Series Preview: Can Blue Jays bats get on track against Stroman and Yankees?

As the Toronto Blue Jays continue to navigate their tough early-season schedule, things won’t get much easier with a trip to Yankee Stadium this weekend after a disappointing series loss in Houston.

The Blue Jays will be face New York Yankees team playing its home opener on Friday and entering the weekend series with a 6-1 record.

Despite losing reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole to injury, New York has come out of the gates hot, thanks to some strong work from its bullpen and the Yankees’ bats — namely Juan Soto and Oswaldo Cabrera — coming through in big spots.

After being held to just nine hits over three games by the Astros, all eyes will be on Toronto’s offence. 

Here are some storylines from both teams heading into this weekend's three-game set.

Probable Pitchers

Friday (1:05 p.m. ET / 10:05 a.m. PT): Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 6.23 ERA, 6.55 FIP) vs. New York RHP Marcus Stroman (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.48 FIP), Sportsnet, Sportsnet+.

Saturday (7:05 p.m. ET / 4:05 p.m. PT): Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman (0-0, 2.08 ERA, 4.24 FIP) vs. New York RHP Clarke Schmidt (0-0, 5.06 ERA, 3.88 FIP), Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+.

Sunday (1:35 p.m. ET / 11:35 a.m. PT): Toronto RHP Bowden Francis (0-1, 11.81 ERA, 8.56 FIP) vs. New York RHP Luis Gil (1-0, 1.93 ERA, 2.67 FIP), Sportsnet, Sportsnet+.

Blue Jays can't find footing in Houston

After splitting their opening series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Davis Schneider saved the Blue Jays from total disaster against the Astros in the second game of a three-game series.

Making his second start of the season, with Toronto down to its last out, the second-year Blue Jay socked a Josh Hader slider 423 feet over the wall in left to steal a 2-1 win and, as it turned out, avoid a series sweep.

As for the Blue Jays offence as a collective, it enters Friday ranked 29th in MLB in batting average, 24th in runs scored and 28th in OPS. While it’s almost never worth drawing any reasonable conclusions after seven games, there’s no doubt that the Blue Jays need to score in more than one inning per series going forward.

On the pitching side of things, Toronto has been bitten by the long ball to begin the year. Blue Jays pitchers are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals in having allowed a league-high 15 home runs. 

Unfortunately, the club is still without injured relievers Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano.

Despite missing arguably their two most important arms, Yimi Garcia, Nate Pearson, Trevor Richards, Mitch White and Chad Green have done a solid job in relief so far this season. The five have combined to allow just one run over 12.2 innings with eight strikeouts and four walks.

Pitching carries Yankees in Arizona

The Yankees come into this series against the Blue Jays after taking two of three from the reigning NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Their only loss of the series — and the season so far — came thanks to Zac Gallen’s six-inning, three-hit performance.

However, the Yankees got right back on track with a 6-5 win in Wednesday’s rubber match. Aaron Judge drove in the winning run with an RBI double in the top of the 11th, before things got weird in the bottom half.

The Diamondbacks rallied with two outs, plating their fifth run and loading the bases before reliever Scott McGough was forced to bat due to Geraldo Perdomo leaving the game with an injury. Predictably, Caleb Ferguson struck the 34-year-old hurler out to end it.

Despite the strong start, the Yankees seemingly haven’t even hit their stride offensively. They rank 14th in MLB in runs scored and own the 17th-ranked OPS (.693).

Judge hit his first home run of the season on Wednesday and is currently slashing .179/.273/.357. The 2022 AL MVP, of course, has long been a Blue Jay-killer, with 34 career home runs and a .998 OPS against Toronto.

Nonetheless, New York’s pitching has picked up the slack early on. The team has the fifth-best team ERA (2.53) in baseball, guiding the Yankees to six wins and an early lead in the AL East.

Familiar Faces

After missing the playoffs in 2023, the Yankees swung big this off-season, bringing in Soto, longtime AL East member Alex Verdugo and former Blue Jays All-Star Marcus Stroman.

Friday will mark Stroman’s second appearance against Toronto since being dealt in 2019. That first start came as a member of the Chicago Cubs in August 2022 when the now 32-year-old allowed one run over five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

So while he doesn’t have much experience against the current crop of Blue Jays hitters, matching up with Stroman could be a chance for Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho to get on track this season. The two are the only Toronto players to have homered off of Stroman in their careers.

Stroman began his Yankees career in a 5-3 win over the Astros on March 30. He picked up the win after allowing three unearned runs, four hits, two walks and striking out four over six innings.

After four years with the Boston Red Sox, Verdugo stayed in the AL East after a December trade. The 27-year-old outfielder also had his fair share of success against the Blue Jays while in Boston, and hit his first home run with his new club in the 10th inning Wednesday.

2023 Season Series

The Blue Jays went 6-7 against the Bronx Bombers in 2023, outscoring their AL East rivals 47-37 over the 13-game season series. 

In 2023, Saturday starter Kevin Gausman dominated the Yankees, allowing just two earned runs and striking out 36 in 27 innings against New York.

Yusei Kikuchi, Friday's starter, also pitched well over two starts and two wins against Yankee hitters last season. He posted a 1.64 ERA, struck out 10 and allowed just eight hits over 11.0 innings. 

Up Next

For the second straight year, the Blue Jays will return home to an upgraded Rogers Centre as their season-opening 10-game road trip comes to an end on Monday. They will welcome the Seattle Mariners to Toronto to kick off the first homestand of the 2024 season.