Watch: Blue Jays’ home run jacket returns following Bo Bichette bomb

The famous jacket was introduced during the 2021 season by the team’s interpreter, Hector Lebron. That season, the Jays hit a league leading 262 home runs, including a career-high 48 home runs from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In total, they hit 21 more home runs than the next team, the San Francisco Giants.

They hit fewer home runs the next season, just 200, which was the seventh-most in the league, but the home run jacket was prevalent once again in the club house. While Guerrero Jr. regressed to a team-leading 32 home runs, the aura of fun was still surrounding the young Blue Jays team.

However, after a disastrous collapse in Game 2 of the Wild Card series, the Blue Jays shifted to a “station to station” approach, focusing on singles the opposite way, outfield defence, and a more serious attitude. Despite having the second lowest K% of 20.1% between 2021 and 2022, less home runs was the name of the game in 2023.

In total, the Blue Jays hit 188 home runs in 2023, only 12 less than the season prior, but the league saw an influx of home runs, as the Jays finished with the 16th-most home runs in the league that season. Interestingly, their batting average also dropped from a league leading .264 the season prior to .256 in 2023 (tied for eighth), while they struggled to hit with runners in scoring position.

To put it simply, the Blue Jays offence in 2024 has been anemic. Their 39 home runs heading into the game were tied for second last in the league, while their .228 batting average was sixth-worst in the league. Add in a bullpen that has struggled mightily, and you have a team that currently sits at the bottom of the American League East, and is four games behind a Wild Card position with a ton of teams to overlap.

Will a home run jacket save the season? Well, it certainly won’t hurt, as the team gets to showcase their personality and have fun playing. Still, there are problems with this offence, but it’s a good start.

A not-so-fun-fact about this home run is that it was the first from a Blue Jays cleanup hitter this season, 48 games into the season. Yikes. However, John Schneider did call Bichette hitting a homer today!

Maybe this will be the season turnaround the Jays have needed.

me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.