TORONTO -- With the clock ticking on the Blue Jays and the Trade Deadline looming on Aug. 3, Friday night wasn’t the grand return from the break they’d envisioned.
From their 12-4 loss to the White Sox, dropping them to 45-52, this is what mattered most:
1. Is Spencer Miles a starter now?
It already feels like this answer will be a firm “yes” by the spring of 2027, but coming out of the break, Miles is toeing the line between being a swingman, a bulk guy and a starter. This game loves labels, doesn’t it?
Friday’s line was a rare bump in the road for Miles, who has otherwise been one of this organization’s best stories. The Rule 5 Draft wonder allowed six runs over his four-plus innings, five of which came in the second. That inning was a mixed bag, though. Sam Antonacci’s home run can’t be excused away, but before that ball left the yard, the White Sox built their inning by finding some holes with ground balls and a bloop double.
“Stopping the bleeding, you need to start missing bats,” Miles said. “Getting more swing and miss, maybe a different pitch. A lot of it’s bad luck, and then I gave up the two-run homer.”
Miles cranked it back up to 60 pitches on Friday, his most since June 6, and he should be able to push that closer to his career high (73) if he makes another traditional start the next time through. For now, you can expect that to happen unless the Blue Jays are desperate for a multi-inning reliever over the next four days.
“I felt really good. I was kind of hoping they’d let me go longer,” Miles said, “but just for safety wise, that’s probably all I had in me.”
Whether the Blue Jays buy or sell at the Trade Deadline will impact Miles heavily. If they buy, likely adding a starter, he’ll slide back to the bullpen in a valuable role. If they sell, which could include a starter on the way out, he could earn that permanent label a little earlier.
2. A quiet return for the bats
This team can only make a run if the lineup turns this around, and Friday night wasn’t a strong start.
Even as White Sox starter Anthony Kay held the door wide open for them with walks and hit batters, the Blue Jays couldn’t find that one big hit, which is too common a story this season. They still rank tied for 25th in runs scored (396) and 22nd in home runs (101).
“We’ve just got to get the big hit,” manager John Schneider said. “Offensively, you [have to] continue to trend in the right direction. You’ve got to get the big hit or hit homers with guys on. That’s been the ‘thing’ all year.”
The most encouraging swing? George Springer turned on a fastball in the fifth inning and launched his 10th of the season to left field. This team desperately needs Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but beyond Vladdy, Springer is another who can singlehandedly change the energy in this lineup.
3. Look at who’s in left field…
For the first time this season, Springer needed to take his glove to work.
Making his first start in the outfield since Sept. 24, 2025, Springer seemed energized by the return pregame, going back-and-forth with Blue Jays fans and his own bullpen in left field prior to first pitch. The 36-year-old isn’t as fast as he was at 24, but still has excellent ball skills and 13 years of big-league experience to lean on, which is more than enough.
“We’re trying to do it with lefties on the mound to get [Brandon] Valenzuela [at DH] and Kirk in there,” Schneider said. “We’ve talked about it for a few weeks. He’s had some spurts with the toe [injury] and being away with his baby, so we wanted to make sure he was good enough to do it. This won’t be every day. He’s at the point where he’s comfortable at DH and he’s not that young, so we don’t want to run him out there and kill him. But to use our whole roster a bit differently, we can put him out there a couple of times every couple of weeks and rotate the DH spot.”
For Day 1, the idea worked. Soon after Springer homered in the fifth, Valenzuela launched his first home run since June 7 in the next inning.