Flight Deck

We are back after a short hiatus!

The series against the Baltimore "Trash Bird" Orioles was one we've all had marked on our calendars for quite some time as three automatic wins. That didn't happen. Robbie Ray put up an amazing start and Vladdy hit two homers in the opener, but a sixth-inning meltdown from Hyun Jin Ryu and some limp bats resulted in a loss in the second game. Finally, in the third game, Toronto narrowly squeezed out a victory on what was probably the most 2021 Blue Jays play possible, a go-ahead fly-ball double play. Sexy stuff!

We talked about the limp bats at the bottom of the order, what Nate Pearson can bring to the team, and we also looked ahead to the upcoming series against Oakland, which can ultimately sink or swim the season.

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A 2-2 split against a good team is pretty good, but not exactly great when you're climbing the mountain the Blue Jays are. 

That was quite a week of ups and downs. Alek Manoah helped the team to a gritty win on Monday, Jose Berrios got shelled immediately after on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Robbie Ray threw one of the better starts we've seen from a Blue Jay in a while, on Thursday, Hyun Jin Ryu got knocked around. 

All told, two steps forward, two back.

Anyways! BK joined the show and we distracted ourselves from the chase by taking a needlessly early look at the off-season, based on Ross Atkins' comments when talking with Bob McCown earlier this week. We went into some depth about Ray's season, what kind of contract he's going to earn, and whether the Blue Jays will open up their wallets to make it happen.

Finally, we took a quick look at the easy schedule on the horizon. 

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Woooof, that's about as bad as it gets.

We had these games against bad teams like the Detroit Tigers circled on the calendar for months as an opportunity for the Blue Jays to finally smack somebody around and hit their stride. That didn't happen this weekend.

Despite getting three strong starts — an ace performance from Robbie Ray, a vintage Hyun Jin Ryu outing, and a strong showing from Steven Matz — the Blue Jays couldn't hit anything the Tigers threw at them. Worst of all, they couldn't hit Drew Hutchison, who none of us knew was still in the league just a few weeks ago.

We talked about that miserable series, the team's lack of clutch and killer instinct, and tried to come up with some positives. It wasn't easy!

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That road trip was not at all what you wanted to see.

After flubbing to a 3-4 record through the West Coast part of the their swing, the Blue Jays rolled into Washington for a two-game set against the Nationals, a prime opportunity to end the trip on a positive note. That didn't happen.

Alek Manoah got knocked around on Tuesday night and Rafael Dolis helped kill any chance of a late-game comeback. On Wednesday, Jose Berrios had a ho-hum start, the team rallied to earn a late-game lead, and then Brad Hand came in and threw it away. We talked about all of that bad stuff and also tried really, really hard to look for some positives from that frustrating couple of games. 

The Blue Jays are now 63-56, four games back of Oakland and Boston for the second wild-card spot. In positive news, both Oakland and Boston have been struggling lately, so this isn't all doom and gloom. The Blue Jays returning home to face the mediocre Detroit Tigers this weekend should be a boost, too, you'd think.

That said, I'm worried that Old Friend Drew Hutchison is going to throw a no-hitter on Sunday. That would be too fitting.

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Well, things did not go as expected during the Blue Jays trip to Seattle. The vibes were not good and Jays dropped two of the three games. Cam & Tyler broke down what went wrong in the series and managed to pull a few positives from the three games in today’s episode of BJN Radio!

The bullpen struggled, but that might be a product of fatigue. As far as the offence goes, Teoscar continued his crazy hot streak while Vladdy started to bounce back from a rough week at the plate. On the mound, the Jays got a decent outing from Steven Matz in the series finale, which was a very good sign.

Moving forward, they move on to Washington for a quick two game set against a really bad Nationals team. There is immense pressure on the Jays to sweep this upcoming set of games and when you consider who the teams they’re chasing are playing this week, there is a chance for the Jays to get right back into the race this week.

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A new episode of BlueJaysNation Radio is here! Cam was busy enjoying a spa day out in the mountains so Tyler brought in Jonah Birenbaum (@birenball) to help break down the Blue Jays four-game series against Shohei Ohtani and the LA Angels.

