Blue Jays Happy Hour

The Blue Jays finally won a series this week, and with Nathan Lukes finally getting over a case of vertigo he somewhat selfishly played through, their offence has started to look downright functional at times. And yet the biggest story around the Jays—outside of the ongoing Jeff Hoffman saga, which I assure you we do touch on in this episode—is the making of one man: Eric Lauer.The team's long man, turned starter, turned reliever, turned arbitration case loser, turned long man, turned starter, turned opener-hater, turned tape-wearer, turned malcontent has once again been making himself the centre of attention, weirdly choosing to fight a war of words with his manager through the media while continuing to not pitch especially well. What's up with that?We talk all about it in this one, plus injury updates, EloyWatch, Yesavage expectations, and more!

** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **For this week's Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, with Max Scherzer's wobbly start to the season front of mind (*recorded before his Arizona start*), we decided to "remember some guys" by looking back at several players who finished out HOF-calibre careers with the Blue Jays—or played briefly with the Blue Jays at or near the end—as diminished versions of their former selves. Turns out there have been quite a few!

The Blue Jays bats showed signs of life on Tuesday, but went immediately back to sleep in consecutive 2-1 losses to the Brewers in Milwaukee that sent to club to its fifth straight series defeat. Their hitters are struggling, and even on the pitching side—where help is on the way—a strong performance from Patrick Corbin and back-to-back duds from Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer are complicating the path forward. Fun, huh?The American League has hardly gotten away from them yet, but getting back to a .400 winning percentage shouldn't be this tall of a task. Especially when, through all of this, we're simultaneously having to deal with Insufferable Closer Discourse (TM).** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **This week, to take our minds off some of the doom and gloom, we went through the Jays' active roster and rated each player based on likeability to see if things really have changed from 2025's ultra-likable squad.

The Jays avoided a total bottoming-out of their vibes with a 4-3 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday, avoiding a sweep, but with a Patrick Corbin start on the horizon, a lengthy injured list, and a sputtering offence, the real worry isn't so much what happened over the last week or so, but what happens between now and when Alejandro Kirk, and some of their injured starters, are able to return.This week we talk about which of their problems is really worth taking seriously, plus a look at some minor moves, a check in on struggling hitters, thoughts on some new guys, and a record-shattering hot-dog event.** FOR AN AD-FREE VERSION OF THIS—AND EVERY—EPISODE, PLUS WEEKLY BONUS SHOWS, FIND US AT patreon.com/BJHH **

** THIS IS A SHORT, FREE PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S PATREON-EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE. TO HEAR THE EPISODE IN FULL, VISIT US AT PATREON.COM/BJHH **We're in the early stages of MLB's newest rule change, and while we've seen the ABS challenge system in the minors for a while now, it's a different thing when it's on the big league stage. So, in this week's Patreon exclusive bonus episode, we're discussing what we've seen so far, and what we think of it.