Blue Jays 'have to figure out' highs and lows, Schneider says
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The Toronto Blue Jays continued their 'Jeckyll and Hyde' act over the weekend.
Toronto followed perhaps their most impressive series of the season in a sweep of the San Diego Padres with a brutal sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, capped off by a 13-0 blasting on Sunday.
At times, the team has appeared to be rounding into form - they've gone on six winning streaks of three-or-more games this season. Other times, the offence disappears, the pitching goes through a rough stretch and the manager sounds like he's lost.
"The highs and lows, we have to figure that out," Jays manager John Schneider said after Sunday's game. "We have to be better at being more consistent. That’s when you see the true identity of who we are.”
Toronto amassed just 14 hits and two runs across their three-game series against Tampa Bay over the weekend, and lost the three games by a combined score of 19-2.
After playing their last nine games in the friendly, domed confines of the Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays were greeted by sweltering conditions in Tampa Bay - playing in the open field of George M. Steinbrenner Field, which the Rays are calling home after the roof of Tropicana Field was damaged by Hurricane Milton in October of 2024.
Temperatures reached as high as 34 degrees Celsius on the field in Sunday's game, and Schneider felt that may have worn the team down.
“I think that today was the first time, halfway through the game, that the environment creeps into your head a little bit. It’s tough. It’s really hot," Schneider said. "The environment is just different. I don’t want to say that we’re spoiled, but everyone has earned the right to play in the big leagues at a big league ballpark, so I think that creeps in a bit today."
The Jays continue their brief road trip with a stop in Texas to face the Rangers, and will enter that game at 25-27, just a game out of second in the AL East, but behind where the team was hoping to be at this point.
“I know that we’re capable of [playing better than this],” Schneider told reporters after Sunday's loss.
“We’re better than that,” Schneider said. “It’s frustrating coming off the series at home against San Diego.”
The Blue Jays have never fared well in Tampa Bay - the franchise owns a 92-144 all-time record at Tropicana Field, a winning percentage of .390.
Toronto didn't have to worry about playing at the house of horrors that is Tropicana Field, but George M. Steinbrenner Field was not much of an improvement.