Flight Deck

It was another series win that left a sour aftertaste.  As they did with Seattle, the Blue Jays took the first two games against a weak opponent and then came up short with a chance to pull off a sweep.  In the post-Reds series episode of BJN Radio, we gave praise to Hyun Hin Ryu for another good start, questioned whether it was right for Charlie Montoyo to not give Alek Manoah the ninth inning, a...

The Blue Jays have finally won their first series of the month of May! Despite taking two of three from the scuffling Seattle Mariners, this series felt a little limp because the bats went completely silent on Wednesday when the Blue Jays had a chance to sweep.  We talked about the good stuff from the Seattle series, such as Yusei Kikuchi clowning his old team and Jose Berrios weaving through seve...

As you'd expect, facing the Rays at The Trop wasn't the remedy that the Blue Jays needed.  Toronto dropped two of three in Tampa as the bats yet again remained completely silent. They've now dropped four series in a row since the end of April and have an 18-17 record on the season. We recapped the series against Tampa and talked about George Springer bashing into the outfield ball, Matt Chapman's...

Take me back to April! May has been awful!!! After not dropping a single series in April, the Blue Jays have now dropped back-to-back-to-back series in May, as they were swept in a little two-game set in New York.  In this episode of BJN Radio, we talked about the Bad Times In The Bronx, including Yimi Garcia inexplicably getting tossed after plunking Josh Donaldson in the first game, Jordan Roman...

It's been one month and the Blue Jays own a 17-13 record. Though that seems a little limp because of how they've been playing lately, when you consider the strength of schedule they've had, it's a pretty solid start.  In this episode of BJN Radio, we did three up, three down for the first month of play. Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah have both been aces thus far, the bullpen has helped the team ste...

For the first time all season, the Blue Jays have lost a series.    The Yankees rolled into town on a nine-game heater and proved, well, why they're on a nine-game heater. New York took the first two games of the series with ridiculously effective pitching and some clutch hitting and then the Blue Jays edged out a win in the finale to save themselves from the sweep. Me and BK talked about why the...

That was certainly a much better April than the one we saw last year. The Blue Jays are 15-8 after their first month (though it was an abbreviated one) and they've managed to have all of this success despite some key injuries and the bats not being at their best.  We took a look at the series win over the Houston Astros and talked about George Springer dominating his former team, Kevin Gausman's c...

The Blue Jays just continue to win games! They won the first game of the series thanks to a Bo Bichette grand slam, an epic comeback highlighted by a George Springer Dinger highlighted the second game, and then, after getting spanked in the third game, Alek Manoah came out and tossed seven scoreless en route to a 1-0 victory.  The bats might not be rolling just yet but the pitching certainly is! W...

Another series, another win for the Blue Jays.  To be honest, it really felt like this was a win-one-and-get-out operation, but the Blue Jays rolled into Houston and took two of three from the Astros, an impressive result given the difficulties they've had facing this team in the past.  We recapped all of the good and bad stuff from the series in Houston and then looked ahead to the four-gamer bac...

It's a shame this episode didn't come one day earlier.  The Blue Jays rolled into Boston this week and took two of three from the Red Sox, a big win considering this was a team that Toronto struggled with last season.  Things started off poorly as an error from Bo Bichette late in the first game ultimately helped the Red Sox win a game in which Toronto's bats were completely limp. In the second ga...

It's been a bit of a strange ride early on, but the Blue Jays are in sole possession of first place in the American League East after 10 games. Can't complain about that! We talked about the good stuff from the Oakland series, such as Zack Collins coming out of nowhere with a hot streak and Alek Manoah putting together another great start, and also the bad stuff, like Hyun Jin Ryu getting clobbere...

It's only April but that felt like September.   The Blue Jays and Yankees both took two games in an intense, back-and-forth series in The Bronx.  With Tyler away on vacation, I was joined by Paul Berthelot to talk about all of the good and bad from the Yankees series. We talked about Vladdy's three-homer game, George Springer shutting up the boos, and Alek Manoah's ace start, along with the strugg...

