Three Blue Jays players who need to step up before the season spirals

The Toronto Blue Jays' Opening Day excellence seems like nothing more than a euphoric rush a week later.

Since the 8-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Blue Jays have gone 2-4 with an offensive meltdown of epic proportions in a series against the Houston Astros, including being no-hit in the series opener.

Toronto picked up nine hits in the three game set, with also just two runs scored in total. Given the offensive struggles the team faced in 2023, the new year looks to be a replica seven games in, and it has fans worried about their outlook for the rest of the year.

While it's going to take a collective effort to revive the club's identity as a genuinely quality ball club, the onus lies solely on internal improvement for the time being. There are three players in particular who have the biggest responsibilities to improve relative to the team's needs and their expectations going into the year.

Just missing the list is Bo Bichette, who has consistently looked lost at the plate; George Springer, who just can't get it going offensively and Yusei Kikuchi, who has one start under his belt but in that start he looked nothing like his 2023 self.

To be clear, this is a team sport and everybody needs to step up. But we've identified three of the players whose bounce-backs are more crucial than others to this 2024 Blue Jays squad.