TORONTO -- Day by day, you can feel the pressure building around and amongst the Blue Jays.
The 100th game of the season brought another loss, this time a 7-1 defeat by the Rays, and the Blue Jays don’t exactly have 62 games to work with here. The Trade Deadline looms just 13 games away on Aug. 3, and the Blue Jays are tilting themselves in the wrong direction at 46-54.
This is what mattered most from Monday’s loss:
1. Frustrations are building …
Soon, there may come a day when bats are broken and dugouts are redecorated in fits of rage. For now, we’re left with the early signs of frustration from the Blue Jays, a team staring down their own mortality.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s at-bat in the third inning captured this so well. Guerrero turned on the first pitch he saw and launched it to left field, for what finally looked like his first home run at Rogers Centre this season. Guerrero didn’t get all of it, though, and when it fell short at the base of the wall into Chandler Simpson’s glove, there was a feeling of … “of course.”
Guerrero pulled his helmet off near first base and held it above his head with both hands, wanting so badly to break it in half on the ground below him, but he held off. If things keep trending in this direction for the Blue Jays, the next helmet, bat or bucket of sunflower seeds in the dugout may not be given such mercy.
“I don’t know what it’s like to wake up and be Vlad, and the expectations and pressure that comes with it,” manager John Schneider said. “Yeah, he wants to be the guy. He’s here for a reason, and we signed him for a reason. He’s frustrated like we’re frustrated. I’ve got no problem with him showing it.”
2. How do struggling teams manage pressure?
If this were the NHL, Schneider could walk into the clubhouse tomorrow and tell his players to try a little harder. Play physically in the first few shifts, maybe drop the gloves for a scrap to fire up the team. It doesn’t work that way in baseball.
Giving 110% can backfire, and it’s so often the challenge for struggling teams. The Blue Jays are desperate to hit for more power, but when you start chasing it, that’s a one-way ticket to getting fooled by a changeup and ending up on one knee for strike three.
How, then, do the Blue Jays play with urgency without overdoing it? In baseball, you need to find the right version of your 100%, which the Blue Jays clearly haven’t found thus far. Where’s the sweet spot?
“You don’t want guys to play tense,” Schneider said prior to Monday’s game. “There’s a back and forth. This is a big four-game series, but it’s a one-game series today. That’s what I told them. I told them today in the hitters meeting that if we lose today, we’re going to play tomorrow. We have a roof. It’s not going to be rained out. We’re going to play. You have to focus on today and figure out what’s important.”
3. Salt in the wound: Losing the Cease game
Looking at this four-game set -- or any series that Dylan Cease pitches in -- he’s the Blue Jays’ best shot. To lose Cease’s game right out of the gates only adds to the frustration from Monday.
“Losing is definitely disappointing,” Cease said. “I think it’s just frustrating when it doesn’t feel like we’re giving teams our best bullets. We have to let go of the past and show up tomorrow ready to play.”
Cease allowed five runs (three earned) over six innings, including a pair of home runs. He struck out seven, but the Rays made enough loud contact to beat the Cy Young Award candidate, who now owns a 2.67 ERA with 155 strikeouts over 104 1/3 innings. Cease still needs to reel in New York’s Cam Schlittler, but his best shot at the Cy is putting up a strikeout total that makes voters say “wow.”
With a dozen starts left in his season, the Blue Jays need to be cashing in on days their ace pitches. If Cease stumbles even a little bit, though, this offense isn’t doing enough to save him or the rest of his teammates in the Blue Jays’ rotation.