Tampa roll into town for a four game series carrying a five game losing streak. Can the Jays continue that losing streak? Monday sees a heavyweight matchup on the mound. Nick Martinez and his 2.65 ERA vs Dylan Cease and his 2.56 ERA.

The second "half" begins, 96 games played, 66 games left. And two weeks and three days to the trade deadline. The Jays play the following teams before the trade deadline: White Sox; Rays: Red Sox: Nationals and Cardinals. Thats two division leaders, the won nine in a row Red Sox, the Cardinals who have the same record as the White Sox, and the one game under 500 Nationals. Thats a total of 16 games. The Jays are 2.5 games out of the wildcard but they have to climb over five teams to get there. So, what record do the Jays need to have over the next 16 games for you to say we are in it to win it? 10-6, 9-7, or is 8-8 good enough?

We head into the all-star break with three games in San Diego. The Jays are 3-3 so far on their west coast trip. The next three will decide whether its a winning trip or a losing one. The Padres are 46-47 and are 3-7 in their last ten games so they are coming in on the colder side. The Jays have a two game, dragon inspired, win streak.

The Jays limp into San Francisco after Seattle manhandled them over the last two games. They do have a chance at redemption as the Giants are worse than the Jays. The Giants record is 37-52, 21 games out of first place in their division. The Jays are at 42-48, they would have to go 6-0 to reach the all-star break at .500.

The Jays roll into Seattle to play the Mariners for the first time since last October. You remember that series, the one where the road team won every game? Vlad was the series MVP and Jeff Hoffman saved the final game. Cal Raleigh hit four home runs in that series. Now, eight months later Vlad is in the dumps, Hoffman has lost his job and Raleigh is hitting .163. We have seen numerous "what's wrong with Vlad?" stories here in Toronto. Change the name to Cal and you know what's in the Seattle Newspapers.

Despite Raleigh's struggles the Mariners are tied in first place in the west but they are just two games over .500.

Today will be Bo all the time as he returns to Toronto. It might take some attention away from how bad the weekend was for the Jays. The Mets record is four games worse than the Jays and they sacked their manager last week. IN the long list of the things that have gone bad for the Jays this year John Schneider is on there but well down the list. However the 2025 playoff shine will start to diminish through the second half of the season.

So the Houston series did not go as planned, now the Jays have four games to turn it around. After the series loss this week the Jays are two games under .500, they need to win three of four to get back to that first step on the way to the playoffs.

Today is game number 81, the half way point. The Jays are guaranteed to have a losing record at the half way point. This has to be one of Vlad's worst half seasons. If you had put money down on Vlad to be eighth in home runs and ninth in OPS you could have made a lot of money. The Jays do not have an regular position player with an OPS over .800. Last year David Popkins was a hero, this year? He has avoided most negative publicity this season but is any of this on him?

The Jays had a day off yesterday due to rain and it did wonders for their bullpen. The price to be paid for that rest will come due in August but for this Astros series the bullpen is rested. The starters too get an extra day of rest. The Jays had a big comeback win on Saturday which should have given them a boost going into Sunday. Will it carry over into Monday?

The Jays roll into the windy city off the back of a sweep in Boston. Vlad hit a home run! His first in a month. Can he hit another before June is out? The Jays will roll out Gausman, Corbin and Cease, if the bats come through the wins should keep coming.

The limping Jays cruise into Fenway Pahhk for three games with Thursday's game an afternoon game. Then Its on to the windy city for three afternoon games so this is an unusual week with just two evening/night games.

The Jays split a four game series with the Yankees in the Bronx back in May. Now the Yankees are Judge free but Cole is back in the rotation. The Yankees are nine games ahead of the Jays and with a 6-4 record over their last ten games, they aren't missing Judge all that much.

Well, a bit late but here is a thread for this series.

The Atlanta Braves are 40-20, eleven games better than your Blue Jays. The Braves have a 109 positive run differential, the Jays are at negative 7. Before we get too spooked, the Rays were riding high until they lost four in a row last week.

The Orioles, like the Jays, are off to a slow start in 2026. However, they come into this series having won three in a row against the Tampa Rays. Does it mean things are turning around for them? The Jays hope things are turning for them. So it is a who is really turning it around battle this series. Even though the Jays are struggling to reach .500 they are in a tie for a playoff position now. Their first test of the weekend is to face ex-teammate Chris Bassitt tonight.

Meanwhile the "we have too many starting pitchers" Blue Jays have two TBD's listed for this series. One is likely an opener/Spencer Miles combo and it looks like Austin Voth will be a part of the other TBD day.

The 25-29 Marlins come into town to face the 25-28 Jays. There will be four major topics this series. They are:

1. The status of Vlad and Cease. Are the injuries minor or more serious?

2. The walking wounded. Bieber made a start in the FCL today. Is Lukas back? Who goes? Whither Barger, Scherzer and Kirk?

3. Canadian content. The Marlins feature three prominent Canadians. Former Jay Otto Lopez plus Liam Hicks and Owen Caissie.

4. The roof. Rumours suggest the roof could be open for Mondays game and weather suggests it can stay open for the series.