Well, folks, it’s not looking great. We&#8217;re now 43 games into the 2024 season and the Blue Jays sit at 19-23, good for last place in the AL East. 

The pitching has been serviceable, but not enough to overcome the bottom-barrel offensive performances we’ve almost come to expect from the club. Down near the bottom of the league in nearly every offensive metric, the Jays are currently putting out the worst statistical offensive numbers we’ve seen from them in quite some time. Their OPS of .661 is the second-lowest in franchise history; you have to go back to 1981 when they put up a .617 OPS to find worse. Their batting average is also the 2nd lowest in franchise history at .227. But why? 
The team hasn’t undergone any massive offensive changes; they lost Matt Chapman to the Giants and Whit Merrifield to the Phillies — two regulars who certainly were a factor last season, but attributing this season’s offensive struggles to their departure would be outlandish. Their bats were also more or less replaced by Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The more likely area of impact that’s being noticed is on defence. The Jays haven’t looked the same this year, aside from Daulton Varsho roaming the outfield, the defence has been okay. 
Following Friday&#8217;s loss to the Tampa Bay Ras, one that saw Tampa pitcher Tyler Alexander carry a perfect game through seven innings, Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt spoke to the media, and it appears the team is as desperate for answers as the rest of us. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Asked Chris Bassitt how he feels about the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a>&#39; season at this point:
Bassitt: “Struggling.”<a href="https://twitter.com/thehazelmae?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thehazelmae</a> asked what needs to change: 
Bassitt: “If you have that answer, let us know.”
&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1791655621764194780?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bassit is having an off-year himself, especially considering he put up some of the best numbers of his career just last season. His ERA has jumped from the mid 3.00s to the low 5.00s, and his walk rate per nine is up to 4.3, which is quite the hike from the 2.7 he put out last year.
Vlad and Bo haven’t hit up to their usual tempo; Bo, especially after coming off a scorching .306 BA in 2023, is hitting just .221 with a .592 OPS. George Springer’s bat is apparently still in Cancun, as he’s swinging career lows in average at .196 and OPS at .558. 
In a competitive AL East, it will take an incredible turnaround of this talented yet stifled group to have a shot at playoffs. Schneider will have decisions to make, but at the end of the day, the players have to go out there and play.

Well, folks, it’s not looking great. We're now 43 games into the 2024 season and the Blue Jays sit at 19-23, good for last place in the AL East. 



The pitching has been serviceable, but not enough to overcome the bottom-barrel offensive performances we’ve almost come to expect from the club. Down near the bottom of the league in nearly every offensive metric, the Jays are currently putting out the worst statistical offensive numbers we’ve seen from them in quite some time. Their OPS of .661 is the second-lowest in franchise history; you have to go back to 1981 when they put up a .617 OPS to find worse. Their batting average is also the 2nd lowest in franchise history at .227. But why? 

The team hasn’t undergone any massive offensive changes; they lost Matt Chapman to the Giants and Whit Merrifield to the Phillies — two regulars who certainly were a factor last season, but attributing this season’s offensive struggles to their departure would be outlandish. Their bats were also more or less replaced by Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The more likely area of impact that’s being noticed is on defence. The Jays haven’t looked the same this year, aside from Daulton Varsho roaming the outfield, the defence has been okay. 

Following Friday's loss to the Tampa Bay Ras, one that saw Tampa pitcher Tyler Alexander carry a perfect game through seven innings, Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt spoke to the media, and it appears the team is as desperate for answers as the rest of us. 

https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1791655621764194780

Bassit is having an off-year himself, especially considering he put up some of the best numbers of his career just last season. His ERA has jumped from the mid 3.00s to the low 5.00s, and his walk rate per nine is up to 4.3, which is quite the hike from the 2.7 he put out last year.

Vlad and Bo haven’t hit up to their usual tempo; Bo, especially after coming off a scorching .306 BA in 2023, is hitting just .221 with a .592 OPS. George Springer’s bat is apparently still in Cancun, as he’s swinging career lows in average at .196 and OPS at .558. 

In a competitive AL East, it will take an incredible turnaround of this talented yet stifled group to have a shot at playoffs. Schneider will have decisions to make, but at the end of the day, the players have to go out there and play.

‘If you have that answer, let us know:’ Blue Jays pitcher searches for answers to team’s struggles

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