After every Blue Jays series, this Canadian will sum up his five stars of the set and throw in my two cents (worth .015 US).
“Come on
Oh baby don’t you wanna go
Back to that same old place
Sweet home Chicago”
The cure for Toronto’s problems lies in the Windy City, where, for the first time in 2024, the Blue Jays broke out the brooms. Granted, this was against the lowly White Sox, the worst team in baseball, and the Blue Jays avoided the only two players worth their pay, starters Erick Fedde and Garrett Crochet. On paper, even on the road and with Toronto’s struggles, this was sweep material, and sweep they did.
The White Sox are now on an eight-game losing streak, and twenty players who have competed for Chicago have a negative b-WAR, including the league-worst, Andrew Benintendi, at -2.2. His teammate, Martin Maldonado, is fourth-worst (-1.2), and the two players in between are former White Sox stars Jose Abreu (HOU -1.5) and Tim Anderson (MIA -1.2). The Pale Hose are a stink that populates the entire league!
As for the forces of good, the series sweep brings them three games for the waterline and four games from Minnesota for the last Wild Card, with four teams in their way (Boston, Detroit, Texas and Tampa Bay). With a day left in May, it is a daunting task, but as Lloyd Christmas said:
“So, you’re saying there’s a chance.”
Now, on to the series.
Chris Bassitt began the series, pitching five innings of shutout ball, scattering five hits. His counterpart, Nick Nastrini, allowed only three hits in the same timeframe, but two were home runs; the first was a two-run blast by George Springer, whose bat desperately needs to come alive. Bichette had the other one (solo in the fourth), and David Schneider had Toronto’s third tater of the game with a two-run shot in the 9th, giving the Jays a 5-1 win.
In the middle game of the set, David Schneider was the offensive star, collecting three of Toronto’s 13 hits, with three RBIs, and George Springer reached base on all five plate appearances (three singles and two walks). On the hill, Gausman, who never seems to be pleased with his performances, won his fourth straight decision (4-3), allowing one run on four hits. The Jays won 7-2.
The end game of the series brought Alek Manoah. After striking out three batters and allowing an Andrew Vaughn double, Manoah grimaced with discomfort after a pitch to Dominic Fletcher. Manoah was pulled (he will have an MRI soon), and it was up to the Toronto bullpen, which has been less than spectacular this year, but they were up to the task on Wednesday. Trevor Richards first came on, and he gave up only one hit in 3 1/3 innings of relief, giving him his best outing of 2024 by far. Bo Bichette singles in a run in the third, Isiah Kiner-Falefa added another two in the fourth, and Toronto closed the sweep with a 3-1 win.
Here are my five Blue Jays stars of the series:
Davis Schneider. 3 R, 4 H, 3 XBH, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .333/.438/.750/1.188: Have I said how much I love Davis Schneider? I have? Well, I will say it again, and judging by his growing fan club at the dome, I am not alone. Schneider had 5 RBI in the series and now 6 HR and 27 for the season.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 1 R, 3 H, 2 XBH, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .273/.385/.455/.839: IKF had a hit in every game and was clutch in the series. He has proven to be a nice pickup for the bluebirds.
George Springer, 6 R, 5 H, 2 XBH, 1 HR, 2 RBI .625/.769/1.125/1.894: Springer has been awful all year and lost his leadoff spot some time ago. Batting seventh in the order, Springer hit safely in all three games against Chicago and had the series he needed to regain his confidence.
Bo Bichette, 2 R, 4 H, 1 XBH, 1 HR, 3 RBI .308/.308/.539/.846: Bichette had another good series where he smacked his fourth home run of the season. That chance of getting 20 homers a fourth year in a row feels far more possible than it did two weeks ago.
Chris Bassitt, 1 W, 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 7 SO, 1.000 WHIP: Bassitt remains inconsistent, but he was hot on Monday, fanning 7 for his fifth win. He has had a game score of at least 64 in three of his last four games.
Honourable mentions for Kevin Gausman 1 W, 6.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 3 SO, 0.833 WHIP and Trevor Richards 1 W, 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 SO, 0.300 WHIP
Next, the Jays return home for a seven-game homestand beginning with three against the Pittsburgh Pirates starting Friday.
Until then, touch them all!
