Blue Jays' Jeff Hoffman continues revenge tour by shutting down another nonbeliever

After an offseason that saw Jeff Hoffman end up with the Blue Jays after nearly signing with the Orioles and Braves on two separate occasions, Hoffman said that he "likes the smoke" and was excited to pitch against those teams.

And he put his money where his mouth is over the past week by shutting down those two teams in a strong homestand for the Blue Jays.

Blue Jays' Jeff Hoffman continues revenge tour by shutting down another nonbeliever

Hoffman's offseason journey started around Thanksgiving when the Braves backed out of a deal with Hoffman over concerns with his shoulder. The deal would have paid Hoffman between $45-$48 million.

Two months later, Hoffman was close to a three-year, $40 million deal with the Orioles before Baltimore also backed out due to concerns about his shoulder. Not long after that, the Blue Jays signed Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million deal to make him the anchor of their revamped bullpen.

While Baltimore and Atlanta's concerns about Hoffman's shoulder might have been valid, he showed both franchises exactly how electric his arm is by closing out wins over both teams in back-to-back appearances.

His revenge tour started on Sunday when he tossed two scoreless innings in an extra inning win over the Orioles.

The outing marked Hoffman's second straight two inning outing, and he allowed just two baserunners over those outings to go along with seven strikeouts.

After he finished off the win over the Orioles, Hoffman blew a kiss toward Baltimore's bench as a reminder that he didn't forget about them leaving him in a lurch in the offseason.

Three days later, Hoffman took the mound against the Braves in one of the biggest wins of the year for the Blue Jays. Toronto entered the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead thanks to Vladimir Guerrero's first home run of the year, which led to the Rogers Centre lights dimming and Hoffman entering the game.

And while his appearance against the Braves wasn't perfect (he surrendered his second earned of the year in the form of a Drake Baldwin home run), Hoffman still closed out the win for his fourth save of the year.

While it didn't come with the same theatrics as his win over the Orioles, it's safe to assume that the save meant a lot to Hoffman as well.

He entered Wednesday's game in the 98th percentile in expected ERA, the 92nd percentile in strikeout rate and the 91st percentile in walk rate. After the Blue Jays struggled to find any success from the back of their bullpen last year, Hoffman's looked like one of the best relievers in baseball through the first three weeks of the season.

While Hoffman took a circuitous route to the Blue Jays, it's proved to be a perfect pairing for both sides so far.