After a triumphant comeback in game one of the season, it was heartbreak in games two and three leaving the Toronto Blue Jays 1-2 to start the year.

Saturday, game two, saw the Jays and Kevin Gausman be once again unable to appeal to the baseball gods going hitless until the 8th ultimately falling 4-1. This, mind you, came after the team had more than enough chances to drive in some runs in thanks to Jack Flaherty issuing seven walks across 5.0 IP.
Sunday, meanwhile, was a disaster from the start. The Jays couldn&#8217;t get on base in the top of the 1st, then Chris Bassitt got annihilated on the mound. In B1, he allowed home runs to Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Gorman, as well as singles to Paul Goldschmidt and Wilson Contreras. It was ugly, and his day didn&#8217;t get much better, either. Through it, he allowed four homers, and nine earned runs off 10 hits. He didn&#8217;t walk a single batter, nor strike one out as he lasted just 3.1 innings.
Credit to the bullpen as they held the Cards to no more runs, but it was too much for the Jays offence to overcome.
Now, they turn the page to series two of the year visiting the Kansas City Royals as Jose Berrios gets his first start of the year. We&#8217;ll talk about this a bit more down below, but he&#8217;s a guy who could be in for a nice bounce-back year. He struggled in his first full season with the Jays last year, and this could be a great spot for him against a Royals team with a flaccid offence.
Betano is projecting this game to have lots of offence with the Jays as modest favourites.
First pitch: 7:40 p.m. EST
Weather: 22C. 8 MPH NNE winds. (<a href="https://rotogrinders.com/weather/mlb">RotoGrinders</a>)
Odds via <a href="https://www.betano.ca/">Betano</a>:
Moneyline: TOR -125; KCR +105. 
O/U: 7.5 — o7.5 -128; u8.5 +105.
Starting pitchers:
TOR: Jose Berrios, RHP — 0-0, -.- ERA, -.- WHIP.
STL: Brady Singer, RHP — 0-0, -.- ERA, -.- WHIP.
Lineups: 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-large wp-image-61441" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300-752x1024.jpg" alt="" width="752" height="1024" srcset="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300-752x1024.jpg 752w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300-220x300.jpg 220w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300-768x1045.jpg 768w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" />
The aforementioned Jose Berrios takes the mound for the first time of the season tonight. He&#8217;s coming off his worst year in the bigs. Despite a 12-7 record in his 32 starts, his 5.23 ERA, 4.55 FIP and 1.419 WHIP were all career lows. His <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jose-berrios-621244?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb">baseball savant</a> percentile rankings were among the worst in the league, so let&#8217;s see if he can get things back on track starting tonight.
On the otherside, we get a look at Brady Singer tonight. the 26-year-old rightie is coming off his best year in the bigs and is entering his fourth season. Last year, he started 24 games going 10-5 with a 3.23 ERA, 3.58 FIP and 1.141 WHIP. He appeared twice against the Jays seeing just 44 batters allowing 10 hits and a 3.67 ERA.
<div class="mb-5">
GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Jays get back in the win column tonight and Jordan Romano gets his second save of the season.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The offence rebounds tonight driving in five runs.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Without a home run this season entering tonight, that changes as the Jays finally go yard.
</div>
<h2>Need to bide the time until first pitch?</h2>
Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew makes <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/bjn-radio-ep-131-here-are-23-predictions-for-the-2023-mlb-season">23 predictions ahead of the 2023 season</a>.
<iframe title="Spotify Embed: Here are 23 predictions for the 2023 MLB season" style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1sHIFQarkT6p9hGcgiLLF7?si=efI-c0zBQAGk-7wRQ5hsWQ&#038;utm_source=oembed"></iframe>
<hr />
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
<hr />

After a triumphant comeback in game one of the season, it was heartbreak in games two and three leaving the Toronto Blue Jays 1-2 to start the year.



Saturday, game two, saw the Jays and Kevin Gausman be once again unable to appeal to the baseball gods going hitless until the 8th ultimately falling 4-1. This, mind you, came after the team had more than enough chances to drive in some runs in thanks to Jack Flaherty issuing seven walks across 5.0 IP.

Sunday, meanwhile, was a disaster from the start. The Jays couldn't get on base in the top of the 1st, then Chris Bassitt got annihilated on the mound. In B1, he allowed home runs to Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Gorman, as well as singles to Paul Goldschmidt and Wilson Contreras. It was ugly, and his day didn't get much better, either. Through it, he allowed four homers, and nine earned runs off 10 hits. He didn't walk a single batter, nor strike one out as he lasted just 3.1 innings.

Credit to the bullpen as they held the Cards to no more runs, but it was too much for the Jays offence to overcome.

Now, they turn the page to series two of the year visiting the Kansas City Royals as Jose Berrios gets his first start of the year. We'll talk about this a bit more down below, but he's a guy who could be in for a nice bounce-back year. He struggled in his first full season with the Jays last year, and this could be a great spot for him against a Royals team with a flaccid offence.

Betano is projecting this game to have lots of offence with the Jays as modest favourites.

First pitch: 7:40 p.m. EST

Weather: 22C. 8 MPH NNE winds. (<a href="https://rotogrinders.com/weather/mlb">RotoGrinders</a>)

Odds via <a href="https://www.betano.ca/">Betano</a>:

Moneyline: TOR -125; KCR +105.
O/U: 7.5 — o7.5 -128; u8.5 +105.

Starting pitchers:

TOR: Jose Berrios, RHP — 0-0, -.- ERA, -.- WHIP.

STL: Brady Singer, RHP — 0-0, -.- ERA, -.- WHIP.

Lineups: 

<img class="alignright size-large wp-image-61441" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-03-141300-752x1024.jpg" alt="" width="752" height="1024" />

The aforementioned Jose Berrios takes the mound for the first time of the season tonight. He's coming off his worst year in the bigs. Despite a 12-7 record in his 32 starts, his 5.23 ERA, 4.55 FIP and 1.419 WHIP were all career lows. His <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jose-berrios-621244?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb">baseball savant</a> percentile rankings were among the worst in the league, so let's see if he can get things back on track starting tonight.

On the otherside, we get a look at Brady Singer tonight. the 26-year-old rightie is coming off his best year in the bigs and is entering his fourth season. Last year, he started 24 games going 10-5 with a 3.23 ERA, 3.58 FIP and 1.141 WHIP. He appeared twice against the Jays seeing just 44 batters allowing 10 hits and a 3.67 ERA.
<div class="mb-5">

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Jays get back in the win column tonight and Jordan Romano gets his second save of the season.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The offence rebounds tonight driving in five runs.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Without a home run this season entering tonight, that changes as the Jays finally go yard.

</div>
<h2>Need to bide the time until first pitch?</h2>
Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew makes <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/bjn-radio-ep-131-here-are-23-predictions-for-the-2023-mlb-season">23 predictions ahead of the 2023 season</a>.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sHIFQarkT6p9hGcgiLLF7?si=efI-c0zBQAGk-7wRQ5hsWQ

<hr />

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

<hr />

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