NEW YORK – New York, the Jay-Z song goes, is a concrete jungle where dreams are made of, where there’s nothing you can’t do, which seems to make it a fitting spot right now for a Toronto Blue Jays team still working out what exactly they are this year.
Last year, they needed about two months before really finding themselves, particularly at the plate, becoming a pesky, high-contact team capable of getting to slug, underpinned by solid pitching and spectacular, stingy defence.
Their game was clear, distinctive and they fulfilled some dreams in the Bronx last October.
Now?
“We’re not the same team we were last year,” said centre-fielder Daulton Varsho. “We have to find a different identity than what we were because obviously there are different guys in the clubhouse, different lineup. So understanding who we are now, we have to get that identity to come out. I thought (Monday in a 7-6 loss to the Yankees) and the Detroit series were really good for us, where it's like, OK, we're getting to an identity. We don't really know exactly what that is yet, but we're starting to have really good team at-bats.”
Getting to the point where that flows more than it ebbs is the challenge of the moment, one that continued Tuesday night in a 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees.
The Blue Jays pressed Will Warren and put together the type of inning they did so often in 2025 during a pesky fourth, when they plated three runs on four singles, a walk and a sacrifice bunt. But they didn’t add on there despite having runners on the corners and one out, came up empty first and third with one out in the first and couldn’t punch through with men on the corners and two outs in the seventh.
They plated one in the ninth on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s sacrifice fly, but left the tying and go-ahead runs on for the second straight night.
“What we're all talking about is if it's not going to be continuous hits or productive ABs and adding on, there needs to be some slug, there needs to be some extra-base hits or a home run with guys on. So it's figuring that part out. That's kind of where we are,” said manager John Schneider. “I never question the guys' effort and their prep, kind of just seems like we're kind of stuck in the middle there where you can either get a little separation or add on in a different way. But when you get all singles, it's tough to make that sustainable, for sure.”
The Yankees, meanwhile, know exactly who they are and delivered to type, using two big swings – a Ryan McMahon three-run shot in the fourth that tied the game 3-3, and Ben Rice’s decisive two-run drive in the fifth – to spoil an otherwise dominant display from Dylan Cease.
Especially frustrating for the right-hander is that three of his four walks scored on the homers. He allowed just four hits while striking out nine.
“I shot myself in the foot with those (walks) and they put some good swings on some balls,” said Cease, who didn’t mind the location on a 2-0 fastball up and in to Rice, but noted that “when you're falling behind like that, it's playing a dangerous game.”
A second straight setback dropped the Blue Jays back to a season-worst-tying six games below .500 at 21-27 and scoring runs won’t get any easier in the remaining two games at Yankee Stadium. Trey Yesavage starts against Cam Schlittler and his 1.35 ERA on Wednesday, while Thursday, Spencer Miles will either start or pitch behind an opener against Carlos Rodon.
Varsho led the offence with a career-best four hits, scoring the Blue Jays’ first run in the third on Yohendrick Pinango’s RBI single, and has quietly been on a heater over the past 10 games, during which he’s 16-for-39 (.410) with a homer and six RBIs.
Schneider bumped him up to third Tuesday, behind George Springer and Guerrero, as he continues to seek out “the right set of pockets” for production in his batting order. Over the next couple of weeks, when Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk could potentially return from injury, that process should become somewhat easier as the Blue Jays begin to look more like they planned.
For the time being, though, “the best way to put it is, OK, who's playing the part of so and so that's not here, and how do you have to attack that spot,” said Schneider. “Right now, trying to get Vlad going and trying to get George going and try to get them up as much as we can.”
For the second straight game, that meant at-bats in the ninth with a chance to change the game for both, set up by grinding plate appearances by the bottom of the order. An Andres Gimenez walk and pinch-hit single by Ernie Clement, who didn’t start due to strep throat, set the stage for Springer, who lined a ball off Camillo Doval’s glove for the first out, and Guerrero, who drove a ball to deep centre for a sacrifice fly that made it 5-4.
Varsho then ripped an infield single to put runners on the corners for Kazuma Okamoto, who grounded out to short to end it.
“Need a hit,” said Schneider. “With where we are right now, or just in general, you want to keep adding on, whether it's a bunt, whether it is a hit, whether it’s a sac fly, whatever it is. Every run is precious. Had a chance to keep going there, didn't, and then the guys are grinding to the end. It was eerily similar (to Monday), same guys coming up and things like that, seems like we're kind of just one hit away or one play away right now.”
Varsho’s gotten to his hits of late by simplifying his approach at the plate, feeling like he’d been too focused on how teams intended to attack him and too locked in on a set plan.
At times, being rigid in the box makes sense, as “there are certain teams, certain guys that locate to a certain spot so you have to clear them out of a certain spot. But,” he added, “more than likely pitchers are going to make mistakes and it's just trying not to miss that mistake. And so when I was trying to hunt for that certain spot and I got a pitch that I should hammer, I was missing it and that's what was making me frustrated. So overall, just trying to not think so much and just go be reactionary.”
As he flows, others are trying to work out of their ebb, although the past week has been better, even if the results are not. That’s why the late rallies, even when they go for naught, matter, because eventually, the Blue Jays trust that will turn.
“We're just getting down on ourselves a lot lately and I think (Monday) was a great game for us even though we lost, it just showed the fight that we had and doing what we've done in the past that really works,” said Varsho. “Now it's just trying to do that consistently. Fighting every at-bat, having a good team at-bat and not trying to be the guy trying to hit the home run.”
In doing so, counterintuitively, the home runs should come, and while the streets in New York can make you feel brand new, the Blue Jays are still trying to get there.
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