2025 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Roof-Daddy]

That was a great job by the Jays, 5-4 in the last 9 games against two really good teams in the Dodgers and Cubs and then they had to face the Rangers two best pitchers.

Especially since they started that stretch 0-2

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

That was a great job by the Jays, 5-4 in the last 9 games against two really good teams in the Dodgers and Cubs and then they had to face the Rangers two best pitchers.

Especially since they started that stretch 0-2

Yeah. Next 9 are Pirates/Marlins/Twins as well. If they have a strong showing there they can extend the division lead to an unplausable-to-overcome one by the end of August, which would be great.

Two teams that have sucked the whole year and the Twins who sold off their whole bullpen at the deadline.

They are scheduled to face Skenes though (Monday) which is too bad after getting the top end starters for the Rangers.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

We all know how much you love Berrios.

I really believe something just isn’t physically right with him. I remember seeing him pitch a few games ago and he spent a good amount of time with Ministral after coming out. His velo is down and his command is off. I think he’s trying to grind through something and it isn’t working.

I just don’t think you can trust him as the season wears on. His stuff is just not hard enough or sharp enough and good hitters will make him pay way too much for that.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by Whynotnow

I just don’t think you can trust him as the season wears on. His stuff is just not hard enough or sharp enough and good hitters will make him pay way too much for that.

Yeah. The Jays are in a bit of a weird spot where they have 6 potential starters but have questions about Bieber, Berrios, Bassitt, and Lauer. The only two that I think are locked in are Scherzer and Gausman.

A 6 man rotation could break up some of the starters’ routines which could be a problem but I think they really need to lessen the load on Berrios and Bassitt. Gausman has generally pitched better with an extra day of rest. With the upcoming off days, they might need to be a bit creative to keep guys from getting too far off of their routines.

[Andrew]

Its August. Guys can have a bad month or two
Even scherzer could turn bad. fingers crossed still got some time for adjustments

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

Yeah. The Jays are in a bit of a weird spot where they have 6 potential starters but have questions about Bieber, Berrios, Bassitt, and Lauer. The only two that I think are locked in are Scherzer and Gausman.

A 6 man rotation could break up some of the starters’ routines which could be a problem but I think they really need to lessen the load on Berrios and Bassitt. Gausman has generally pitched better with an extra day of rest. With the upcoming off days, they might need to be a bit creative to keep guys from getting too far off of their routines.

You could also go 5 man, and piggyback Bassitt every 6 days. That keeps him stretched as a starter if you need him in the postseason, and moves who his piggybacking behind around so each guy gets one short start. There are lots of days off between now and the end, so if you go 6 man you'll have lots of 2 extra days rest and even a couple of 3 extra days, which is not great for routines.

It also means that the bullpen gets one day every turn completely off, which should replace the bullpen innings you're losing by carrying 6 guys.

[bizaro86]

https://jaysjournal.com/how-blue-jay...s-01k2xdjr3vh1

Would be unreal if immediately after a weak year for the AL East the Jays end up in a new NE division with the Mets/Yankees/Red Sox and Phillies. Would be 5 of the top 8 spending teams in one 5 team division. But Yankees fans would get to boo Soto more often...

Conspiracy theororist in me wonders if this is why next year's schedule hasn't been released yet, but I think realistically at this point without an actual announcement this is probably a 2027 change.

I would have though MLB would care about the AL/NL history too much for this, but maybe not. It'll suck for BC based Jays fans if they end up only going to Seattle every 2nd year.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

https://jaysjournal.com/how-blue-jay...s-01k2xdjr3vh1

Would be unreal if immediately after a weak year for the AL East the Jays end up in a new NE division with the Mets/Yankees/Red Sox and Phillies. Would be 5 of the top 8 spending teams in one 5 team division. But Yankees fans would get to boo Soto more often...

Conspiracy theororist in me wonders if this is why next year's schedule hasn't been released yet, but I think realistically at this point without an actual announcement this is probably a 2027 change.

I would have though MLB would care about the AL/NL history too much for this, but maybe not. It'll suck for BC based Jays fans if they end up only going to Seattle every 2nd year.

I think Jays would end up in a division with Detroit and potentially more central teams . I don’t think MLB cares if the Jays travel , nor are the Jays a big US draw when they are on the road except traveling Jays fans - who relatively speaking aren’t going to NY.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

https://jaysjournal.com/how-blue-jay...s-01k2xdjr3vh1

Would be unreal if immediately after a weak year for the AL East the Jays end up in a new NE division with the Mets/Yankees/Red Sox and Phillies. Would be 5 of the top 8 spending teams in one 5 team division. But Yankees fans would get to boo Soto more often...

Conspiracy theororist in me wonders if this is why next year's schedule hasn't been released yet, but I think realistically at this point without an actual announcement this is probably a 2027 change.

I would have though MLB would care about the AL/NL history too much for this, but maybe not. It'll suck for BC based Jays fans if they end up only going to Seattle every 2nd year.

I feel like Toronto might make more sense in a division with Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit. Baltimore is like 40 minutes from Philadelphia and seem like the logical team to join that group. Sure, you're splitting up them and Washington but nobody cares about that I'm sure haha.

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah any of Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia make more sense in the Boston, New York x 2 divison.

Toronto, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and what ever team doesn't make the other division makes more sense if it's based just on geography.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Yeah any of Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia make more sense in the Boston, New York x 2 divison.

Toronto, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and what ever team doesn't make the other division makes more sense if it's based just on geography.

