Tag: Toronto Blue Jays

Ravens WR Zay Flowers, LB Tavius Robinson attend Blue Jays game

Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers and outside linebacker Tavius Robinson attended a Toronto Blue Jays game over the weekend

The Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles have a bond by city that can never be broken. The two franchises are sure to include one another in multiple ways, from player crossovers to good luck wishes.

Over the weekend, two second-year Ravens players attended an MLB game, but not in Baltimore for the Orioles. Wide receiver Zay Flowers and outside linebacker Tavius Robinson attended a Toronto Blue Jays game, and the team posted pictures of the two throughout their experience with the Orioles’ AL East rival.

Robinson is from Guelph, Canada, and seems to have taken Flowers along for the ride with him here. Both seemed to enjoy themselves at the game, but to the chagrin of Ravens fans everywhere, who also double as Orioles fans.

MLB fans were confused after Justin Turner was ruled safe because his helmet blocked the Guardians’ tag

That’s a new one.

In any given baseball game, you’re bound to see something new. And yet, the MLB rulebook has seemingly thought of every scenario. That was the case on Sunday.

With the Blue Jays batting in the first inning of their game against the Guardians, Justin Turner looked to advance to second when Triston McKenzie spiked a curveball into the dirt. The aggressive base running seemingly backfired as David Fry’s throw to second was on the money and ahead of Turner’s slide.

Turner was called out on the play, but Blue Jays manager John Schneider noticed that Daniel Schneemann’s tag was applied to Turner’s dislodged helmet. He challenged the play, and that ended up being a smart move.

The replay would show that Schneemann’s tag only made contact with Turner’s helmet, which basically blocked the glove from applying the tag anywhere else. MLB rules don’t consider equipment as part of the body when it comes loose in the natural course of a play. So, a player can’t intentionally remove his helmet and block tags. But when something like that happens, tagging a loose helmet does not count.

A similar play happened last season when Ozzie Albies got a stolen base because his loose helmet was tagged.

Replay got the call right and overturned the initial out ruling. Turner ended up getting stranded at second, so the call didn’t have a major impact. But still, it was enough to have MLB fans confused.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

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Former Notre Dame infielder Cavan Biggio traded to Los Angeles Dodgers

Hope he does well with his new team.

[autotag]Cavan Biggio[/autotag] wasn’t out of an MLB job for very long. Less than a week after the Toronto Blue Jays designated the former Notre Dame infielder and son of Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio for assignment, a trade partner was found in the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Blue Jays traded Biggio to the Dodgers for minor-league pitcher Braydon Fisher. So basically, Biggio is swapping one blue uniform for another and will be in a much better position going to a World Series contender.

Biggio is in his sixth MLB season and has spent his entire professional career with the Blue Jays until now. This year has been a struggle for him as he’s slashed .200/.323/.291 for a career-worst .614 OPS over 44 games. Perhaps going into a situation where he won’t be pressured or expected to do as much on a stacked roster will be beneficial for him.

Best of luck to Biggio in his new surroundings.

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Former Notre Dame Baseball Star Gets DFA’d by Blue Jays

Tough season for the former Domer

Former Notre Dame baseball star [autotag]Cavan Biggio[/autotag] has been designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Biggo was originally called up by the Blue Jays back in 2019 and has spent parts of the last six seasons with the squad.

This year Biggio is hitting just .200 with a .323 on-base percentage while slugging only .291, easily the lowest of his career.

Biggio has played in 490 games for the Blue Jays in his six seasons, recording 336 hits and scoring 246 runs.  He hit 16 home runs in his debut season but never more than nine in a single season since.

Biggio, the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, starred at Notre Dame from 2014-2016, getting on base at a .406 clip and totaling an OPS over .800 with the Fighting Irish.

Biggio will sit in a holding pattern for the next seven days as the Blue Jays have the option to either waive him or trade him, all depending on if any claims are made for him.

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Lip-readers think Chris Bassitt had a hilarious NSFW message for Yordan Alvarez after getting shelled repeatedly

Yordan Alvarez is giving Chris Bassitt a hard time.

Pitching to Yordan Alvarez is no fun for anybody, but especially not for Toronto Blue Jays righty Chris Bassitt.

Even before Wednesday’s game against the Houston Astros, his career numbers against the slugger were sub-optimal, albeit on a small sample size. After the game, the sample size increased but the numbers got worse.

