This past week has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the Blue Jays. Two embarrassing losses at the hands of the Orioles had fans ready to riot at the gates of the Rogers Centre with a sweep appearing imminent before Toronto pulled through to even out the four-game series, one via a walk-off from Isiah Kiner-Falefa while the other was a 6-3 win that got a bit dicey towards the end.

Nevertheless, the Jays faced a strong Orioles squad and while it wasn’t pretty, they are currently riding a two-game winning streak as they head over to the West Coast to face the Oakland Athletics, who sport a 25-39 record while sitting fourth in the AL West. The A’s have lost seven of their last ten games and haven’t won a series since mid-May when they took two of three games for the Colorado Rockies, who live in the basement of the NL West. On a historic note, this is likely the last time the Jays will play at the Oakland Coliseum, as the club is set to move following the 2024 season to Sacramento before moving to Las Vegas permanently a few years down the line.

While the ups and downs of the Blue Jays season has been well-documented, this series kicks off a six-game road trip that starts in California and ends in Wisconsin when the Jays face the Brewers for a three-game set starting Monday. The Jays are slated to send former A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt tonight with Kevin Gausman slated for tomorrow’s contest.

The final game on Sunday is currently up in the air, as this would have been Manoah’s spot in the rotation and it appears that the club is still deciding on their future plans whether it is a bullpen game with Bowden Francis carrying a bulk of the load or maybe a call down to triple-A to bring up Yariel Rodríguez may be on the horizon to make the impromptu start (although he is sitting around 1-3 innings during his latest rehab starts, so that seems unlikely).

On paper, this seems like a series the Blue Jays could and should take at ease considering the A’s are well behind the .500 mark but make no mistake, this Athletics squad is as pesky as they come and is capable of doing damage when things are rolling right (an 11-9 victory of the Atlanta Braves last week being case in point).

They rank fifth in the league in terms of home runs (74) and boast two players with 12 home runs apiece in Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker. Four more A’s roster players also own five or more home runs on the season and numerous players are heating up at the right time – namely former Yankee Miguel Andujar, who started the season on the IL but has been playing well since his return to the tune of a .311 average and .489 SLG through 11 games.

On the mound, the Jays are slated to face Hogan Harris, Luis Medina, and Mitch Spence as the A’s have numerous regular starters currently on the IL.

Harris has floated between triple-A and the big leagues multiple times this season but the southpaw was brilliant in his last outing, allowing just four hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts against the Rays. In Medina, the Blue Jays will be facing a right-hander who is coming back from an MCL sprain and has just one start under his belt this year, although it was a solid outing against the Atlanta Braves. The Dominican product went 5 2/3 and allowed just two hits with zero earned runs while striking out six, holding the Braves to a .105 average on the day. Right-hander Mitch Spence is slated to take the ball on Sunday and he has been thrust into the starter role as of late given the injuries but has done well, allowing just seven earned runs over his last 19 innings.

Also lurking in the bullpen is electric right-hander Mason Miller, who possesses a triple-digit fastball and is quickly establishing himself as one of the top closers in all of baseball. He has ‘struggled’ through his last two outings, allowing two earned runs while working 3 2/3 innings to see his ERA rise to 2.28 on the year and the Jays will likely see him at least once over the weekend, regardless of whether it is a save scenario or not.

The Jays do catch a break in that they won’t be facing Michael Kelly, who was recently suspended due to gambling on baseball, but the A’s have some other tough arms down in the bullpen including Scott Alexander, T.J. McFarland, and former Blue Jays prospect Dany Jimenez that could give the Jays some trouble.

It should be an interesting series as the Jays look to keep the winning ways going in California while also trying to break out of a slump that could have them on the unfortunate side of the record books by the end of the weekend.