Blue Jays Must Respond To John Schneider's All-Star Break Message
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If there was a team that needed a reset with the All-Star break, it's the Toronto Blue Jays. They closed the unofficial first half of the season, dropping two out of three games against the San Diego Padres in Southern California last weekend. They entered the break in the basement of the American League East.
That's not a position that many people, if any, thought that they would be in when the season began back in March. However, they are six games under .500, a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles for last place. The good news is that the rest of the American League is average, at best, and John Schneider's club is just 2.5 games behind the final wild-card spot.
The problem with the wild-card race is that the Blue Jays will need to jump at least six teams to claim the last spot. Got all that? Anyway, before Toronto departed San Diego on Sunday to go their different ways and get away from the ballpark, Schneider had a message for his team.
Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Drops Message To Team Ahead of Second Half
In most years, given where the Blue Jays are now, it would be pretty much pointing to them being a seller at the trade deadline on August 3. Not this year. The rest of the American League is in the same boat in terms of figuring out their path in a couple of weeks, whether they are buyers or sellers. If they're going to be buyers, then they need to take Schneider's message to heart.
“Sitting over the break with a not-so-great taste in your mouth will be good for some guys,” Schneider said, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “We’ll see a lot about ourselves when the break is over, when we come out at home. I’m always going to have confidence in these guys, all of them. They’ve all been through a lot, good, bad and indifferent. The fact that it hasn’t gone as smoothly as we’d hoped to this point gives me confidence that it will even out, hopefully, after the break.”
No, things haven't gone smoothly and maybe the break is what they needed. However, making up 12 games to catch the Tampa Bay Rays at the top of the division with 66 games left is rather unrealistic. Leap frogging six teams to get a wild-card spot isn't.
Blue Jays Face Make-or-Break Stretch
We're not breaking any news here. Toronto opens a three-game series against the first-place Chicago White Sox on Friday night at Rogers Centre. Chicago and the Cleveland Guardians are tied for first place in the American League Central Division. Who had that on their bingo card back in March?
The Blue Jays will then host the Rays for four games before a three-game series next weekend against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. If there is anything good about the next 10 games, is that it's all against teams in the American League that they are chasing for a postseason berth.
Everything is literally in front of them and there for the taking. They just have to go out and take it. Maybe the not-so-great taste in their mouth over the last four days is just what they needed.
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Scott Roche has covered both college and professional sports for nearly three decades for various outlets. Scott has covered the MLB, NHL, and college sports and he is someone always looking for a good rumor, no matter which sport it is.