Alvarez went 4-for-5 in the game with two home runs and three RBI, and three of those hits came off Bassitt, including the third-inning home run and an RBI double in the fourth inning. Once the fourth ended, Bassitt had a few words for Alvarez.

Lip-readers think he said “you’re [expletive] killing me, man.”

If that is what he said, he would be right. Alvarez is now 8-for-18 with five home runs in his career against Bassitt.

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Gerrit Cole furiously rips Daniel Vogelbach for a bat flip and slow HR trot in spring training

Gerrit Cole was MAD at this.

It’s only spring training, but we’ve already got some beef ahead of the 2024 MLB season.

On Friday, New York Yankees star Gerrit Cole threw a fastball that Toronto Blue Jays slugger Daniel Vogelbach sent deep into the Florida night. There would be no problem with that, but Vogelbach gave a little bat flip and maybe Cole thought his home run trot was a little slow for a game that was happening on the first day of March and not in the regular season.

“Yeah, what’s the day? Are we still in February? March 1st? Yeah, he enjoyed that homer,” Cole said on Friday, per MLB’s Bryan Hoch. And Cole added this when asked if he’d remember that: “I don’t forget a lot of things.”

WHEW.

A mesmerizing video of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hitting monster HRs with a metal bat had MLB fans in awe

So, that’s what happens when an MLB player gets a metal bat …

Once baseball players join the professional ranks, their days of playing games with metal bats are effectively over. It’s all wood bats, and there’s a very good reason for that:

It’s legitimately dangerous for MLB players to use a metal bat. Just look at what happens when Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got to use one in a home run derby.

MLB’s Twitter/X account shared a video from the weekend’s charity home run derby in Puerto Rico where Guerrero put on an absolute show with a metal bat. If you think he hits baseballs hard with a wood bat, that video put into perspective just how big a difference a metal bat makes.

Any person within 600 feet of that stadium was in danger. We won’t see MLB take a similar approach with its home run derby unless the league wants to clear out the stands and kids in the outfield.

But still, that video was incredible and MLB fans’ jaws collectively dropped watching it. Those were some serious moonshots.

Shohei Ohtani reportedly wasn’t in Toronto on Friday as free agency rumors intensify

The Shohei Ohtani free agency saga has taken yet another turn.

For about an hour on Friday afternoon, it appeared that Los Angeles Angels superstar pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was going to be a Toronto Blue Jay. And he still could end up with the organization, but we just don’t know yet.

What began as a mere rumor with amateur flight trackers and unverified videos of Ohtani in an airport terminal was brought into the mainstream when it was reported that the free agent was en route to Toronto, though it noted Ohtani’s representative did not confirm that.

While MLB fans waited on the edge of their seats for official word of an agreement, a subsequent report from USA TODAY Sports columnist Bob Nightengale threw everything into flux.

Multiple other reports later confirmed Nightengale’s scoop that Ohtani was never in Toronto and is still in southern California.

It’s been a secretive free agency process so far for the three-time All-Star and two-time American League MVP, and while it seemed like it was heading toward a resolution Friday, the rumor mill only continues to intensify surrounding where Ohtani will play in 2024 and beyond.

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Toronto sports anchor absolutely roasted Los Angeles in an impassioned Blue Jays pitch for Shohei Ohtani

He was COOKING.

Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani could make his decision in free agency any day now. And if there’s one thing we’re absolutely certain of, it’s that he is not watching what TV personalities in the potential markets have to say about him.

That doesn’t stop those TV personalities from making pitches, though.

Earlier this week, former MLB player Jerry Hairston Jr. appeared on SportsNet LA and tried to convince Ohtani to stay away from the Toronto Blue Jays. Hairston listed reasons like listening to two national anthems, paying high taxes and dealing with cold weather as reasons why Toronto wouldn’t be a great fit. The entire segment was silly, but Citytv’s Sid Seixeiro certainly took notice.

He was not about to let Hairston have the last word at all.

Seixeiro pointed out that Toronto’s taxes aren’t exactly a valid concern when the alternative is California. He added that two national anthems aren’t an issue when Canada has the superior anthem (valid). But the main takeaway here is that Hairston’s remarks got a Canadian to sound mean. That’s how good Shohei Ohtani is — Canadians will full-on roast a major American city if it means 10 years of Ohtani. And I can’t blame Seixeiro either.

Fans also enjoyed the segment as Ohtani is thought to be considering the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Cubs, Braves and Giants. Who cares that Shohei will never see it?