The start of another Major League Baseball season is inching closer and with it comes a certain level of excitement. Apr. 3 is opening day for the Toronto Blue Jays and I could not be more excited for the start of their season and the start of baseball season in general.
Last year’s run through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs was a great time to be a Blue Jays fan, especially considering the last time the Blue Jays made the playoffs (and won the World Series) I was two years old.
This time I got to experience the thrills of playoff baseball in Canada for real this first time.
Blue Jays fever was at an all time high. When the Blue Jays lost game six of the American League Championship Series and their season was over I was extremely disappointed but the excitement for this season was higher than it probably has ever been.
As the offseason wore on, with no baseball and hockey taking over, my excitement started to fade, especially after the Oct. 29 fiasco that saw General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos, leave the team after rejecting a contract extension. I, like many Jays fans, was concerned about the direction the team would take under the new regime spear headed by new team president, Mark Shapiro.
After a fairly quiet offseason that saw minor changes to the ball club and the season right around the corner the excitement levels are back.
The team returns nearly completely intact from the one that went to the playoffs last season save for pitcher, David Price, and outfielder, Ben Revere.
Losing Price could hurt, especially considering he went to the division rival Boston Red Sox but with a full season from Marcus Stroman, I don’t see a big drop off if Stroman lives up to expectations. Sure slotting Price into the rotation would completely change the look of the Jays pitching staff but it would come with a 30 million dollar price tag.
The Jays, despite being owned by Rogers Communications, do not have an endless supply of money especially in today’s world where the Canadian Dollar currently sits at 76 cents.
And losing Revere will hurt the Jays’ overall speed and their leadoff batter they received, Drew Storen, in return. Storen figures to be the Jays’ closer this season which will allow them to roll out last season’s closer Roberto Osuna for more than one inning each game. This only serves to benefit the Jays since Osuna is supposed to be a starting pitcher so giving him more innings to pitch should only serve to benefit both him and the Jays both this season and in the long run.
The rest of the team figures to be pretty solid as well.
The offense, which lead the league in runs should be just as potent this season. While I do expect a small drop off in production from most of the players having Troy Tulowitzki in the lineup for the whole season and having him comfortable playing in a new city should benefit the team greatly. Tulowitzki is one of the best shortstops in baseball but struggled mightily down the stretch last season. While keeping him healthy will be a challenge if he does stay healthy he should be able to pick up the slack from some of the other players.
The pitching staff also figures to be pretty good. Sure as I previously mentioned losing Price hurts but the Jays have a fairly solid rotation, especially if Aaron Sanchez can pitch as well during the regular season as he has through Spring Training. Let’s not forget the Jays also have Drew Hutchison, who was optioned to the minors on Mar. 28 and while he wasn’t great last offseason he did have a pretty good spring training and should figure to play a role in the Jays’ season at some point.
So get excited about this season’s Jays team because after this year it is going to look a lot different with players like Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion being free agents.
