Blue Jays: Jay Bird Watching Podcast: Episode 276

The Jay Bird Watching podcast is back with episode 276 and you’ll notice a change to the crew for the next few months as Kris Key from the Jays Jam podcast joins Brendan Panikkar and Craig Borden. Kris will be the main replacement for Adam Corsair as he goes on paternal leave. On this episode, the crew dives into the Minnesota Twins series and the New York Yankees sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

The Toronto Blue Jays did not take care of business this past weekend by splitting the four-game series with the Minnesota Twins all while the New York Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox to pull 2.0 games ahead of Toronto. The Red Sox did drop to just 1.0 up on Toronto but their road to the playoffs is soft with three against Baltimore and three against Washington. This leaves the Blue Jays in a bit of a tough spot to qualify for the 2021 postseason but they’re very much still alive.

The crew quickly reviews the Twins series and takes some positives away from the last two games of the series with George Springer heating up at the right time and Robbie Ray stopping the minor skid. After a quick review of the Twins series, the discussion quickly shifts to the upcoming three-game series with the Yankees.

Hyun-Jin Ryu will be activated off of the IL to start Tuesday’s opener of the series and the crew discusses how confident we are in the Jays 2020 and 2021 opening day starter. The conversation continues by teeing up Wednesday and Thursday’s games with Jose Berrios and Ray lined up opposite Gerrit Cole and Corey Kluber.

As the episode continues, the team discusses the other path to the playoffs which is catching and surpassing Boston but unanimously Brendan, Kris, and Craig agree that that isn’t the route we’re most comfortable with.

The show wraps up with our official predictions for the Yankees series and where that leaves the Blue Jays before Baltimore comes to town for the final series of the season. 2/3 is absolutely mandatory for the Blue Jays. Let’s see what happens.

The Jay Bird Watching podcast is tentatively lined up for another show on Monday in hopes of it being a wildcard game preview but there’s a possibility the next show is over the weekend depending on what happens in the Yankees series. The unfortunate alternative would be the next episode being back on normal turn next week Wednesday or Thursday should things not go well. Be sure to follow @JayBirdWatching on Twitter and stay up to date with the podcast as this race continues.