4 key takeaways from the Blue Jays sweep over the Mets

The Blue Jays are getting strong offensive performances from some recently-cold bats.

Through the first few months of the 2023 season, multiple players on the Blue Jays have ran into some cold stretches. This includes a few players who were heavily expected to put the team on their backs out of the gate, including George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Brandon Belt and Daulton Varsho.

Springer has really been picking it up lately at the plate after a very slow start to the year. In April/March, he hit three home runs in 28 appearances with a .225 average and 66 OPS+. In essentially all offensive categories, he was not the player fans expected him to be. After a red-hot May in which he hit four home runs with a .287 average and 128 OPS+, Springer has been continuing his clinic at the dish. In his last five games, he is 6-for-26 with a home run, two stolen bases and a run driven in.

Guerrero, 24, has been hitting the ball well so far this year but for some reason can't seem to get going at home. He has nine home runs on the season and has yet to homer at home and has an OPS+ of 68. However, he has been a whole different player on the road, which came to light once again in the recent series against the Mets. Vladdy was 5-for-11 against the Mets, hitting a home run and driving in a pair of runs.

Belt joined Springer as two of the more underrated hitters on the Jays from the month of May who really began to turn things around. The Twitterverse has completely done a 180 on him and now believes he is legit, routinely labeling him as "the only player who cares on this team". While he isn't the only one, he certainly has been hitting the ball likes he cares lately. Against the Mets, he hit a pair of doubles on Saturday with a run scored and then hit a home run on Sunday, also drawing a total of three walks in the series.

Then there's Varsho, who is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak. His tenure on the Blue Jays has not started the way anybody expected it to, but he's slowly but surely starting to turn things around. He has hit two home runs during this current streak with four runs driven in and five runs scored. His 84 OPS+ puts him well below league-average at the plate, but it is highly encouraging that he's riding a hot streak and remains on the best defensive outfielders in the league.

The Blue Jays' bullpen is legit.

For a group that's been pretty shaky to start the season, this bullpen was utterly dominant in the three-game sweep of the Mets. While the Mets have not been performing up to their expectations heading into the season, the club still features a lineup full of threats from top to bottom.

Chris Bassitt put together one of his best outings as a Blue Jay on Friday before turning it over to the 'pen. Tim Mayza, who has quietly been one of the best relievers in the league this year, came in and struck out the final batter in the 8th inning before turning it over to Jordan Romano who slammed the door for his 14th save.

In Saturday's victory, each of Trevor Richards, Nate Pearson and Romano combined to finish out the final three innings of the contest. Richards in particular has experienced a massive turnaround on the mound, rebounding in a huge way. The right-hander has lowered his ERA From 5.14 to 3.24 in just under a month of games.

Sunday was the only game of the series in which any relief pitchers allowed a run. Pearson surrendered two home runs in his inning of work before turning it over to Adam Cimber, Erik Swanson and Romano, who combined to throw three shutout innings to round things out.

At times this year, the Blue Jays bullpen has been about as reliable as Alek Manoah has been on the mound. In case you haven't been following along closely, that is not very reliable ... at all.

Most of the arms in the 'pen have done a great job at limiting excess baserunners, especially lately. Romano and Swanson have been an absolutely perfect duo at the back end of the group, while Mayza, Pearson and Richards are all equally trustworthy arms.

Like all bullpens, there are some weak(er) links. Yimi García, Adam Cimber and Anthony Bass have all been troublesome at times but all of them have a lenghty track record of being successful at the game's highest level.

Entering the new week, Blue Jays relief pitchers now ranked 5th in the league in WHIP, K/9 and H/9, marks that should only get better as the season rolls on and the winning ways continue.

The Blue Jays have four solid starting pitchers and one massive weak link.

This is nothing that hasn't already been said, but it once again rang true after the sweep in New York. Each of the four non-Alek Manoah hurlers did an effective job of not only keeping the Mets to minimal damage on the scoreboard, but keeping the Blue Jays offense firmly in the game.

What is even better for the Jays is the fact that they sent out the bottom three starters in their rotation and still came out on top.

In the first game on Friday, Chris Bassitt, who was just 48 or so hours away from becoming a dad for the second time, was utterly dominant. The right-hander is ever-so-quietly becoming one of the best starters in the Blue Jays' organization and he doubled down on that on Friday. In 7.2 innings, he allowed just three hits and no runs with eight strikeouts. On the season, he is 6-4 with a 3.41 ERA and 121 ERA+, striking out 65 batters with 26 walks in 74 innings.

Saturday's 2-1 victory was a bit more of a nail biter, but the Blue Jays once again found a way to come out on top. José Berríos turned in yet another impressive outing, this time going six innings with just one run allowed and six strikeouts. He is enjoying a nice bounceback season that he desperately needed. In 12 starts, he is 5-4 with a 3.66 ERA, 3.70 FIP and 112 ERA+. His strikeouts are up from last year and he's allowing nearly 2.0 hits per nine innings less than he did in last year's down season.

Finally, Sunday's 6-4 victory came thanks to a strong start by Yusei Kikuchi and a hot offensive showing by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who homered for the ninth time this year, and Brandon Belt, who hit his third. While Kikuchi's numbers may not directly reflect it on paper, he has done a great job this season at keeping the Blue Jays in the ballgame virtually every single time he takes the mound. Sure, he is still allowing way too many home runs, but a few solo homers here and there have proved to be minimal enough where it doesn't stand in the Jays' way of winning games. He is now 6-2 with a 4.40 ERA and 93 ERA+ across 12 outings and 61.1 innings this season.

We know what Kevin Gausman brings to the rotation, even if we didn't get a chance to see him over the weekend against the Mets. Alek Manoah, however, is a whole different story. After finishing in the top-three in AL Cy Young voting last year, the 25-year-old has been going through one of the toughest stretches we've seen from a starter of his caliber in recent memory. He is currently 1-6 with a 5.46 ERA, 6.27 FIP and 75 ERA+ through 12 outings.