PHOENIX — There are several reasons why the lineup connectivity so instrumental to the Toronto Blue Jays’ success a year ago appears so disjointed right now — as demonstrated most recently by Friday's 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The absence of George Springer, Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger – potentially set to be exacerbated as Daulton Varsho is now day-to-day with left knee discomfort – is front and centre in that regard, pulling three impact bats from the mix while forcing part-time players into more prominent roles.
Then, there are the newcomers to the lineup that the club is still “trying to onboard … as to how this all works, and how it works in conjunction with one-through-nine, or one-through-13,” said manager John Schneider. “That's part of what's been missing offensively.”
Among the ways that’s manifested on the field is in not only what the Blue Jays are swinging at, but also how they’re taking those rips, too, which is why hitting coach David Popkins made that the focus of their hitters’ pre-game meeting Friday.
“There's a clear plan the league is making for us — they're pitching to contact, kind of walking us out of the zone and we're putting some weak balls in play,” Popkins explained. “So it's getting back to being hunters and not reacting. When our group is up there hunting something to do damage on before two strikes, and knowing two strikes we're one of the best teams in baseball, the rest takes care of itself.”
Over time, that should hold true, although for the moment, while there’s still a gap between game-plan and execution, the Blue Jays are still trying to work out of their offensive funk.
Michael Soroka, Canada’s ace at the World Baseball Classic, held them to two runs over seven innings while living on the edges of the zone, limiting the damage to a Lenyn Sosa safety squeeze in the fourth and a Myles Straw solo shot in the sixth.
Balls in play vs. Soroka, courtesy Baseball Savant
The Blue Jays did a better job of forcing Jonathan Loaisiga into the zone in the eighth, when Vladimir Guerrero’s two-out RBI single made it a 5-3 game after Straw hit into a wild double play turned brilliantly by Geraldo Perdomo after the ball deflected off second baseman Ildemaro Vargas.
Balls in play vs. Loaisiga, courtesy Baseball Savant
But a Guerrero error on an awkward Jose Fernandez chopper in the seventh led to a pair of unearned runs while Joe Mantiply, facing his old team for the first time, surrendered an RBI double to Tim Tawa in the bottom of the eighth, and that was too much to overcome.
“We've got to play better defence, for sure,” Schneider said of his team, which made other errors, as well. “Until we really get rolling offensively, we have to play tight, we've got to play clean and we're usually pretty damn good at that. Tonight we just gave them some extra outs and against any team you can't do that.”
Knowing runs are at a premium, the Blue Jays got creative at the start of the game, using Braydon Fisher out of the gate in what Schneider described as “a traditional nerd opener” designed to limit the number of times Eric Lauer faced the top of the Arizona lineup.
Fisher did his part and Lauer ended up allowing three runs over five innings on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts, holding his velocity better than in his previous two outings, when he pitched through a flu that circulated the clubhouse.
He felt “much closer to 100 per cent” in this outing, utilizing some delivery tweaks between outings, as well, all while adjusting his routine to follow Fisher.
“I'll be real blunt, I hate it. I can't stand it,” Lauer said of throwing bulk after an opener. “But you work with what you've got and part of it, too, is we're trying to mix some things up, we're trying to find ways to win. It's a game plan that we had and we tried to execute it the best we could. And that's really all you could do.”
Especially as the Blue Jays have now lost 12 of their 16 games in dropping to 7-12, falling deeper below .500 than they did at any point last season.
Of course, they didn’t have to overcome this many injuries a year ago, but as they work to sync up all parts of their game, knowing how well they played in 2025 is a stability post they can hang on to.
“That's why there's not really a whole lot of panic going on,” said Lauer. “We know what we're capable of and we know that some things just aren't going our way, playing some bad baseball at times, some not throwing the ball well, not hitting, whatever it might be. Nobody's overly concerned because we know that we have it in the tank. It's just a matter of putting it all together and playing good team baseball.”
Putting up some more runs so every mistake isn’t so magnified is a good place to start.
“We've got to shift the mindset a little bit in terms of what kind of swings we're taking, early in counts especially,” said Schneider. “A lot of these guys can hit with two strikes and they can put the ball in play. Up until that point, there hasn't been as much slug, there haven't been enough hard hit balls, things like that. … It's just really waiting to get a pitch you can do something with until you get to two strikes.”
Like so many things around the Blue Jays right now, easier said than done.
