Finally, a Sweep
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What are Ben's takeaways from the Blue Jays' recent sweep?
Hey everyone, and welcome to At The Letters for Friday, June 19th, 2026. Ben Nicholson-Smith here with you. Just me today on this episode produced by Christian Ryan. Arden is by now, we think, in Chicago preparing for another day game in another city. Blue Jays obviously played in Boston. Then that leads to travel, rapid turnaround. So Arden is fully in transit. Look for him on the broadcast tomorrow. And for now, it's just me. But I actually think there's a fair amount to get to. So I did want to sit down, just rattle off a few thoughts here, including on the sweep of the Red Sox. That is massive for this team. Just a little big picture thought on how the Blue Jays might approach some trades when it comes to this summer.
How significant is the trade deadline for the Blue Jays?
I'm not going to go in there and try to speculate on names. Too early for that. But just... A big picture thought on where they might stand and how they might approach things. A little follow-up on the rule change that we talked about earlier in the week. And a couple more thoughts, rapid fire, before I step aside here. So with that, let's start with the sweep.
What are the implications of the Blue Jays' playoff position?
I mean, this is massive. This is a sweep of a division rival. The first sweep that the Blue Jays have had since the opening series of the season. Like, it's been a while since they just rattled off some wins and... and swept an opponent. So this is a big deal. They are now 37-38 as we record this. chance to get to 500 if they just win a series against the Cubs not an easy thing to do necessarily but certainly within their grasp they win a series they're at 500 coming home for an extended homestand so this is once again getting to a getting to a good point we saw before when they got to 500 in Baltimore then struggled after that so there's still work to do of course but as we discuss this right now in playoff position a game below 500 is
They're in this thing. The playoff odds are again above 50%, 53.4%. So they're in a solid spot. And we all know it could be better with better performances. It could be better if they had had better health. We can go down the list, but they're still in a solid spot here. And with that, there were a lot of positives from that series against the Red Sox. So I want to touch on some of those and touch on what we learned, what we saw on the positive front, get to at least one negative from that series, and also touch on a couple, I would say, questions that are raised, that have been raised since we spoke a few days ago here on At The Letter. So to start with some of the positives.
What positives emerged from the Blue Jays' series against the Red Sox?
Davis Schneider, power, outburst. I mean, this is the right-handed bench bat that the Blue Jays have needed. It was not a good start to the season for Davis Schneider. Goes down to the minors, basically walks nonstop at AAA, comes back up, and he's swinging it, like really making good contact. making contact in close games at Fenway where he seems to love to hit. So that's a big deal. They have so many left-handed hitting outfielders. Having a right-handed hitter who can get to some power, that's a big deal. And we saw the lineup for the Blue Jays in games against left-handed starting pitchers like a Peyton Tolley. It's a pretty good-looking lineup when you have David Schneider rolling and Miles Straw playing a really good center field in there as that righty-hitting center fielder.
So that is a positive. Then, speaking of power, you get to George Springer. Career home run number 300. And just more signs that maybe this is turning around for him. Starting to look a little more comfortable. Stealing some bases, hitting some homers. These are the things that we saw George Springer do last year. And if he can build on that, that is a big deal for this offense. Again, on the power front, Vlad Jr., home run, took him a while to get to that fourth home run, still hasn't hit one at home. And I think everyone who's following this team probably has more questions and needs to see more from Vlad Guerrero Jr., but look. it starts with one swing. It starts, uh, you know, with, with a couple, couple big, uh, big moments like that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are Ben's takeaways from the Blue Jays' recent sweep?
0:06–0:56
2
How significant is the trade deadline for the Blue Jays?
0:56–1:14
3
What are the implications of the Blue Jays' playoff position?
1:14–2:54
4
What positives emerged from the Blue Jays' series against the Red Sox?
2:54–4:56
5
How did the bullpen perform during the Red Sox series?
4:56–6:03
6
What are the potential trade strategies for the Blue Jays?
6:03–9:05
7
What rule changes are being discussed in Major League Baseball?
9:05–11:41
8
What should we expect from the Blue Jays in their upcoming series against the Cubs?
11:41–28:31