Blue Jays had bulletin board material vs Cam Schlittler but let him off the hook

As the dust continues to settle on the latest series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees, the reigning AL East division champions may look back on this point of the season and realized they wasted an opportunity. After taking the opener of the three game set on Friday (Jun. 12) the Blue Jays squandered back-to-back games at home against the team who is currently leading the division.

The Blue Jays should have had all the motivation they needed to take the series, or at the very least, punish the Yankees in the middle game considering who was on the mound. That was Cam Schlittler's start and the Yankees starter issued some bulletin board material for the Blue Jays ahead of the game.

Schlittler told reporters, "They’re easy to rage-bait, I think. All that stuff last year in the playoffs or whatever it is — they’ve got a whole country behind them, so there’s a lot. They’re passionate about it. You respect them for that, but I don’t really like them. They ended our season last year. I hope everyone’s got that chip on their shoulder.”

And Schlittler sure pitched like he was in "must-win" mode. He went seven innings and while he allowed six hits and walked four, he also struck out seven and his only blemish was a two-out, solo home run to Kazuma Okamoto in the bottom of the third. The Blue Jays took the L, dropping the game 3-1 and going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, while leaving ten men on base.

Will anything truly motivate the 2026 Blue Jays?

The Blue Jays have had plenty of moments this year that should have helped turn the season around. They had walk-off wins right out of the gate against the Athletics to begin the year. Daulton Varsho hit a walk-off grand slam on May 13 against the Tampa Bay Rays. They've had unexpected surprises from rookies like Brandon Valenzuela, Spencer Miles and Yohendrick Piñango all coming up in the clutch. However, as a team, they've managed to lose that momentum after a couple of games.

After a 14-17 March / April, the Blue Jays went 15-14 in May, but are currently 5-7 in June (on Jun. 15) and 34-38 overall. The fan base is begging for them to break out in a big way. But hitting .235/.307/.354 with runners in scoring position this season won't cut it. When four wins in a row is your longest winning streak, that won't cut it either.

The most disappointing aspect of what lies ahead for Toronto is that they have one of the toughest (if not THE toughest) strengths of schedules ahead of them. That means they wasted plenty of chances to take advantage of subpar teams in the early part of the year. The Blue Jays are 15-25 against teams over .500, while they are 19-13 against teams with a losing record. The saving grace may be the fact that the American League does have plenty of teams that are still hovering around .500, including the Athletics (35-36) who currently own the third Wild Card spot.

That means there is still a real chance for the Blue Jays to begin to rally and start to make a real run. But if the words from Schlittler didn't motivate them, and they can't find ways to motivate themselves by getting those "momentum-turning" wins, one has to wonder just exactly what will be that driving force?

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow