Blue Jays Talk
JTP: Jays Drop Yankees' Series, Prepping for the Red Sox & Misiorowski Mastery
15 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What happened in the recent Yankees series against the Jays?
Whole heck of a lot going on in sports this weekend. If you are a baseball team that is trying to find their gear and get it going, this was kind of your last gasp of no eyes on you. There was the World Cup and the World Cup in town. There were the NBA finals. There were. The Stanley Cup finals, there was a couple of bangers in the UFC, although some obvious weirdness around that whole thing.
A lot going on in the sports world. So if you drop two of three to a team that you consider your rival, that doesn't seem to consider you quite the same just yet, maybe that went under the radar a little bit for the Everyone other than the 120,000 plus who were at those games. The Blue Jays won't feel any kind of relief that it was all lies elsewhere in the sports world.
But now is kind of the time. You kind of have to stick around the playoff picture and survive through all these injuries and things like that. And then it's all eyes on you now in the city. Obviously, the World Cup is still going on. There are a couple more games here and things like that. Canada, obviously, still involved.
Chapter 2: How did Kevin Gausman's performance impact the Jays' outlook?
But... No more hockey, no more basketball. All eyes on the Blue Jays from here. So they drop two or three against the Yankees, and they enter this week with an off day today, and then tomorrow begins 16 games in 16 days, starting with a series in Boston, and where, by the way, the Tartan Army had some real fun this weekend. These Scottish fans who are in... that area right now for the World Cup.
But the Jays dropped two or three. They are four games under 500 now. They are 10 back of the Yankees who move into first place. They're a game and a half back of the wild card. To the extent that stuff matters to you on June 15th, probably the most important thing is that the Jays are still proximal to a playoff spot. But that series could have gone much differently.
They lost 3-1 on Saturday despite being tied heading into the ninth. They lost 8-3 on Sunday despite being tied heading into the later innings there. They won Friday. That was a fun one. But two winnable games Saturday, Sunday that they didn't come up with. A couple more injuries to add to the ledger. A couple more returns to add to the ledger potentially this week. And one small note.
Chapter 3: What are the latest updates on player injuries for the Jays?
on the other sports before we dive into the baseball as the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup and proof that the khakis can get it done. That is a front office full of people that I was blogging with 12 years ago on the hockey side. So congratulations to them. And yes, the khakis can get it done. Jays did not get it done. They dropped two of three.
Let's talk to Shai Davidi, MLB insider at Sportsnet about it. Shai, good morning. How are we doing? All right, Blake. How are you? I'm pretty good. Is that an old school Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hat?
No, that is a Avenue Road Ducks hat. Ah, very good. Even better. That's it. That's it. I just rep my son's teams now.
Chapter 4: How is Shane Bieber's return being handled by the Jays?
Hey, that's a good way to do it. If you're going to buy any kind of hat, wear any kind of hat, that's the way to do it. We can't all be Jamie Campbell where every team across Canada sends you their gear, right? Shy, tough weekend for the Jays to drop those two. Saw Louis Varland and Braden Fisher both get touched up in the later innings there.
is there anything like what's kind of front of mind for you as the Jays let to get away there? Obviously the bullpen had blips, but they could have been ahead in both of those games pretty safely as well.
Yeah. So a few recurring things, right? One of them is hitting with runners and scoring position. It was one for 10 on Saturday, two for nine on Sunday. And, you know, just as a point, John Schneider has made great, dozens of times this year feels like. If you're not going to get a bunch of hits with runners in scoring position, then you've got to hit some home runs and do some damage.
And the Blue Jays got a solo shot yesterday from Davis Schneider, but the slug, especially the slug with runners in scoring position, continues to be hit and miss for them. So I think that's one of them. And the other is just the heavy workload on the bullpen. And Mason Fluharty's number one in appearances in the majors, number Tied for second is Braden Fisher.
In the group that follows them are Louis Varlin and Tyler Rogers.
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Chapter 5: What is the current state of the Red Sox ahead of their series with the Jays?
And then just beyond them is Jeff Hoffman. They have like five of the top 22 relievers in appearances in the majors. given that workload, you're going to realistically expect that there's going to be some blips here and there. So Louis Varlin gets touched up in the ninth on Saturday. It's, it's Fisher who gives up the winning home run to Ben Rice on Sunday.
And both those games, as you mentioned, you know, the, and with the runners amount of runners they have in scoring position, they had, you know, they very easily could have had a sweep, maybe even a comfortable sweep with just a couple extra hits there. And, And, you know, a lot of more 50-50 games that slip through their fingers.
Yeah, it's a tough one. And obviously the hitting with runners in scoring position, big picture. We expect every team that's not the Milwaukee Brewers to kind of just hit the, hey, you're a 250 hitting team with a 400 slug. That's how you'll be with runners in scoring position. You'll be roughly the same. The Milwaukee Brewers is their own magical clutch thing for like five years in a row.
But everyone else, you should be what you are. But the Blue Jays are... 30th now in weighted runs created plus with runners in scoring position.
Chapter 6: What insights did Jake Mintz provide about the College World Series?
They're last by far when we kind of take everything together. They're last in OBP. They're second last in slug like you outlined there. And I think you could answer this in either direction, but I'm curious is your answer. So there is a situation in Saturday's game where there are runners on first and second with nobody out, and the Blue Jays have Ernie Clement try to bunt the runners over.
