Blue Jays Talk

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker break down the Blue Jays' 3-2 extra-innings loss to the Twins at Rogers Centre. They take your calls and discuss the five innings of work from Yusei Kikuchi in which he only let up two earned runs - should he have pitched another inning? They get to the usage of the bullpen, including appearances from Pearson, Garcia, Swanson, Cimber, and Mayza - should that many relievers have been used? Plus, they get to the RISP issue once again - was there a luck factor involved, especially in the ninth?

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Jays Talk Plus kicks off following another quality outing for a Blue Jays starter as the team takes the final three games against the Houston Astros! Host Blake Murphy is joined by The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath to break down what's led to the Jays winning 10 of their last 13 games, the strengths of Toronto's bullpen, and the recent resurgence of both Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Belt. Next, we get a Minnesota perspective from Brandon Warne of Access Twins and Locked on Twins, who breaks down how the team has stayed atop the A.L. Central while hovering below .500 ahead of this weekend's series at Rogers Centre (29:16). In the second hour, ESPN and now Sportsnet's Madison Shipman checks in ahead of her Blue Jays Central debut tonight with some of her expectations for this upcoming Jays series (49:54). To end the show, Blake opens up our Blue Jays Mailbag to answer some audience texts and tweets (01:14:37)!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker break down the Blue Jays' 3-2 series-clinching win over the Astros at Rogers Centre! They take your calls, and get straight to another quality start from José Berríos, who allowed just two earned runs over six innings of work - is he firmly the team's third pitcher behind Gausman and Bassitt? They discuss the usage of the bullpen, including work from Yimi Garcia, Erik Swanson, and yet another dominant save from Jordan Romano. Is he one of the best closers in baseball? Plus, a discussion of Alejandro Kirk's continued growth behind the plate.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Coming off of another strong Chris Bassitt start, Blake Murphy breaks down what was the quickest game in recent Blue Jays history. He welcomes on Chris Leroux, Jays radio analyst, to go over what the former Major League pitcher has seen out of Toronto’s rotation this week. After that, JT+ heads to New York with ESPN’s Joon Lee to take a look around the Majors, especially the heavily crowded A.L. East (28:56). Blake turns his attention back to the Blue Jays in the second hour with MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson, as the pair go over the week that was for Toronto (50:00). To close today’s pod, Sunday Night Baseball’s Eduardo Pérez discusses his family's baseball heritage, before giving some thoughts on some of the young stars in the game this season and the Jays' stance within their division (01:21:50).

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker break down the Blue Jays' 3-2 win over the Astros at Rogers Centre! They take your calls, and Blair gets fired up about the decision to send out Jordan Romano to close out the game over Chris Bassitt, who was dealing at 81 pitches through eight innings of work. Was it ultimately the right decision? They go over Bassitt's outing in finer detail, allowing two earned runs and four hits over those eight innings. Plus, they get to Bo Bichette clobbering yet another home run, as he continues to make a case for the All-Star Game.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Host Blake Murphy kicks things off with yesterday's official news of Alek Manoah's demotion to the Florida Complex League and shares his expectations for what's next for the team and player. He welcomes in MLB.com’s Julia Kreuz to dive deeper into Manoah's journey back to the Majors, before dissecting the Blue Jays' big bounce back win against the Astros Tuesday night (07:14). Speaking of Houston, field reporter for AT&T Sportsnet Vanessa Richardson checks in from Rogers Centre amid the 'Stros' road trip to give us some inside info on the club (27:16). To start the second hour, MLB Insider and Sportsnet’s own Shi Davidi focuses in on the trickle down effect of sending Manoah down, before taking a step back to look at the organization's pitching depth as a whole (50:17). To close the show, Blake checks in with the creator and king of ZiPs, Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs, to look back on some of his Blue Jays projections one third of the way through this season (01:24:26).

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker break down the Blue Jays' 5-1 over the Astros at Rogers Centre! They take your calls, and get right to the calming effect that a Kevin Gausman start has on the rotation - he carved the Astros for 13 strikeouts, tying a career-high. They discuss the reset that it has on the bullpen, and also get to the play of Bo Bichette, George Springer, and Daulton Varsho, all of whom launched home runs in the win.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Blake Murphy starts things off where last night’s game pretty much ended: Alek Manoah’s nightmare first inning in what was perhaps the toughest start of his career. He brings on Jays producer Chris Black to try to dissect Manoah's mind-boggling season they’ve seen from the team’s supposed ace. In a positive twist, they look at recent plate appearances by Vlad Jr. and why he’s trending up. Blake then welcomes MLB analyst Rob Friedman to shares his story of how he became the infamous "Pitching Ninja", before taking a look around the league at some of the coolest pitches being thrown and the state of Toronto's rotation (28:35). In the second hour, Sportsnet’s own Ben Nicholson-Smith joins Blake to break down what he saw Monday night and what to expect ahead of Manoah's scheduled next start (48:35). To close the show, Astros analyst and World Series champ, Geoff Blum dives a bit deeper into Houston's season so far and what to expect in the final three games at Rogers Centre (01:19:30).

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker break down the Blue Jays' 11-4 loss to the Astros at Rogers Centre. They take your calls, and they spend the show discussing Alek Manoah only being able to record one out before getting the hook - where is the Manoah situation at now? What can John Schneider do, or is this now something that only Ross Atkins can solve? Would a trip to Dunedin or Buffalo help Manoah, and who would be called up in his place? Plus, is the issue magnified when you look at the roster construction of the starting rotation?

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

After an impressive weekend sweep of the New York Mets, Blake Murphy looks at some of the key contributors that helped the Blue Jays accomplish that feat. He dives into the numbers during their latest four-game winning streak as they come home to the Rogers Centre to face the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. After that, with a lot of fans and listeners asking about Jays depth, Blake checks in with Doug Fox of FutureBlueJays.com for a prospect check-in within Toronto’s minor league affiliates (21:27). Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling kicks off the second hour in-studio to break down what he saw in Queens this weekend featuring some of the impressive starter performances, what relievers the team seems to relying on more and what to expect this week against the Astros, especially from Alek Manoah tonight (50:02). In the back end of the hour, they look at some continued good plate appearances by the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the emergence of Brandon Belt (01:18:45).

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.