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Blair & Barker

April MLB Reflections with Jeff Passan

30 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are the Blue Jays' recent performance highlights?

15.961 - 21.589 Jeff Blair

Man, oh, man. You know what I could use right now, Barker? A coffee. Oh, could I use a coffee? Jeez, man, I tell you.

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22.67 - 31.383 Kevin Barker

You know? I mean, seriously. You want some money to speed this thing up or what? Jeff, give him something.

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31.403 - 46.165 Jeff Blair

Give him some money. Welcome to Blair and Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving credit to over 4 million Canadians and County. Yeah, it snuck up on us today a little bit. There was much mirth and merriment in here. I don't know what that means, but a lot of talking.

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Chapter 2: How has the Blue Jays' bullpen improved recently?

46.586 - 55.877 Jeff Blair

Well, I was a little upset because the guys before us, Mike, Mike food, of course. So it was one of the candidates for the Leafs GM's job. I was counting on some tickets. I wasn't even, I didn't really want it. Sweet.

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55.997 - 73.017 Kevin Barker

That is you. That is you that you were thinking that selfishly that you just wanted to get some free tickets. Even if you don't like the sport, I go see the Blackhawks and the Jets. No, you would. It's the visiting team. You wanted to go see, right? There's a couple of teams.

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73.977 - 75.98 Kevin Barker

How are the Avalanche doing? I don't know.

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Chapter 3: What adjustments has Kazuma Okamoto made this season?

76.961 - 92.141 Jeff Blair

I heard they were good. Montreal is winning their series. That's awesome. Yeah, that's the team that I kind of. Oh, cool. Actually, I really shouldn't say. You know what? Because I live in Hamilton, I'd really like to see the Sabres do well.

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92.441 - 92.642 Kevin Barker

Yeah.

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92.882 - 112.926 Jeff Blair

I'd really like to see the Sabres do well because I have a couple of friends who are long-suffering Sabres season ticket holders. Yeah. Yeah, it's like Bill's fans. But I mean guys who have gone to Sabres games for years and years and years and years and years. So I wouldn't mind seeing the Sabres games. But I really don't know.

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Chapter 4: What is Jeff Passan's analysis of the Red Sox's start to the season?

112.966 - 117.271 Jeff Blair

Once the Jetties are out, I just kind of lose my rooting interest. The Blackhawks are out, I lose my rooting interest.

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117.311 - 124.6 Kevin Barker

Yeah. Well, that's a good time to be a sports fan anyway. Yeah. Lots of balls going on. Yeah. Jays are getting better.

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125.04 - 125.781 Jeff Blair

Jays are getting better.

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125.801 - 126.222 Kevin Barker

There it is.

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127.263 - 133.883 Jeff Blair

Mm-hmm. Touch and go there for a while. Colts haven't had a quarterback get injured. I think my Broncos are going to be pretty good.

134.304 - 135.306 Kevin Barker

Yeah, better than the Chiefs.

Chapter 5: How are the Reds performing on the road this season?

135.727 - 159.499 Jeff Blair

Hey, why don't we talk some baseball? That is what they bring us on for. Is it? It's what they bring us on for. We're going to be joined by Jeff Passan later on in the hour. Passan did his April breakdown, Major League Baseball. There's a lot to break down, essentially. We've talked. It's been a funky first month. Let's just put it that way. There's been some weird stuff going on.

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159.519 - 170.573 Jeff Blair

So, Passon will join us to talk about that. Anthony Recker, who is a Twins and MLB network analyst, will be along. We'll take a look at the Twins. The Jays open a series tonight against the Twins.

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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the ABS system on MLB games?

170.593 - 198.208 Jeff Blair

740 is the first pitch tonight, I believe. Yep. from Target Field as my twins take on my Jays. It'll be split. Split cheering interest there. And Joe Siddle will join us from the Paris of the Midwest, as they call Minneapolis. Siddle will be along. At 3.30. The Jays, two games under .500 after their 8-1 win over the Boston Red Sox yesterday.

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199.25 - 213.508 Jeff Blair

We had a lot of good things to talk about in Blue Jays talk. A lot of optimistic calls. Got a call from Clifton in Etobicoke, which automatically makes our day. Absolutely. But we talked about this a lot. That win yesterday, six different players with RBIs.

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Chapter 7: What challenges are teams facing in the current MLB season?

214.63 - 235.297 Jeff Blair

Ernie Clement, it's a home run. Okamoto gets a bases-loaded single. That's only the fourth hit the Jays have had this year with the bases loaded. Brandon Valenzuela had himself a game. Good game behind the plate as well. And Eric Lauer turns it over to the bullpen. Good enough. And the bullpen came in. Kevin, in the last 20 games, the Jays bullpen.

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235.998 - 258.701 Jeff Blair

And this is a shout-out to the Jays media relations staff for providing the stat. Over the last 20 games, the Jays bullpen. First in the Yale in ERA whip, opponent's average, FIP KO rate, average exit VLO, hard hit rate, chase rate, and WIK. I just made that up. You did. I made that up.

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Chapter 8: What does the playoff picture look like in the American League?

258.721 - 260.624 Kevin Barker

Half of those, I have no idea what you're talking about.

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260.644 - 261.045 Jeff Blair

They're good.

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261.065 - 262.286 Kevin Barker

It sounds like they've been good.

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262.306 - 263.628 Jeff Blair

I made the last one up.

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263.648 - 281.523 Kevin Barker

There's no such thing. Yeah. I mean, they have been. You know, it's almost like when you do have your ninth inning guy, it kind of, sort of, everybody else falls into place. I think that's kind of what, you know, it's been... Sort of, I think, building up to John trying to figure out however to fix Jeff if you can't fix him. You give him a little bit of a break.

281.684 - 299.518 Kevin Barker

You sort of pitch him whenever you want to pitch him in some lesser roles. Kind of makes it a little bit better for the team. You know, the Louis Varlin being four for four and save opportunities has been big for the team. Still no barrel, by the way. Yeah, I mean, he's been really good to change us off the charts. You know, it's setting up the elevated fastball.

299.538 - 314.213 Kevin Barker

The knuckle curve's always been there. So, yeah, I mean, if you got him, throw him. It's that kind of thing. But I'm with you. The bullpen looks, I think, the way it's supposed to be looking. If you can just get some guys after the two guys at the top of the rotation that kind of fill in the blanks. You know, Trey...

314.193 - 337.045 Kevin Barker

looked like he would sort of add to the mix and be one of the guys now that can kind of eliminate one arm so John could use that arm the next day in the same three-game span against the same team to give that same part of the lineup a different look. So kind of everything's adding up the way it should be adding up for them to go on a 7-3 run in the last 10 games.

337.75 - 360.779 Jeff Blair

Yeah, and their record is 14-16, which, surprise, surprise, is exactly what their record was last year now. The schedule, I would suggest, was probably a little more favorable this year, although I'd be lying if I said I went back and looked at the first 30 games of last year because I got here late. But... The record, nonetheless, is the same. Interesting.

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