The Blue Jays sit atop the AL East in the month of July for the first time since 2016 and therefore, I’d venture to guess, likely for just the second time since 1993. Yankees fans can cry and cry all they want about that not being reason to celebrate, not a single Jays fan could possibly care. Which is to say: things are pretty good with the Blue Jays right now! And this week we talked all about, starting with an extended vibe check, before moving on into all sorts of good stuff like Friday’s game being broadcast exclusively on (ugh) Apple TV+, the club’s recent roster churn, the Davis Schneider hype train, Vlad’s future legacy, and a whole lot more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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53:17
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53:17
The Drill Zone
This week Nick is mildly distracted by some drilling going on somewhere in his building—don't worry, it was very infrequent and barely noticeable when it did happen—as we rather coincidentally spend much of the episode talking about drilling of the baseball variety. As in: we discussed how Kevin Gausman pitched a gem to lead the Jays to a series win in Cleveland on Thursday, despite having intentionally put himself in trouble by throwing at Guardians star José Ramírez to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning with the Jays only just up 3-0 to send some kind of a message—and how the incident was talked about, too. PLUS: A vibe check, thoughts on the Robinson Piña trade, rating Jays relievers based on our current confidence levels, and a whole lot more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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54:00
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54:00
Erik's Swan Song
The Blue Jays have continued to roll over the last week, finally managing to reel in the New York Yankees a little bit, and have kept on doing so with contributions from unexpected places. And they’ve made it so they’ll need to keep on relying on those for a while yet, thanks to a number of transactions made in recent days, the most notable of which saw a pair of expected contributors—Bowden Francis and Erik Swanson— banished to the injured list and designated for assignment respectively.That the Jays decided Francis keeping his spot had become untenable was hardly a shocker, but the presumed end of the Swanson Era—after just 30 batters faced—was at the very least a mild one. And it gave us a chance to talk about all things bullpen construction, to relitigate the Teoscar Hernández trade, and to look into the future at how the staff as a whole will function with a bullpen in transition and a rotation desperate to get Max Scherzer back—and, eventually, Alek Manoah—and could still probably use reinforcements beyond them as well.Plus a whole lot more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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51:51
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51:51
Improving Internally
After what's seemed like years of waiting for their offence to arrive, over the last month the Blue Jays seem to have figured out how to hit and score runs. They're flying high, playing like one of the absolute best teams in baseball despite a rotation in shambles beyond the front three. This week we look at how internal improvements have powered their offensive outburst, and where improvements still need to be made in order to fix the pitching staff and weather the storms that surely lie ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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46:14
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46:14
Remembering Some Guys
It's been a good week for the Blue Jays, with some actually encouraging signs showing up in their offence. Addison Barger might be for real, Alan Roden and Davis Schneider are back after successful spells in Triple-A, but more important than that is the fact that lately we've been seeing the best of guys like Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk, and George Springer—some of the very guys the team had futilely pinned their hopes for "internal improvement" on over the last two or three years.Plus, we look at some of the club's recent roster shuffling and injury woes, check in on the state of the rotation, the bullpen, and some prospects, and take a look through the Athletic's recent Blue Jays All-Quarter-Century Team. Blue Jays All-Quarter Century Team: Toronto’s best since 2000 - Mitch Bannon - https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6381601/2025/05/27/blue-jays-all-quarter-century-team/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andrew Stoeten (The Batflip, formerly the Athletic, National Post, Blue Jays Nation, Drunk Jays Fans) and Nick Ashbourne (Sportsnet and Yahoo Sports) team up every Tuesday to discuss all things Toronto Blue Jays! stoeten.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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