Blue Jays baseball returned to Toronto with a bang. In their first normal Home Opener in three years, the Blue Jays put on an insane show, coming back from 7-0 down to pull off a 10-8 win. They picked up another win on Saturday and then appeared they were on their way to a sweep before the pitching imploded for 11 unanswered runs. We talked about the wild ride that was Opening Weekend, the comebac...

Opening Day is tomorrow!!! We kicked off this 2022 season preview episode by talking about all of the scuttlebutt surrounding the Blue Jays as spring training comes to an end and the team travels north, such as Nate Pearson dealing with mono, Greg Bird leaving his minor-league deal to return to the Yankees, and Jose Ramirez signing an extension to stick around in Cleveland.  After that, we went di...

We're just over a week away from Opening Day and spring training is starting to really feel like a slog.  The thing with the Blue Jays this year is that there aren't really all that many interesting roster battles, as the majority of the team's roster has already been sorted out and the only things to pay attention to are what relievers are going to travel north with the team come April.  Regardle...

This has certainly been a fun few days! Though it took a little while, the flurry of transactions following the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has finally arrived. The Blue Jays rounded out their starting rotation on Saturday, signing Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal. Then, on Wednesday, they made a big splash by trading for three-time Gold Glover winner Matt Chapman. So, all told, Robbie R...

Baseball! It's back! The last time we recorded, it was all doom and gloom about how this stalemate between Major League Baseball and the Players' Association was going to drag on and on and on for months and the thought of a full 2022 season seemed hopeless. Well, here we are now. A new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been reached and we're going to have a normal, 162-game season.  We went thr...

Baseball, it's designed to break your heart! Just like watching a late-game blown lead, the negotiation sessions between Major League Baseball and the Players' Association broke our hearts, as there was momentum towards a deal until there wasn't.  Rob Manfred announced that Opening Day on March 31 has been canceled along with the first week of the 2022 MLB season. It shouldn't really come as much...

We're getting closer and closer to the start of Spring Training and there's still no Collective Bargaining Agreement.    Fortunately, there's been some positive news lately that MLB and the Players' Association are slowly inching towards maybe possibly agreeing on something.    BK and I talked in this lockout edition of BJN Radio about what's happening in the negotiations and what changes we can r...

We're stuck in the dog days of winter without any good news. Major League Baseball and the Players' Association haven't met since the lockout started at the beginning of December and it doesn't appear as though they have any plans to do so in the coming days. The Blue Jays have told their players not to rush to make accommodation plans for spring training in Florida, so it's safe to assume there w...

Major League Baseball and the Players' Association are still nowhere near a Collective Bargaining Agreement so there isn't much to for us talk about.  We took a look back at some points of interest from the month of December, which, most notably, boiled down to a discussion about Pete Walker potentially leaving Toronto for a managerial gig with the New York Mets. We also looked at some free agent...

That was a fun off-season while it lasted! Now we get to stare into the void for the next few weeks (or months) as the owners and players slowly figure out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. In this episode of Blue Jays Nation Radio, we talked about Steven Matz, Robbie Ray, and Marcus Semien signing elsewhere and who the Blue Jays might bring in to replace them. Ray has already been swapped ou...

José Berríos is going to be a Blue Jay for a long time. Word came out on Tuesday that the right-hander had inked a seven-year contract extension with the Blue Jays worth $131 million. It's the biggest contract for a pitcher in Blue Jays history and is the second-largest contract ever handed out by the club, behind only George Springer's deal from last winter.  We had an emergency podcast to discus...

This is the most important off-season for the Blue Jays in a long time. The team enjoyed a breakout 91-win season in 2021, but it wasn't enough to get them into the playoffs. Two key members of the team, Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien, are free agents and the Blue Jays will need to either bring them back or replace them.  On this episode of BJN Radio, me and BK took a look at this winter's free-agen...

It's finally off-season time! Unfortunately, since the Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire in December, this is more than likely going to be a looooooooong winter without any major transactions until later on. We talked about the CBA negotiations, what both sides are looking for, who's more likely to cave, and what it could mean for the Blue Jays. We also talked about Alex Anthopolous...