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Blue Jays look to find their winning ways again against the Red Sox

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation | By Veronica Chung | Last updated Apr 7, 2025 4:00 PM ET

There were never going to be unicorns and rainbows for the Blue Jays when they went off on their 10-game road trip after their rollercoaster start to the season. They were pivoting from a rebuilding Washington Nationals squad to postseason contenders in the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles. And for the Blue Jays, they simply couldn’t find ways to win for the first leg of this long trip.

As the offence whimpered, New York swept Toronto at Citi Field and didn’t give the Blue Jays a chance to score more than two runs, plating just three the entire weekend. While the Mets found ways to generate hits and score runs, Canada’s team struggled to produce meaningful hits while squandering opportunities on multiple occasions. Overall, Toronto’s rotation was strong, but the bullpen management was questionable. However, the real difference was the strength of the lineup. The reason why the Mets came out on top was simple: they found ways to put pressure and strung hits together to score more runs, and the Blue Jays couldn’t.

Toronto’s first away series has already tested the depth at all levels. Its pitching may have fared mostly fine, but its lineup couldn’t offer the run support that the team desperately needed all series. There will be times where there is a dissonance in pitching and offence in a long season. That’s inevitable, but those who make the playoffs are more successful at synching pitching and run support to create a real threat to their rivals. They also have more persuasive wins by scoring a ridiculous amount of runs to show off their explosive power. There is an option to be pesky as that odd contender who singles to death, but the point remains that they always score far more than their opponents during the regular season.

AND THE BALLGAME IS OVER!

The Mets have swept the Blue Jays! pic.twitter.com/ILIoE1Jwm6

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 6, 2025

So far, the Blue Jays scraped their wins and haven’t had much of a convincing win other than the 8-2 drubbing of the Orioles on the opening weekend. The season may be young, but the early signs of this team are rather reminiscent of the 2023 season. Two years ago, Toronto had pristine pitching but grappled with scoring any kind of runs throughout the season and even during the Wild Card series. What makes things worse for the 2025 Blue Jays is that they aren’t even slated to get the efficient pitching they used to have in 2023 and are already forced to use their depth pitchers with Scherzer on the IL.

Contenders always have reliable depth they can use to win games. The not-so-great news for the Blue Jays here is that its depth hasn’t provided much firepower to win. Most good teams have figured out how to develop their depth efficiently. Besides, true contenders find ways to win regardless of who their opponents are.

In other words, the playoffs are full of strong teams, and the task is to stand out against the best of the best. Without wins against stronger teams like the Mets and Orioles, there isn’t much hope to win it all, even if you make the playoffs. The 2024 Blue Jays were doomed from the start because they couldn’t win against the contenders and threw in the towel at the trade deadline.

The 2025 Blue Jays can’t repeat the same mistake if they want to sniff any playoff stage. To survive the dog-eat-dog world of the playoffs, Toronto will be tasked to come out on top of titans like the Los Angeles Dodgers. With their performance up until now, they aren’t nearly as equipped to take down some of these teams with upside.

Blue Jays starters gave up 5 earned runs across the series and somehow got swept

— Dustin Saracini (@DustinSaracini) April 6, 2025

If Toronto is all in on reclaiming its contender status, it has to find its winning way soon. Time isn’t exactly on the Blue Jays’ side this time, even if there are more than 145+ games left in the season, because their AL East rivals have found ways to win more this early in the year. Particularly, their next opponent on schedule, the Boston Red Sox, are coming off sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals. Winning isn’t just an option anymore for the Blue Jays, it’s a requirement to redeem themselves.

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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