The Jays only managed to split the series and considering the tight playoff race they’re in, that’s a little bit disappointing. Tyler and Jonah went through what they did and didn’t like from the blue birds in ‘3 Up/3 Down’. One of the big positives was the outing that the Jays got from the big man Alek Manoah, who dominated the Angels in his start and continued his incredible rookie campaign. They also touched on a red-hot Teoscar Hernandez and a struggling Vladdy Jr.

To wrap things up, Tyler took a look at the out of town scoreboard and previewed the upcoming three game set in Seattle.

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What a weekend! The Blue Jays and Red Sox came into this weekend as two teams going in completely different directions. While the Blue Jays were thriving upon their return to Toronto, the Fraud Sox were finally starting to fall apart. 

That trend continued this weekend. The Blue Jays smashed the Sox on Friday, the two teams split a doubleheader on Saturday, and then George Springer capped off an epic comeback on Sunday, hitting a clutch three-run bomb in the eighth inning to give Toronto the series win.

We talked about Springer's huge moment and what a game-changer he is for the team, especially as the pressure starts to mount down the stretch. We also talked about some good performances from the bullpen and the possibility of some pitching reinforcements on the way. 

Finally, we looked ahead to the upcoming series in Anaheim and talked about why the Mountain Time zone is the ideal space for watching sports.

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The good times keep rolling! Fresh off of sweeping the Kansas City Royals over homecoming weekend, the Blue Jays plowed through another limp-dick Central Division team this week, taking three of four from Cleveland.

The Blue Jays are now 6-1 in seven games in Toronto this season and are eight games over .500 for the first time since 2016. Tyler finally returned from his long, mystical endeavour in the woods to talk about all of the good times the team has been having lately. We talked about how George Springer has finally arrived, how the starting rotation has suddenly become a strength of the team, and how blessed the Blue Jays are that the Marlins did them a solid and gave Adam Cimber away for virtually nothing.

After that, we looked ahead to this weekend's four-game set against the struggling Red Sox. Boston has lost six of their last seven games and the Blue Jays have a chance to really turn their ugly stretch into a serious losing skid.

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The Blue Jays' homecoming couldn't have gone better. 

After nearly two years away from Toronto, the Blue Jays returned home and treated the fans to an absolute ass-kicking of the Kansas City Royals. Not only had the team been away for a long time, but this weekend's games featured the first playoff atmosphere at the Rogers Centre since the 2016 American League Championship Series against Cleveland. What a blast.

With Tyler still lost in the woods, I had Paul Berthelot join to talk about all of the good vibes from the weekend. We talked about George Springer really establishing the whole "George Springer is a Blue Jay" thing with a huge weekend, Alek Manoah rising to the occasion and having an amazing start, and Jose Berrios putting together an excellent debut. We also talked about our thoughts on the Berrios trade and why it was a worthwhile move for the front office to make, despite the huge cost. 

Finally, I drew about as many comparisons as I could to the 2015 team because, seriously, the patterns are getting ridiculous. 

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The Blue Jays rolled into Fenway and took two of four from the first-place team in the American League. They suffered a heartbreaker on Monday, the game was rained out on Tuesday, Robbie Ray guided the team to a win with an ace start on Wednesday, Steven Matz had a tough go in the night cap, and then the bats exploded for 13 runs in the finale on Friday.

All said, two out of four ain't bad. It doesn't move the needle in terms of catching Boston, but it keeps them in the mix for the wild-card and it ensures that Friday's homecoming won't be a bummer.

Anyways! With Tyler still lost in the woods and BK on a flight from B.C. to Toronto, I tackled talking about the Boston series ALL BY MYSELF. I also talked about the acquisition of Brad Hand from Washington and where he fits in the team's bullpen along with the rumour that the Blue Jays are in the mix for Jose Berrios.

Finally, I welcomed Neil Keefe to the show to talk about the New York Yankees, who just had a huge swing by adding Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo ahead of the trade deadline. We talked about whether or not that'll be a game-changer for them, what he expects from the Yanks the rest of the way, and his thoughts on the Blue Jays.

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