CHICAGO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ series finale against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday was postponed due to inclement weather and while it does remove a future off-day — the game’s been rescheduled to Aug. 6 at Wrigley Field — this can be viewed as a positive development for the club.
Kevin Gausman’s two-inning start on Friday was followed by a 3.2-inning performance from Patrick Corbin the next day and the result of those abbreviated outings was a heavy tax on the Blue Jays’ bullpen. The club used nine relievers across those two games — not including outfielder Myles Straw, who recorded four outs in Friday’s 16-2 loss — adding to the workload of a stressed relief corps.
However, now, instead of having to navigate a tricky span of 16 games in 16 days, Blue Jays manager John Schneider can take a breath and allow his busy relievers to do the same on what’s become an unexpected off day ahead of Monday’s contest against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre.
Dylan Cease, Sunday’s scheduled starter, will likely get the ball in that game, with Shane Bieber’s first start off the injured list pushed to Tuesday. The return of the impact right-hander should help calm the rotation picture and decrease the workload of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, which has logged 332.1 frames this season, a number that accounts for an unsustainable 49 per cent of the team’s total innings. For context, last year’s bullpen tallied 41.5 per cent of the team’s 1,438 innings.
However, casting forward, the Blue Jays will need to see more from Corbin in his next outing. His struggles were somewhat masked by Saturday’s dramatic comeback win over the Cubs, yet the reality is the 36-year-old left-hander has allowed 14 runs on 23 hits across 15.1 innings over his past four outings.
That type of production could bring his status in the rotation into question and when Max Scherzer’s ready to return from his bout with back spasms, there’ll be questions about what to do with Corbin. One potential answer could be moving him to a bulk role in the bullpen, however, that’s a role currently filled by right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, who’s tossed seven scoreless innings since being acquired by the Blue Jays.
Whatever happens, it’s clear Corbin’s recent production is not helping the Blue Jays at a time where the club is struggling to reach the .500 mark.
Ahead of Saturday’s game at Wrigley, several Blue Jays players donned black T-shirts featuring an image of David Popkins with the caption “LEAVE” in large, white lettering. It’s an ode to the Blue Jays hitting coach and the signature phrase he yells from the dugout when one of his batters resists swinging at a borderline pitch.
“It just became our team thing,” said George Springer. “It’s awesome to hear it in the at-bat because he yells it and it makes you feel good.”
The veteran recently had the shirts made and distributed them to teammates over the weekend.
“We all love Pop,” said Springer. “He’s so invested into all of us.”
“Pop doesn’t like being the centre of attention,” quipped Schneider of the garments. “But he’s the Baseball America [2025] Coach of the Year, so we’re gonna try to make him the centre of attention.”
As for Springer, his recent work with Popkins has paid off at the plate. The designated hitter has three homers in his past eight games and collected five walks and 10 hits over that span for a .333/.432/.667 slash line.
“He’s swinging at good pitches and laying off the ones he shouldn’t be swinging at,” said Schneider. “Swings getting a little quicker, a little tighter, and he’s got some good intent to it. It starts with command of the zone. He is doing a good job of that and as that goes, so does his confidence.”
Schneider, as the manager of the 2025 American League champion Blue Jays, will manage opposite Dave Roberts at next month’s all-star game in Philadelphia. He was asked about his preparation for the event.
(Note: Managers are no longer involved in all-star roster selection, but Schneider is welcome to register any thoughts with MLB’s baseball ops group and they’ll take it into consideration.)
Schneider: “Obviously new territory for me and new territory for a lot of the staff. It’s kind of flying by the seat of your pants a little bit and in terms of what’s gonna be asked of us, I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun. It’s an experience that I think everyone would love to do. And I’m certainly in that category.
“I always say that Pete [Walker] and DeMarlo [Hale] have the hardest job in terms of who’s pitching when and how much we’re pitching and who’s playing how much and what you’re doing. I get to kind of hang out and talk to the media and make sure I’m not doing anything stupid. So, I think it’s gonna be a fun experience.
“I think the biggest thing is how you recognize the players that are there and how good they are, the talent level that is actually in that clubhouse and the talent level that is in the other clubhouse in the National League. So, really humbled to be part of it. And just want to stay out of the way as much as I can but recognize the guys who are elected and having the seasons that they are.
“The Blue Jays fan in you kind of goes on the back burner and the baseball fan comes out and you really get to enjoy the best talent in the world.”