While ex-Blue Jay Bichette gets booed, his replacement gets showered with praise

The Toronto Blue Jays got off to a hot start over the opening weekend of the 2026 MLB season. They swept the Athletics to begin the year 3-0 and did so with back-to-back thrilling walk-off wins, and then took care of business in the finale by powering their way to a 5-2 win, thanks to home runs from three individuals.

One of those individuals was one of the new comers to the squad, Kazuma Okamoto, whose debut in his new digs could not have gone any better. In fact, compared to his predecessor Bo Bichette, Okamoto's debut was a breeze while Bichette was feeling the wrath of the New York Mets faithful.

New Blue Jay Okamoto continues to win over the fans in Toronto, while Bichette is jeered in Queens

On Sunday, Bichette went a woeful 0-for-5 in the Mets' 4-3 10-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bichette struck out three times, including with a chance to drive in some runs in the seventh inning, but fanned on three straight pitches, leading to a chorus of boos to rain down upon him at Citi Field.

Bichette, however, took it in stride and said that he was deserving of that reaction. He told reporters after the game, "If anything, I thought it took too long. I get it. I thought my at-bats were terrible, too." Good to see the pressure isn't getting to Bichette...yet, it's a long season after all.

Meantime, north of the border, Okamoto got a standing ovation for his first at-bat on Friday, when he was announced to the plate. While that at-bat ended in a strikeout, Okamoto then walked and hit two singles over his next three plate appearances, including a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth that led to him scoring the winning run on Andrés Giménez's RBI single.

On Saturday, he went 1-for-5 with a walk, and on Sunday, he went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, the first of his MLB career. It was a 420 foot bomb that he sent to the opposite field. He took a pitch that was at the knees and down the middle of the plate and smashed it 110.4 mph over the right-centre field wall. Okamoto showed off his power skills with his first home run in Spring Training in February, and his first of the regular season was also a no-doubter.

Okamoto hit over 270 home runs in his 11-years playing in Japan. So while there was talk about making adjustments to major league pitching, the hope was he would still make solid, hard contact even if his power dimished somewhat. However, the real knock on the 29-year-old was his defense, with many saying the Blue Jays may not love what they see at third. But over the three games against the A's, Okamoto's defense was solid, and he even made some tough plays look easy.

Okamoto also spoke to Sportsnet (via an interpreter) after Sundays game and the Toronto faithful stuck around to show their thanks for a Japanese star deciding to play for their team. After years of missing out on players like Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and others, while also seeing a home grown star like Bichette leave in free agency, it feels rewarding for Blue Jays fans to have someone like Okamoto choose Toronto, a place where he looks like he is going to succeed.