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Reviewing the ups and downs from the Blue Jays’ West Coast road trip
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Photo credit: © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Veronica Chung
May 12, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: May 12, 2025, 07:45 EDT
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Starting the West Coast road trip right after losing a series wasn’t the best send-off for the Blue Jays. While the beginning of their game on the West may not have been the strongest, the trip did end on a high note with more momentum for Toronto. 
With that in mind, below are a few ups and downs from the Blue Jays’ road games on the West Coast. To generate the most amount of hope for the home stand, the list will begin with downs and end with ups. 

Down #1: Lack of any run support to start the Angels series

To be clear, the Blue Jays scored more than one or two runs even when they lost their series to the Cleveland Guardians at home before the road trip. However, the problem was that the lineup couldn’t simply provide enough runs for pitchers to count on right out of the gate. That’s how the Blue Jays lost the first and second games to the Los Angeles Angels by 3-8 and 4-5, respectively. They squandered multiple chances in each game to try and put the lead on their side, but fell short of expectations.
Between those two games, the Jays left 15 batters on base and went 5 for 21 with runners in scoring position. Things turned around in the third game of the series and then kept swinging well in Seattle, but two winnable games to start the Angels series did not go the Blue Jays’ way.

Down #2: Garcia and Hoffman struggle out of the gate

If there was any other issue that contributed to the Blue Jays’ struggles early in the road trip, it was the inevitable bullpen implosion. Up until this road trip, Toronto’s bullpen hadn’t given up many runs, and Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman have been nails who were very much in the circle of trust. But the bullpen was never going to be perfect the whole way through the season–some kind of implosion was bound to happen given how many games they were needed in, and that happened to be at the start of the West Coast road trip for the Blue Jays. Garcia’s can be traced back to the Cleveland series, but it doubled down early in Los Angeles.
Garcia and Hoffman took the loss for the game on May 6 and May 7, respectively, when they surrendered three earned runs each (Hoffman also gave up three runs during the May 6th game) and eventually handed the wins over to the Angels. This ties back into the first point, in that the lack of run support meant they needed to come in and pitch, but these two needed to be perfect time and time again, and this time, things didn’t go their way.
Both arms bounced back in Seattle and got some rest when the team bested the Mariners yesterday, so hopefully this rough patch stays out west.

Down #3: Anthony Santander and Andrés Giménez’s injuries 

Anthony Santander and Andrés Giménez have been mainstays on the roster since the start of the year, so both players suffering injuries during this road trip wasn’t the most ideal outcome for the team.
In theory, Santander provided much-needed pop to Toronto’s offence while Giménez brought his base-stealing and quality contact skills to the plate, while also adding some early home run power to the equation. Losing both players wasn’t going to bode well for the Blue Jays’ offence long term because relying on bench players hasn’t been the best recipe to win more games for Canada’s team for the past few seasons. Gimenez will be out for the next week or so, given he is on the 10-day IL, while manager John Schneider expects Santander to be ready for the Tuesday game, which is good to see.
Having either of these two players go down for the long term may be a tough pill to swallow, although some others have found a rhythm on this road trip in their absence, which may be able to carry the small burden (more on that below).

Up #1: Offensive explosion in Seattle

The 2025 Blue Jays showed a lot of signs of resembling the 2023 Blue Jays when it came to offence, as the team largely struggled to score any runs. That remained true for April as Toronto relied on its excellent pitching for the most part to win any games. The hope was that the team would turn things around in terms of this narrative, and it certainly has on this road trip, especially when the team got to Seattle. 
At first, the offensive outputs mostly consisted of playing small ball, rather than depending on home-run power. This was understandable given that the bottom of the lineup contributed the most in scoring more runs in some games on the West Coast. Thankfully, the Blue Jays also showed off their home run abilities for the last game at T-Mobile Park when Addison Barger and George Springer homered in a scoring fest. Bo Bichette also demonstrated his power when he clubbed a two-run home run on May 10 as well, with the club scoring 21 runs through the three-game series. 
If there was any major takeaway about the Blue Jays’ offence, it’s the fact that the team can show up and score runs in bunches. Whether this ability will remain consistent is another question, but for now, this is a good time to have some cautious optimism around this lineup’s potential and the momentum they are carrying into their next series at home.

Up #2: The rise of Addison Barger, Mason Fluharty, Myles Straw, and Nathan Lukes

This road trip had some special revelations for the Blue Jays as unlikely heroes emerged.
Addison Barger kept hitting the ball hard and generated 107+ mph in all of his five hits in the series against the Seattle Mariners. Mason Fluharty didn’t even give the opponents any chance to beat him. Sportsnet’s Chris Black found that Fluharty faced 47 batters in 14 1/3 innings and only gave up one earned run and one hit in the past five weeks. Needless to say, both players were crucial in securing a series sweep in Seattle. 
Nathan Lukes also got his chance to string together productive hits throughout the six-game road trip and even clubbed a home run at T-Mobile Park that propelled the Blue Jays to secure their first win against the Seattle Mariners. His counterpart in Myles Straw also collected two hits in the series, both of which drove in runs. 
It might be unlikely that both Barger, Fluharty, Straw, and Lukes will keep up their paces because growth isn’t exactly linear, especially in baseball. But if all three players can consistently contribute despite their ups and downs throughout the season, it will relieve the pressure on the core players to carry the team. Besides, it’s in Toronto’s best interest for the group to continue succeeding because they could prove that the Blue Jays have made a significant improvement in their talent development, especially since Barger is going to see increased playing time with Gimenez on the IL.

Up #3: Stellar defence in Seattle

Before starting this section, there have been some regrettable defensive mishaps on the Blue Jays’ end on this road trip (an Ernie Clement fielding error being the highlight). Nonetheless, if there’s anything that helps this road trip look better in hindsight, it’s that there still were outstanding defensive contributions around the diamond and in the outfield. And the Jays found that in Seattle. 
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got to demonstrate his defensive IQ, Addison Barger threw incredibly hard and made an impressive snag at the hot corner, Daulton Varsho was doing his usual job (which is a marvel to most) and Myles Straw dove to get Toronto out of the sticky situations. Without a sharp defence, the road trip result would have looked much grimmer. Scoring runs is cool too, but defence also matters, and the Jays didn’t lack any of that late in the trip.

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