The Toronto Blue Jays got a reminder of how talented the AL East can be, as the Grapefruit League champions got thrashed by the Baltimore Orioles yesterday to the tune of a 12-2 drubbing that silenced the home crowd at the Rogers Centre. Losing on Opening Day isn’t a fun experience. It’s a harder pill to swallow when the score is as lopsided as it was, and every other team within the division that played last night won their games as well (the Rays open their season today).

There is still lots of time left in the season, even with the 162-0 dreams dashed, but the season does get off to a sour note when you give up six home runs to the visiting Baltimore Orioles in front of a home crowd.

On top of the subpar pitching performance, the Toronto Blue Jays’ bats didn’t respond well either. The club mustered just four hits on the day, with Andrés Giménez leading the charge. Fans were chastizing the Jays’ coaching staff when they saw the second baseman slotted into the cleanup spot before the first pitch. A contact hitter, the lefty bat took advantage of a hanging curveball from right-hander Zach Eflin and drove it 366 feet over the left field wall. It’s the type of pitch you want the Blue Jays’ bats to be all over, and Giménez did not waste the opportunity. It was a two-run shot thanks to a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walk two at-bats before, but that would be all the Jays could muster run-wise on the day. Eflin had a no-hitter going until Giménez put one over the wall.

Alan Roden, Will Wagner, and Alejandro Kirk also got in on the action, with the backstop trying to stretch a single into a double but was thrown out at second base late in the game. Guerrero added another walk for two on the day, and George Springer, Giménez, and Roden added one of their own, but the top of the lineup was held hitless on the day, as well as Springer and Ernie Clement.

Having Bichette, Guerrero, and slugger Anthony Santander go hitless in any game is going to hurt the outcome for the Blue Jays, mostly because those three are supposed to drive the lineup and the offense night after night.

Guerrero was the only one who struck out of the group, which is a positive, but he was also the only one from the group to reach base. Santander could not find a solid connection and sent two towering fly balls on the infield that likely would have flirted with the fence had he connected properly. Bichette had a nice line drive to start the game that landed just in front of Tyler O’Neill, who was able to make the running grab, but after that, it was a groundout, flyout, and another groundout that turned into a double play, erasing the walk by Roden. It was late in the game and already tucked away, but some additional runs would have at least ended on a positive note.

Manager John Schneider noted before the game that Bichette is one of the key driving forces in the lineup, and it’s one of the reasons he moved up to the leadoff spot this season while Springer fell down the lineup. It’s a tough position for a hitter, but Bichette, who led the A.L. in hits in 2022 and 2023, has a solid track record in the spot and has the full confidence of the manager to be the spark plug to start games. Facing the trio should put fear in opposing pitchers’ eyes, but Eflin handled them with ease, and the remaining Orioles bullpen limited the damage.

Another key moment in the game came in the bottom of the seventh, when the Blue Jays had a few momentum shifts come to a screeching halt.

Giménez led off the inning with a walk, as relief pitcher Seranthony Domínguez was wild out of the gate with his command, but Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play shortly after to put two outs on the board. Springer and Wagner would reach base and later advance to third and second on a wild pitch, setting up a scoring chance with Ernie Clement up at the plate. In a 3-1 count, the third baseman chased a high fastball, and an easy pop-out to second base ended the inning. It was 9-2 at the time, a tough deficit to come back from, but it was the type of rally that could have started at least chipping away at the distance between the runs with a couple of innings to try and muster something in front of the sellout crowd.

There will be days when the top half of the lineup is driving in the runs, and there will be days when the bottom portion picks up the slack. However, fans saw a glimpse of what could happen if the opposing pitching staff can stymie the top of the order. While the sample size is indeed early, considering it’s just one game with months of baseball still left, it could become a cautionary tale if the trend continues in a downward trajectory for a group of hitters the Blue Jays rely on so heavily.