Rob Long

And of course, you know, obviously the Blue Jays are kind of in a spot right now where they just have, you know, not scored enough runs to the point where either they're in a game and it's close, but they're losing.

So they kind of want to keep going.

keep that deficit where they is so they need to turn to some of these guys or they have a really small lead so they need to turn to these guys and you know use use their high leverage arms over and over and over again so you know i i think if you're able to get that kind of consistency once the rotation is is a little bit more stable you know i i and give some of these guys a little bit more of a breather will obviously will obviously be massive for them i think um

Obviously, the bullpen has been, I think, stable since they moved Hoffman from the full-time closer's role.

And Louis Varland has, of course, been so fantastic and been a major part of what they've kind of done since then.

But I think that for them to kind of

still be navigating it a little bit you know you see obviously varland come in um in in the eighth yesterday and then come back out for the ninth and you know i think kind of in that situation it's maybe one where you'd like to go with once you're once your offense kind of adds on those extra runs in the ninth and maybe it's one where you know do you need to give those extra three outs to varland or kind of did he get you out of that big spot there in the eighth you know i think that's kind of the balance that they're going to have to work going forward but you know for for the time being you know just kind of where they are in the standings and

how they've performed offensively so far it's kind of one of those things where you kind of got to use them while you've got them and then kind of figure out the rest of it later and you know for for these guys sakes hopefully they're able to you know stay healthy and and be able to kind of maintain the level of stuff that they show them this year you know I think it's been it's been really incredible to watch Mason Fluharty over the past year kind of emerge into this number one lefty type um you know obviously it's been such such a treat watching Tyler Rogers and

Just kind of the way that he pitches and kind of everything that he brings to the mound.

And then Braden Fisher just being able to continue what he did last year, even maybe without the strikeout stuff kind of as high as it was in 2025.

It's been really great to kind of watch those four, Flewharty, Rodgers, Fisher and Varland, become these reliable lockdown relievers while Jeff Hoffman obviously kind of figures out whatever's kind of going on with him so far.

Yeah, it's funny, you know, a couple of years ago, if you had told us that they would have had all these power hitting lefties, we would have been like, where did they come from?

But yeah, no, Sean Key's really, really great story.

I think last year, of course, you know, he sets the Vancouver Canadiens single season home run record.

And, you know, you kind of look under the hood a little bit and it seemed like the breakout was brewing, you know, obviously a tough hitting environment there in Vancouver.

So for him to

you know kind of get get the bump to new hampshire where obviously they have the short porch there helps helps a little bit but i think just kind of watching him um be a little bit more aggressive at the plate this year has been really really cool and you know the the power numbers have have have been really great so seeing him kind of getting the the bump to triple a there will be interesting to see how he's able to kind of continue those contact contact improvements and kind of all the exit velo stuff that he's shown this year i think um for him being you know this this corner guy it's it's

Obviously, there's not a ton of room in those specific spots with the Blue Jays, but I don't think you can complain about a guy who's been hitting as many homers as he has this year.

I think it was nine in April and then a couple in May, and he's already hit three here in June.

So, well-deserved promotion, and I think he'll be a good fit in Buffalo and a good