Blue Jays Vibe Check
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What is the current state of the Blue Jays after their series win?
Hey everyone, and welcome to At The Letters for Friday, July 3rd, 2026. Ben Nicholson-Smith here with you with a special guest, Sam McKee of Real Kipper and born of Leafs Talk of the Toronto West End. Sam, thank you so much for making the time. How's it going?
great man uh i'm it's a real honor when i got the text from you i you know i get asked to go on a lot of different things and i cross the country doing stuff in calgary and vancouver and all the different stations we have but i will say there's nothing that gave me excitement by getting the text from ben nicholson smith to come on my favorite jays podcast so i'm thrilled i'm really happy to be here
That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm really happy to have you here.
How significant is Bo Bichette's return to the team?
Our listeners will remember, first of all, that Sam has been on as a guest at least once, maybe more. Just always just a great conversation to talk baseball with you. And our longtime listeners will remember that Sam McKee once produced At The Letter. So if anyone knows me and Arden and the conversations that happen on this podcast, it's you, Sam.
Yeah, and I was a butcher. I was an absolute butcher producer. Like, I remember I was so bad at it. It's amazing that anyone let me do anything for the first three to four years of my Sportsnet career. But, like, I would leave audio bits, like, in the wrong spot. And I just, like, was... I was a butcher producer and it's amazing that you're still going after what I did to the show at the start, but we all did it together. It's crazy. I mean, how long ago was that? 12 years, 11 years, 10 years. How long has this pause been going? It's, it's, it's hard to believe how fast time goes.
It's absolutely nuts.
What challenges are the Blue Jays facing this season?
Yeah, that was 2015. So 11 years ago, just like totally different Jays team. As you said, like, you know, myself and Arden too. I know Arden obviously not on this episode, but he'll be back soon. But I know Arden would say the same that from... our standpoint as well just like the information or the delivery or you know the depth of understanding of certain things has definitely stepped forward in the last 11 years as you would hope so um you know we were all just kind of learning at that point and uh learning on the fly and having some fun with it of course and um now here we are talking about a jay's team that man um we got a lot to get into here on this um on this episode um so i'm going to throw a bunch of questions at you
If you have any questions, throw them my way. Should also say this episode is produced by Christian Chiniti. So thank you to Christian for making this sound good and helping it reach our listeners, which, as Sam can attest, is no easy job. So thanks to Christian for that. So let's zoom out a little bit and let's start big picture on this team, because going back to last year, what a season, just the best season of our adult lifetime. Sam, obviously incredible to to observe that and watch that and cover that for fans. Absolutely incredible experience. So, so cool. And then, you know, halfway through this season, we're talking about a team that's 41 and 46.
How has the team's performance changed since last year?
So like, where are you at just big picture on this team?
So you broke the news to me just now of what the record is because I don't look at the standings because it depresses me too much. I just kind of turn on the TV and be like, oh, let's watch the Jays and try not to think about what the record is at. But yeah, last year, it was one of the most incredible, you know, I mean, from, I guess, July on, I think of the season from the Canada Day last year all the way up until November 1st at 1155 when things went a little bit sour. Yeah. was one of the most incredible runs for a fan, for the city, for the media, for everybody in terms of just covering a team and watching a team and being a fan of a team. Like, I can't picture something being more fun than that was.
Like, 2015 was great, but they didn't get as far, right? Like, they fell short against the Royals. We all know how that went. And this one just felt a little bit different against the Dodgers, all that stuff.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current state of the Blue Jays after their series win?
0:06–0:50
2
How significant is Bo Bichette's return to the team?
0:50–1:46
3
What challenges are the Blue Jays facing this season?
1:46–3:20
4
How has the team's performance changed since last year?
3:20–4:42
5
What factors are impacting Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s performance?
4:42–7:10
6
What are the implications of the trade deadline for the Blue Jays?
7:10–8:18
7
How are fans reacting to the team's struggles this season?
8:18–11:23
8
What predictions can be made for the rest of the season?
11:23–56:13