Blue Jays Talk

Jays Talk Plus with Blake Murphy kicks off with his summary of the team’s second consecutive shutout loss to the New York Yankees. He opens up the JTP Mailbag to address the audience's ‘feelings’, questions and comments about the team amid the final week of the season. In the latter part of the hour, TV play-by-play voice Dan Shulman dissects why the Blue Jays are adding complexity to their situation, deciphers the significance of certain players falling out of the 'circle of trust,' and explores why even a challenging week can still secure their postseason berth (27:04). As we step into the second hour, Blake is joined by MLB.com's Mike Petriello to discuss the impact of the Rogers Centre's revised dimensions on hitting, while being conversely auspicious for pitching and defense, and explore the idea of shaping future team rosters to align with the ballpark's characteristics. Lastly, they examine how MLB's new rule changes have influenced the rise in stolen base activity (53:34). Wrapping up today's show is Alex Eisert of FanGraphs, who delves into his latest piece on the “Quiet Brilliance of Kevin Gausman’s Splitter,” before getting into the analytics of defensive fielding data and aggressive vs. patient hitting approaches (01:20:00).

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' 6-0 loss to the Yankees at the Rogers Centre. They take your calls, and get to Gerrit Cole - the likely AL Cy Young winner - shutting down the Jays once again. Why couldn't the bats take advantage of the pitches Cole gave them? They discuss the offence being completely absent over the last two games, and chat about the decisions to pitch to Aaron Judge - bad pitches or better swings from the reigning AL MVP? Plus, they chat the makeup of the roster, and get into how basically every player on this team has been underperforming all season long.

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.

The show kicks off with Blake Murphy summarizing last night’s 2-0 loss to the Yankees at Rogers Centre. He is joined by Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sportsnet's Senior MLB editor, to delve into the recent struggles of Jordan Romano over his last two relief appearances, the timeline for Brandon Belt's return to form, and the strategic usage tactics the Blue Jays might employ in the upcoming week. In the latter part of the hour, Jon Morosi from MLB Network discusses the American League playoff races, starting with the Mariners' bounce-back performance, Texas ‘just about’ securing the top seed in the West, and his insights into which team appears strongest leading into the next week (32:41). Transitioning into the second hour, Joe Siddall, Blue Jays Analyst at Sportsnet, joins the conversation to share his analysis of yesterday's loss to the Bronx Bombers, explore the idea of simply deploying the best player in high-pressure situations, and conclude with a quick projection of the Blue Jays' Wild Card roster (50:50). Wrapping up today's episode, Eno Sarris from The Athletic joins and briefly reviews their collective Fantasy Baseball seasons, before diving into potential standout candidates for the 2023 Cy Young Award and how teams might utilize their likely playoff-bound starting pitchers in the coming week (01:10:55).

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' 2-0 loss to the Yankees at Rogers Centre. They take your calls, and get right to Jordan Romano giving up two runs in three pitches in the top of the ninth inning - what's with his bizarre record in tied games? Should he no longer be the closer? Is there anything still lingering from Saturday's blown save, even with the extra day off? Plus, the offence was shutout of this one - how did they not take advantage of five Michael King walks, and what did they see from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the bases loaded in the third inning?

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.

To kick off the show, Blake Murphy opens the show with a recap of last night’s Major League Baseball action, sans the idle Blue Jays. Following this, he is joined by Buffalo Bisons Manager, Casey Candaele to get his measure on the team’s 2023 season, including how he managed regularly losing a glut of talent due to call-ups during the year, including Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz and Nathen Lukes. They close the segment with a discussion on the merits and drawbacks to the use of the automatic strike zone. In the second half of the hour, Blake is joined by Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher, José Berríos, who connected with him at his charity event in Toronto. Their conversation spans various topics, including Berríos' personal journey growing up playing baseball in Puerto Rico, the recent performance of the Blue Jays, and his La Gente del Barrio Home Run Derby and Celebrity Softball Game scheduled for December (30:57). During the final hour, Sportsnet Producer Chris Black makes an in-studio appearance for an extended discussion. They dive into the analytics behind the Blue Jays' recent run, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s impressive turnaround in September, the concerns about his injured knee, potential lineup changes pending Brandon Belt's return, and the discourse behind Jordan Romano's finger-related issues (50:07).

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 kicks off Monday's episode recapping the team's successful weekend at Tropicana Field. He is then joined by Keegan Matheson, a writer for BlueJays.com, to dissect how the team might have finally overcome “The Trop Curse", before evaluating the team's overall health, rotation depth, and Davis Schneider, George Springer, and Chris Bassitt's weekends respectively. In the second segment, MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince stops by to break down the ups and downs of the Wild Card races in both leagues. They discuss how injuries could potentially disrupt the playoffs and celebrate the greatness of José Ramírez and Joey Votto (31:25). During the final hour, Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling joins Blake in-studio to share his thoughts on Jays' weekend series win, before diving into the team's playoff preparation and strategic considerations heading down the stretch (51:55).

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.

Sho Alli breaks down the Blue Jays' 9-5 win over the Rays to end the weekend with a series victory at Tropicana Field! He takes your calls and texts, and gets right to George Springer's big day - after launching an inside-the-park home run, and making highlight reel catches and throws, was that his best individual game as a Blue Jay? Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushes two home runs, including going back-to-back with Bo Bichette - how important is it to see the top three bats in this order come alive? Plus, the bullpen gets good outings from Trevor Richards, Erik Swanson and Jordan Hicks - what should Hicks' role look like going forward?

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.

Sho Alli breaks down the Blue Jays' 7-6 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. He takes your calls and texts, and gets right to the ninth inning in which Jordan Romano blew his fourth save of the year. John Schneider says he had a cracked fingernail - if it was bothering Romano, was that the right move? Why not use Tim Mayza? Plus, Sho gets to the Whit Merrifield send in the seventh - was it the right call to gamble on the fly ball? Afterwards, Sho discusses the offence staging the comeback down 5-0 early, and also gets to the outing from Hyun-jin Ryu, who got tagged for five earned runs over 4.1 IP.

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' 6-2 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field! They take your calls, and get right to that sixth inning in which Tyler Glasnow lost command of the strike zone - while there was some luck involved, how important was it for the Jays to take advantage of big opportunities when they presented themselves? Plus, they discuss the home run from Daulton Varsho, and the start from Chris Bassitt in which he only allowed two earned runs over 6.2 IP - has Bassitt worked himself into a start in the first two games of a potential Wild Card series?

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.

It’s off to the Trop as the Blue Jays are not able to force a series sweep against the New York Yankees losing the game 5-3. Host of Jays Talk Plus Blake Murphy kicks off the show with Senior Editor of The Score Jonah Birenbaum to talk about Gerrit Cole’s dominant outing, the call for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to pinch hit and a historical view of the Blue Jays starting rotation. Next up, Julia Kreuz of MLB.com joins Blake (50:25) to discuss Vladdy’s inflammation injury and the curse of the Trop. Later, Jon Morosi joins the show (1:16:01) to give his take on Gerrit Cole being a Cy Young favourite and what the offseason will look like for the Yankees. Finally, Blake closes out the show with a preview of tonight’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays.

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 affiliate.