Blue Jays will quickly learn what they’re made of with tough stretch in the schedule

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This article was published 10/04/2022 (1304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Blue Jays finished their first series of the season in disappointing fashion, and now it’s time to take the show on the road.

The Texas Rangers were the warm-up act. A rebuilding team, and even though the rebuild was accelerated over the winter when they signed Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, still not much is expected of them, though they showed some thump over the weekend by putting up 23 runs in the three games, despite losing two.

The Jays leave town with a series win, although they needed the greatest opening day comeback in 52 years to do it, and now head directly into the teeth of the beast.

It’s tough enough starting a season with 30 games in 31 days, especially after a shortened spring training, but the bluebirds are now moving into a run that will see them play 20 of their next 23 games against the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros. If you want to go a little deeper, make it 25 of their next 32 against the Yankees, Red Sox, Astros and Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees, Red Sox and Rays, of course, are the three teams that finished ahead of the Jays in the A.L. East last year, the division that became the first in major-league history to have four teams in residence win at least 91 games. The Astros? All they did was win the A.L. West and wind up in the World Series, losing to Atlanta.

“We’re going to be tested straight out of the gate,” said righty Kevin Gausman, the only Blue Jays’ starter to make it into the fifth inning on opening weekend. “(That’s) three really good teams that we’re going to be playing a lot over the next (few) weeks. It’ll kind of give us a sense of what kind of team we’ve got, how we stack up against them.”

Teoscar Hernandez, who has reached base in half of his 12 plate appearances to start the season, thinks his team has to treat it like any other stretch of games.

“We’re not going to think differently,” said the right fielder, “because they’re the Yankees or Boston or the Astros. We know they’re pretty good teams, but we have a pretty good team, too.”

Bo Bichette, who had his first 0-fer of the season on Sunday but is still hitting .308 to start the season, echoes the thoughts of his cleanup hitter.

“Every game is important,” the shortstop explained, “so we’re going to go out there and try to win every single game regardless of who’s on the other side, regardless of how tough the schedule is. Nothing changes.”

It’s a bear, though. That’s just reality. Not that the Jays weren’t aware of what was coming at them.

“We knew this first month was going to be a gauntlet,” said reliever David Phelps, who threw a hitless inning and a third in Sunday’s loss, “and it’s just starting. Let’s not forget what kind of team Texas is as well, that offence is real. They tested our mettle these first three games.

“We know what the (A.L.) East is going to be like this year,” Phelps continued, “and we like how we stack up against the other teams.”

“I don’t see it as a test,” said manager Charlie Montoyo, “but of course it’s going to be a challenge.”

A challenge almost as great as the opposition the Jays will be facing is the fact that they have just one day off between now and May 9.

“I’d rather see 30 (games) in 31 (days) in April and May as opposed to late July and August,” said Phelps. “We’re all still fresh right now, so I think it’s a good time for it.”

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And how best to stay fresh?

“We just have to take care of our bodies as much as we can,” said Bichette, “get as much sleep as we can. We’re dealt these circumstances so all we can do is prepare the best we can. Daunting’s not the right word.”

So, Bo, what is the right word?

“It’ll be fun.”

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness