To say Gerrit Cole has had a rough 2024 season might be an understatement.

He made all of one (1) appearance in Spring Training, coming in a game against the Blue Jays in which he threw two innings, allowing three earned runs off four hits. He got the start in that game, allowing a single to Davis Schneider, a booming home run to future Immaculate Grid name Daniel Vogelbach and a triple to Ernie Clement. Cole got yanked in the first but ended up coming back in for the second innings, generating three outs, before returning in the third to allow a Santiago Espinal single and a flyout to Daulton Varsho.

A rough outing, for sure, but it was one that landed him with an elbow injury that kept him out of his spot in the Yankees rotation until the middle of June. Cole’s now made seven starts, his first coming on June 19th, missing his last due to fatigue, and has been nothing short of roughed up otherwise, allowing a 5.40 ERA and 5.54 FIP across 35 innings.

While Cole by and large still remains one of the best pitchers in the game in thanks to his reputation as a six-time All-Star coming off his first Cy Young win, his game doesn’t appear to be there right now. That could all change, of course, but the Blue Jays — much like they will throughout the rest of the season — are playing for pride, and the chance to be spoilers.

They can do so today with another big game this afternoon as the Yankees continue to sputter, now sitting at 15-22 since Cole’s return, the third-worst record in baseball over that stretch. His return to the rotation was supposed to help mark a turnaround in the Bronx Bombers season, but the opposite has happened so far.

The Jays, meanwhile, will counter on the mound with Yariel Rodriguez, whose up-and-down first season in the pros took a dip last week, allowing three earned runs off four walks and a hit against the Baltimore Orioles.

Good news for the Jays, however, continues to come with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. absolutely smashing the ball since the second half of the season kicked off. How good has he been? Very. Here’s his numbers and ranks among qualified hitters since returning from the All-Star Break:

His numbers tower over those of other big leaguers as he continues to look like the MVP calibre player the franchise has longed for him to return to.

First pitch: 1:35 p.m. EST.

TV & Radio: Sportsnet, SN590.

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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.