Down But Not Out
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What challenges did the Blue Jays face on their recent road trip?
It's at The Letters for Monday, August 10th, 2026. Arden Zwelling here. Our producer this week is Show Ali. Follow him on Twitter at SNSAli. Listen to him on Jay's Talk on the weekends with Jesse Rubinoff or Nick Ashbourne, Caitlin McGrath, a... rotating cast of characters taking your calls and chatting Jays on the weekends. Just me this week, no Ben. I am fresh from the airport, having returned from what was a grueling Blue Jays road trip. Not only grueling because there wasn't an off day in there, and it was three cities, Houston, Chicago, and and Philadelphia, but also grueling because there were four extra inning games in there, four in the last five, plus a rain delay with a taxed bullpen and Treya Savage being lost to injuries, so down one in the rotation and multiple position players playing through the
nagging ailments and it was like 35 degrees plus uh in philly throughout the weekend uh and it's like just classic dog days of summer and everyone's emotionally drained from the trade deadline I could go on. This is a tired team like this is a weary team. They have been through the ringer. So all things considered, like coming out of the road trip four and three, that's really good. and it could have been a lot better. You get walked off two outs, two strikes by the Cubs, and Alex Bregman, or not walked off, but obviously he tied the game in the ninth, and then they ultimately got walked off in extras. But yeah, you got Alex Bregman at Wrigley, and then you get walked off by the Phillies in extras in the final game of the trip after showing just a ton of spirit and compete and battle there.
Just to come back in that game. Day game after a night game. End of a long road trip. It was the middle of the day and super hot. George Springer out of the lineup. Brett Bateman heading leadoff against a lefty of all things. Like, just a... an illustration, I guess, of just how dire things have gotten. You got Laz Estrada throwing on a third straight day and clearly running on fumes. Whenever you see someone missing up that often, especially a guy like him who has had his moments and typically is able to locate down, that's an indication that he's just not finishing his pitches because he's been overworked. And everyone in the Blue Jays' bullpen has been overworked right now. I mean, I was kind of wondering, like, if this game gets extended, and, I mean, Louis Varland was certainly not available on Sunday.
He'd thrown three of four and threw 32 pitches on Saturday. Matt Waldron would have been a third day in a row if they'd gone to him. Converted starter, could he have done it? Maybe. Those are your two... final options. I don't know what the option would have been beyond that if you could not have gone to Varland and Waldron. So basically at the end of that game John Schneider was choosing from a selection of unideal options. I'd expect that here on Monday we're going to get some kind of a move in the bullpen, if not two, because the Blue Jays just need some fresh arms in here. Honestly, this has been a grueling stretch. So two ways to look at that, right? Missed opportunity in losing a winnable game at Wrigley and losing a winnable game on Sunday.
Like this very easily could have been a five-game winning streak that the Blue Jays lost. But you can also look at it that despite all the circumstances, the Blue Jays showed a lot of battle and the Blue Jays showed a lot of fight and a lot of compete. And that's what you want to see. I mean, this team, to be honest with you, would have every reason to compete. mail it in is uh is strong but to just go through the motions the rest of the way you got like five percent playoff odds at this point you just sold at the deadline you're missing um some very key pieces it would have it would have been pretty easy for this team to just sort of coast and uh roll downhill towards the end of the season, but they're not.
They still believe they're in it, and they're still fighting every day to win, and they're still battling with some really tough pitching staffs, some really good pitchers that you're seeing from Philly.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What challenges did the Blue Jays face on their recent road trip?
0:06–12:47
2
How did Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s injury and performance affect the Jays this season?
12:47–23:40
3
What did we learn from José Soriano’s debut and early adjustments?
23:40–36:06
4
Why is JoJo Parker’s promotion to High‑A significant for the organization?
36:06–50:53
5
How are the Blue Jays managing pitcher workloads and injuries (Trey Savage, Spencer Arrighetti, Jimmy Garcia)?
50:53–58:47
6
What are the key takeaways from the recent performances of Nathan Lucas and Andrés Jiménez?
58:47–1:04:57
7
What should fans expect from the upcoming Red Sox and Yankees series?
1:04:57–1:12:09
8
How does the host wrap up the episode and preview future topics?
1:12:09–1:16:45