Now, I can see the case where... hey, we're not doing a good job getting the big hit. We got to play for one run here because that might be all we get, and we trust our bullpen. I might also see the case where, what are you doing giving away outs when you've needed three chances to bring a runner in from second?
What did you think of the call to have Ernie Clement bunt in that situation on Saturday?
Yeah, and I think you can look at it from two ways too with Cruz, Fernando Cruz, the Yankees reliever at the time being really erratic and having walked two guys to open the inning and just like, why are you helping him in that spot? But on the flip side, I think you can look at it and say, well, What if he gets a chase swing and there's a double play there?
Why are you not trying to do something that makes it easier for the guys behind you? And again, I think things have been so hard for the Blue Jays with runners in scoring positions. So it's let's move the runners over, give Brendan Valenzuela a chance to put the ball in the air. On the flip side, it's Ernie Clement who's been one of your more consistent hitters.
he sometimes does chase and is that a factor in in john schneider's thinking there so i think
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Chapter 7: What are the highlights of the NL Cy Young race discussed in the episode?
that it wasn't what i think what you really need to watch for is like when our when teams are doing something that's really out of character for them and i think based on what we've seen over the last two years this isn't that wasn't wholly out of character the blue jays are playing for one they need one in that spot and that's what they're trying to do uh it ended up yeah they got the worst of all worlds in that
Ernie Clement ends up popping up the bunt. They both give away an out and don't advance the runners. And then they don't end up scoring. But that one opportunity became a bit of a lightning rod, understandably so. But to me, the bigger issue were all the opportunities earlier in the game that that becomes so important. Like at a certain point, you have to just get that hit.
And whether it's the eighth or the fourth or the whatever, It can't just be one moment that decides things. And so I think the debate there is really interesting in a number of different ways. But I think it's also reflective of how the Blue Jays are functioning as an office right now, where they're just trying to find ways to make things as easy as possible because scoring has been so hard.
to that same kind of thinking and how does your lack of offense, your lack of execution playing these tight games, how does that change what you're doing tactically? There was another moment on Sunday that could be nitpicked. And again, it's resolved if the Blue Jays do a better job hitting with runners in scoring position earlier in the game.
But in the ninth inning, Ben Rice comes up and first base is open because Paul Goldschmidt singles and Braden Fisher... launches it, and funny moment where, like, the look on his face after he threw the ball away, if nothing happens there, that's kind of a funny clip. As it turns out, though, Ben Rice comes up and he hits a home run.
We have seen the Blue Jays, if this were Aaron Judge or Shohei Otani in the past, and even as the home team where, you know, you don't want to let the other team play for a big inning, first base open, dangerous hitter, one out, you are definitely walking Aaron Judge or Shohei Otani in that situation. Ben Rice, not quite those guys reputationally yet, but he has hit very, very well this season.
What did you think of, or I guess rather, would you have walked Ben Rice in that situation?
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Chapter 8: How did Emmanuel Berbari recap the Jays' weekend series with the Yankees?
And kind of similar to the way you answered the Ernie Bunt situation, how much is the way that they're playing and failing to execute right now kind of changing how you're making those decisions?
So it's a super interesting one, right? I think fundamentally, you're not going to put on first and second with zero out and three, four, five coming up, right? You're asking for a lot of trouble that way. And really, in talking to Fisher after the game, it's like that pitch isn't in a terrible spot, but it was interesting to hear him say,
I thought that pitch, it's the perfect strike if you're going to throw a strike. But if you're looking for the K there, it probably needs to be down a little bit more or in a little bit more off the plate. And then maybe you get the chase swing at that point. And so... Maybe that's just an execution point.
He also, you know, as he was talking it through in his mind, he's like, maybe I should have spiked the pitch before if I'm going to throw a strike there. So he's debating maybe a bit of execution there. But I think strategically, like Ben Rice has been a monster. And if you're the Toronto Blue Jays, you're looking at him like this guy with Aaron Judge is going to be a real problem for us.
And even without Aaron Judge, it's going to be a problem for them to deal with for a number of years. But that situation, it's just you're opening the door to a big inning in a number of different ways. Obviously, it ended up turning out like that. And Caballero adds a three-run homer later in the frame that really puts that game out of reach. But I think that's how I would look at it.
strategically I understood it and you know maybe it's just an execution at that point and if you're gonna if you're gonna put the pitch there you put it in a spot where he's not going to be able to to do that much damage with it okay so you mentioned Jose Caballero there
It was a bit of a game for Jose Caballero as it pertains to his interactions with the umpire and Aaron Boones, and then John Schneider gets tossed a little later. So Jeff Hoffman gets called for a buck on a move that was maybe a little exaggerated, but we've seen him make that inside move in the past and get away with it.
And I think, you know, you guys talked to Schneider after the game, and the thinking was, well, why did Caballero get 10 minutes to –
debate the the pitch clock thing and and schneider can't get one second to talk about hoffman um look the umpires i i know it's a canadian umpire too steven scherzinski's canadian right yeah from burlington so i i don't want to drag a canadian umpire here but you never want the umpire to be a part of the story um what did you make of uh kind of the ump show there and if john schneider kind of revealed anything post game about how that escalated the way it did
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