react to the news that José Berríos has a stress fracture in his pitching elbow and will miss the start of the season, though he aims to pitch through it. Plus! The knock-on effects on the rest of the rotation, the announcement of Kevin Gausman as the club's Opening Day starter, Dylan Cease's importance to the rotation, Daulton Varsho's fascinating spring, and more!

** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

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