Skip to main content
Inside The Blue Jays

Blue Jays Continue To Mix Up Starters After Another Brutal Loss Monday Night

The Jays are all out of sorts right now, and until they find what works, John Schneider is going to keep scrambling the hitting order.
Maddy Dickens|
Blue Jays manager John Schneider (14) on the field against the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning at Truist Park.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider (14) on the field against the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning at Truist Park. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In this story:

Toronto Blue JaysSan Francisco Giants

To say the Toronto Blue Jays are not having the season that anybody expected them to would be more than fair, as they are one of the many in the American League who are having a dumpster fire of a season.

Going into Tuesday's game with the San Francisco Giants, the Blue Jays sit a monstrous seven games under .500, but since the entire AL has been more miss than hit in '26, Toronto's playoff hopes are still very much alive.

That being said, they cannot afford to keep going the way that they have been going, because if they keep this up for much longer, then there won't be a season to save. So, that starts with game two of the series in California.

The Jays already dropped the ball in the opener and now find themselves in a three-game skid, and that is in big part to a stagnant offense that seemingly cannot score runs, which is why they have been shut out twice in the last three games.

The hitting lineup needs to be kick-started, and hopefully today's group will welcome a W with a chance to salvage this road trip and this season.

Tuesday Night Starters

Spencer Miles throws a baseball in a white Blue Jays jerse
Blue Jays pitcher Spencer Miles (62) throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning at Rogers Centre. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Any time that Spencer Miles takes the hill, it is special. Knowing that Miles was easily the best Rule 5 Draft pick, Toronto is relishing every out that he gives them. He has continually come up huge for them, and his confidence in his stuff is continuing to grow.

Miles has stepped into every role that this team has thrown at him this year, but with a beaten-down bullpen, they need some reinforcements. This is where Chad Dallas comes in, as he was recalled hours before the game with Yohendrick Pinango heading back to Buffalo.

George Springer was off the paternity list and active for Monday night's 10-1 loss, but he didn't see the field, and he won't Tuesday night either; therefore, the main concern immediately is tagged to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

  1. 2B Ernie Clement
  2. RF Nathan Lukes
  3. 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr
  4. 3B Kazuma Okamoto
  5. C Brandon Valenzuela
  6. CF Daulton Varsho
  7. DH Sean Keys
  8. LF Jonatan Clase
  9. SS Andres Gimenez

Vladdy's struggles this year have been those of historic proportions, and with a pair of very inexperienced rookies suiting up Tuesday, he needs to come through. Sean Keys barely has his feet wet, and Jonatan Clase is getting his first real shot this season.

Toronto needs to be the aggressor from the first pitch until the last. Then wake up and do it all over again. Rinse. Repeat. Until they start playing more soundly fundamentally and figure out how to drive some runs in, it doesn't matter how good the man on the mound is.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.