Blue Jays reinforcing excitement despite what’s going wrong

Despite the fact that a lot has gone wrong for the Blue Jays so far this season, this talented team is reinforcing why we should believe in them.

We’re only looking at a 10-game sample size thus far, but I’m feeling pretty good about the way things have started for the Blue Jays. In some ways, that seems like a ridiculous thing to say in light of all that’s already happened, but allow me to explain.

First of all, let’s review what’s gone wrong for the Blue Jays over the first 10 games. In particular, they’re already dealing with some significant injuries to the big league roster.

That includes:

• Teoscar Hernandez (10-day IL with an oblique strain)
• Danny Jansen (10-day IL, also with an oblique injury)
• Nate Pearson (mono)
• Hyun-Jin Ryu (forearm inflammation)

Speaking of Ryu, it’s been a disastrous start to the 2022 campaign for the veteran southpaw. Through his first two starts he holds a 13.50 ERA and a 1.773 WHIP, and he’s only managed to pitch 7.1 innings in total. His first outing was going well through the first three shutout frames, but then the track went off the tracks in the fourth and he ended up allowing six earned runs while only recording one more out. The situation didn’t improve a whole lot against the A’s on the weekend either, as Ryu only managed 4.0 innings and allowed five runs on six hits. He now finds himself on the IL, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this is more about getting him back on track than it is about a sore arm.

Beyond the injuries, there are plenty of Blue Jays who have struggled out the gates, particularly on offence. Bo Bichette is hitting just .195 thus far, Alejandro Kirk sits at .208, Matt Chapman at .222, and Cavan Biggio is still carrying a goose egg with his 0-12 start to the new season. And to add one more insult to injury, Jose Berrios has had a very rocky start to the year as well, with an 11.81 ERA over 5.1 innings, which represents his first two starts.

After reading all of that, it sounds like the Blue Jays are a great big tire fire, doesn’t it? However, that’s not the situation at all, and in fact, as of this writing they are in first place in the AL East. Again, we’re only 10 games into the season, but the Jays are 6-4 and hold a half game lead over the Red Sox at 5-4, and a game over the 5-5 Yankees and Rays. Despite all that’s gone wrong for the Blue Jays so far, there’s enough going right that they’re finding a way to win. It helps that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looks like an early frontrunner for the MVP already, and Jordan Romano has been dynamite while already picking up six saves, to highlight just a few of the positives.

That’s where I’m finding my excitement about this team after the first ten games. They have plenty of reasons why they could be off to a much worse start, but so far they’re finding a way to get the job done despite injuries, and underperformance from some key players. That says a lot about this group, and when they can right the ship and fire on all cylinders, they’re going to be extremely difficult to beat.