Blue Jays disrespected in Opening Day lineup ranking by former MLB GM

Opening Day for the 2024 Major League Baseball season is just a few days away and the Blue Jays aren't getting any love from an ex-MLB General Manager.

In a recent piece from The Athletic (subscription required), Jim Bowden, who was an MLB general manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals for a combined 16 years, ranked all 30 MLB teams' Opening Day starting lineups.

The teams you would expect to see at the top did indeed top the list. The Atlanta Braves were ranked No. 1, followed by the Ohtani-led Dodgers, the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers, and the Astros and Phillies rounding out the top five.

Despite having a a pretty solid lineup on paper, there are still question marks surrounding this Blue Jays squad, so a ranking somewhere between No. 10-13 is what most people likely would have expected. Bowden, however, ranked Toronto at No. 18, which is insulting.

"George Springer appears to be starting to decline with age (34) ... The Blue Jays finished middle of the pack in runs scored last year and didn’t get better this offseason."

- Former MLB GM Jim Bowden

The Blue Jays did indeed finish middle of the pack in runs scored last year (14th out of 30 teams), and they did lose guys like Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt, but Justin Turner was a solid addition for the middle of the order, and there's a real shot for big time internal improvement this year.

A handful of players on the current roster, outside of Bichette and Kiermaier, had down offensive seasons in 2023, and it would be nearly impossible for this team to replicate the offensive woes they had last year.

MLB.com's and Bleacher Report's first power rankings of the year looked different than Jim Bowden's ranking, with MLB ranking the Blue Jays No. 8, and B/R placing Toronto at No. 13.

The Blue Jays 2024 regular season officially kicks off Thursday at 4:10PM ET against the Tampa Bay Rays.