Show Notes
The Blue Jays seem to be pointed in the right direction lately. They haven't lost a series to a team other than the Rays since they left Arizona back on April 19th. They seem to have escaped a nightmare injury scenario after Dylan Cease and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. both exited their finale against the Pirates back on Sunday. George Springer might be starting to figure it out. Jesús Sánchez is off of Bumwatch (TM) (OR IS HE?). Louis Varland is a demon. And reinforcements—Kirk, Barger, Bieber, Scherzer(?)—are on the way.
But at the fringes of the roster things are fluid. Davis Schneider is gone, Nathan Lukes is back, Brandon Valenzuela is legit, Charles McAdoo is on his way in, and there's been much churn in the bullpen—as there will continue to be as the team tries to figure out a way to cover for the (hopefully brief) loss of Cease as they push through their current stretch of 17 games in 17 days.
And that's where our focus mostly lies this week, as we talk about all of it! Plus, a check in on Sánchez, a look at how Daulton Varsho suddenly has become a more complete hitter (albeit worse than last year), and a whole lot more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Blue Jays Happy Hour
A disappointing 2026 season for the Blue Jays is in the books, Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro have already put a bow on it with their annual end-of-season media conferences, and we're forced now to look back one last time to a season of bad vibes, to praise Brett Bateman for saving the whole thing to the extent that it could have been saved, to try to make some news from Atkins' word salad, and to look ahead to the reshaping of the team that's to come—including a surprising second base target—and (hopefully) a full schedule of baseball in 2027.
The Blue Jays have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, and their season is now winding to a close. But rather than talking about playing out the string, or looking back on a season of disappointments, we're mostly talking about the latest Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flap, and the disproportionate response to it!
The Blue Jays can afford to spin their wheels no longer. Or, well, if we're being real, they couldn't afford to spin their wheels the way they did over the last week either—squandering multiple opportunities and losing multiple winnable games, just as they've done far too often all season. But here we are. Three massive weekend games with the Texas Rangers, then we'll see on Monday just how much hope remains.
The Jays did themselves—and the vibes surrounding them—no favours this week, dropping two of three to the battered Athletics in Sacramento. Fortunately, the Orioles did do them a favour, taking a pair from Cleveland, meaning they're right back where they started the week, a game back of the third AL Wild Card spot—only now there are just 15 games to go.
The Blue Jays have started September the way they ended August, taking a crucial series in Cleveland—including the biggest game of the year (so far) on Thursday afternoon—to pull within a half game of the Guardians in the AL Wild Card race, while also securing the tiebreaker against them. Vlad had a huge game, Cease is incredible, Brett Bateman has been an enormously unexpected surprise, and the bullpen is holding it all together. Even the rotation, which remains messy, got good news this week in the fact that Trey Yesavage is progressing from knee surgery and may be able to return before the playoffs. He’s pitching this year.