The past two years have seen the Jays start the season at one of their minor league facilities, with the 2020 campaign beginning in Buffalo while the 2021 campaign started in Dunedin, Florida before switching to Sahlen Field in early June.
The Jays finally returned to the Rogers Centre on July 30th last year, finishing the last two months on home soil and posting a 91-71 record on the season which ended up being one win short of a tiebreaker playoff berth.
Heading into 2022, the Toronto Blue Jays will have a home opener North of the border for the first time since 2019, which has fans super excited for the season and opposing teams complaining about crossing the border.
With a full season at the Rogers Centre in front of the home crowd, here are six series Jays fans should circle on their calendars.
April 8th to April 10th – Texas Rangers
To start the 2022 campaign, the Blue Jays welcome the Texas Rangers for a three-game series. This weekend, the Jays will have a number of different promotions and fans will see some new updates to the Rogers Centre after some minor renovations over the winter.
The club welcomes the Rangers and former Jay Marcus Semien, who turned a one-year prove-it deal into an MVP calibre season with the team last year. Appearing in all 162 games and smacking 45 home runs to the tune of a .873 OPS, Semien signed a seven-year deal with the Rangers this past offseason that netted the Jays a draft pick in compensation after he rejected their qualifying offer. Fans will also see Corey Seager, the Rangers’ newest shortstop and right-hander Jon Gray, who is slated to be on the bump opposite Jose Berrios for tomorrow’s home opener.
FanGraphs projects the AL West club to post a 75-87 record this season, so two or three wins against the Rangers will go a long way for the Blue Jays who only have one day off between April 8th to May 8th and will face some tough teams in the Houston Astros, New York Yankees (twice), and Boston Red Sox to start the year.