I was just reviewing Manfred's comments and he did say that realignment would be tied to expansion, so you're probably looking at eight four-team divisions. In that case, it would be Mets, Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox almost for sure.

Also, if you're trying to gain appeal with some of the heavy hitters in a realignment scenario, more bus trips versus more border crossings would do it.

[flamingred89]

Yeah I recall when the last time there was chatter about division re-alignment that Toronto and Detroit would be in a division to rekindle the rivalry of the 80's. A northern division of Milwaukee, Minnesota, Detroit, Toronto, and if we're talking expansion, Montreal, would be pretty neat.

[flamingred89]

Skenes on the mound tonight. What a gauntlet of starting pitchers the Jays have faced the last couple of weeks.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by flamingred89

Skenes on the mound tonight. What a gauntlet of starting pitchers the Jays have faced the last couple of weeks.

Which they keep teeing off on for the most part.


Jays were a Berrios start away from a sweep in the last series.

[SuperMatt18]

Kershaw - 7-2, 3.01 ERA - 3 x Cy Young
Snell - 3 -1, 1.80 ERA - 2 X Cy Young
Glasnow - 1-1, 3.12 ERA - All Star
Assad
Horton - 7-3, 3.07 ERA
Boyd - 11-6, 2.46 ERA - All Star
DeGrom - 10-5, 2.76 ERA, 2 x Cy Young
Corbin - 6-9, 4.45 ERA, All Star
Eovaldi - 11-3, 1.76 ERA, All Star
Skenes - 7-9, 2.13 ERA, ROY, All Star

That is one of the crazier stretches I remember seeing for a team. 7 combined Cy Youngs, 8 separate All-Star Pitchers in a 10 game stretch.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I was just reviewing Manfred's comments and he did say that realignment would be tied to expansion, so you're probably looking at eight four-team divisions. In that case, it would be Mets, Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox almost for sure.

Also, if you're trying to gain appeal with some of the heavy hitters in a realignment scenario, more bus trips versus more border crossings would do it.

Interesting re:expansion. 8 divisions with 4 teams in each is an interesting idea. The NFL has that without splitting AFC/NFC via geography, but travel is less impactful when you play 1 game per week.

Maybe something like:

California: Padres/Dodgers/Angels/Giants
West: Mariners/Las Vegas As/Rockies/Diamondbacks
Texas Plus: Astros/Rangers/Cardinals/Royals
Chicagoland: Twins, Brewers, Cubs, White Sox
Big Money: NYY/Mets/Phillies/Bo Sox
NE: Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburg
SE: Marlins/Rays/Braves/Raleigh expansion
Atlantic: Nationals/Orioles/Nashville expansion/Reds

Edited to add: the scheduling would have to be different as well - maybe something like 14 games against the 3 in-division teams, 6 against 4 teams from a neighbouring division, amd 4 against all 24 other teams. Those could be alternate-year 4 game series to reduce travel.

Do a single playoff - top four division leaders get a bye, the other 4 play a wildcard round against the next 4 best teams that didn't win thwir division, then quarterfinals (replacing DS round), semis (replacing CS) and world series.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Kershaw - 7-2, 3.01 ERA - 3 x Cy Young
Snell - 3 -1, 1.80 ERA - 2 X Cy Young
Glasnow - 1-1, 3.12 ERA - All Star
Assad
Horton - 7-3, 3.07 ERA
Boyd - 11-6, 2.46 ERA - All Star
DeGrom - 10-5, 2.76 ERA, 2 x Cy Young
Corbin - 6-9, 4.45 ERA, All Star
Eovaldi - 11-3, 1.76 ERA, All Star
Skenes - 7-9, 2.13 ERA, ROY, All Star

That is one of the crazier stretches I remember seeing for a team. 7 combined Cy Youngs, 8 separate All-Star Pitchers in a 10 game stretch.

Damn. Laid out like that and it's just wild to see. And Cade Horton, with zero accolades, might have been the toughest of them all with that BS scoreless streak he had going.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Blue Jays announce Bieber will make his debut on Friday.

[puffnstuff]

Reminder that game starts at 440 Calgary time

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Interesting re:expansion. 8 divisions with 4 teams in each is an interesting idea. The NFL has that without splitting AFC/NFC via geography, but travel is less impactful when you play 1 game per week.

Maybe something like:

California: Padres/Dodgers/Angels/Giants
West: Mariners/Las Vegas As/Rockies/Diamondbacks
Texas Plus: Astros/Rangers/Cardinals/Royals
Chicagoland: Twins, Brewers, Cubs, White Sox
Big Money: NYY/Mets/Phillies/Bo Sox
NE: Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburg
SE: Marlins/Rays/Braves/Raleigh expansion
Atlantic: Nationals/Orioles/Nashville expansion/Reds

Edited to add: the scheduling would have to be different as well - maybe something like 14 games against the 3 in-division teams, 6 against 4 teams from a neighbouring division, amd 4 against all 24 other teams. Those could be alternate-year 4 game series to reduce travel.

Do a single playoff - top four division leaders get a bye, the other 4 play a wildcard round against the next 4 best teams that didn't win thwir division, then quarterfinals (replacing DS round), semis (replacing CS) and world series.

I like that format and maybe to simplify, you just go with four divisions of eight teams each -- two per league/conference. You win the division, you get a bye. You don't, you battle to get to the next round and face one of the division winners.

Also, the rumblings seem to be Nashville/Salt Lake City as the two expansion cities. It's too bad Montreal seems to be priced out.