GDB 29.0: Toronto Blue Jays open series against Boston Red Sox
By Zach Laing
11 months agoAs the Boston Bruins reel from a devastating elimination from the NHL Playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays will look to inflict some pain of their own on Beantown.
This, mind you, comes after the Jays absolutely dominated the Red Sox last season, too. Toronto went 16-3 against Boston last season scoring 125 runs to their 55 for a massive +70 run differential. Some of that comes from the absolute wallop of a 28-5 game last July, but I digress.
Boston isn’t quite the same team as they were last year, either. They lost some big name players like Xander Bogaerts, JD Martinez and even guys like Nathan Eovaldi and Matt Barnes. While they’ve brought in players like the splash move that was singing Masataka Yoshida, as well as other signings like Justin Turner and Adam Duvall, they just aren’t the same.
They’re having a decent enough start to their season going 15-14 ahead of this series, but the truth of the matter is that’s nowhere near good enough for a stacked AL East. I mean really, this division is just silly right now.
Nonetheless, Jose Berrios kicks things off for the Jays tonight, as the Red Sox will open the series with Corey Kluber taking the mound.
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. EST
Weather: 13C. 11 MPH S winds. (RotoGrinders)
The teams:
Toronto Blue Jays: 18-10, 4.5 GB, +3.0 WCGB. +14 DIFF, 4.71 R/G.
Boston Red Sox: 15-14, 8.0 GB, 0.5 WCGB. +1 DIFF, 4.07 R/G.
Moneyline: TOR -161; BOS +137.
Starting pitchers:
TOR: Jose Berrios RHP — 2-3, 4.71 ERA, 1.081 WHIP, 9.4 K9, -0.2 bWAR.
BOS: Corey Kluber RHP — 1-3, 6.75 ERA, 1.333 WHIP, 7.5 K9, -0.1 bWAR.
Lineups:
Toronto
- G Springer (R) RF
- B Bichette (R) SS
- V Guerrero Jr. (R) DH
- M Chapman (R) 3B
- D Varsho (L) LF
- W Merrifield (R) 2B
- B Belt (L) 1B
- D Jansen (R) C
- K Kiermaier (L) CF
Boston
- A Verdugo (L) RF
- M Yoshida (L) LF
- J Turner (R) DH
- R Devers (L) 3B
- J Duran (L) CF
- K Hernández (R) SS
- T Casas (L) 1B
- E Valdez (L) 2B
- R McGuire (L) C
Need to bide the time until first pitch?
Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks about the Jays’ latest series against the Seattle Mariners.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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