Jays take two of three from Yankee’s to kick off season

The Toronto Blue Jays began their season on Thursday with a three-game series against the New York Yankee’s. Many believe the Yankee’s to not only be the top team in the AL East, but in the entire MLB.

However, the Blue Jays didn’t want people to forget about them so quickly and believe they can contend for the top spot in the AL East this season, and this series was their first statement to that claim. They won the season opener Thursday 3-2, lost on Saturday 5-3 and closed it out Sunday with a 3-1 victory to win the series. With that, let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories from the opening series.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Guerrero Jr. has had a great start at the plate, and that is music to the ears of every single Blue Jays fan. In his first at-bat of the season, he hit a ball off a pitch from Gerrit Cole at 114.1 MPH. No player has ever hit a Gerrit Cole pitched baseball that hard, ever.

He also has shown great patience at the plate, drawing two walks against Cole in that very same game. In the three games the Jays have played so far, he currently has a .333 batting average and an OPS of 1.167!

Bullpen looking legit

The Jays bullpen took a pretty significant hit with Kirby Yates' loss for the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery. Fear not, though, as so far, the rest of the Blue Jays bullpen has stepped up and delivered big against one of the best lineups in baseball.

Players such as Tyler Chatwood, Ryan Borucki, David Phelps, and Jordon Romano all saw action in two of the three games and have combined to allow zero runs against a dangerous Yankee's lineup. All have looked confident on the pitching mound and are looking to solidify their roles in a deep Blue Jays bullpen. However, there is one relief pitcher that needs special recognition.

Julian Merryweather

Remember this player; he was who the Blue Jays got in return for Josh Donaldson in 2018. Merryweather got into eight games with the Jays last season, had a 4.15 ERA, and 15 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched.

This season though, with Montoyo needed to see who's going to step up and be the team's closer, Merryweather has risen to the challenge and excelled. He was dominating in both Thursday's and Saturday's games, completing the final three outs in both.

He has pitched two innings, faced six batters, and struck out five of them. He has made it look easy against the Yankee's, overpowering them with a high 90's fastball and deceiving changeup. He has quickly begun the favourite to be the team's closing pitcher, and Jays' management and fans must be thrilled to be seeing actual value now emerge from the player we received for our former MVP.

George Springer

Many were disappointed not to see Springer starting the season in centre field instead of on the IR with an oblique injury.

He is eligible to return to action this Thursday, April 8th, against the Los Angeles Angles. General Manager Ross Atkins has recently said that it's very possible that Springer could play that game if his injury continues to progress nicely.