Blue Jays bullpen will have major impact on 2022 playoff dreams

On Opening Day, the Toronto Blue Jays’ slugging star power stole the show. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in an early run, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. plated the game-winning RBI and Teoscar Hernández awoke the fans with an emphatic opposite field three-run blast.

The batting order deservedly gets a lot of love, but Toronto’s bullpen facilitated Friday’s win by carrying the team from the very first inning to the last out of the ballgame.

While it most certainly won’t be called on that early in every game, the Blue Jays bullpen will be critical to the club’s success in 2022, especially if they keep winning. Of course, amid all the razzle-dazzle of Opening Day, it’s easy to forget the ‘pen’s importance.

“We’re used to it,” said Blue Jays lefty Tayler Saucedo, who pitched on Friday. “I'm a big football guy, so it's much like the linemen. Nobody talks about the linemen as much, but they're the key guys, how the offence runs and everything like that. So, for baseball, it's the same thing.”

There lies the irony. Relievers are indeed like offensive linemen in football, underappreciated during times of success, openly shamed during noticeable failures, but critical to a team’s functionality. It’s very difficult for a major-league club to make the playoffs without competent innings from its bullpen, and last season was a perfect example of that.

The Blue Jays won 91 games in 2021 and still finished one lousy game shy of a wild-card berth. And when you finish a single game short, it’s tempting to point fingers at one aspect of your team that slipped up.

“We hear it all,” Saucedo said. “We hear what people have to say, and it’s easy to blame the bullpen when things go wrong.”

It’s debatable whether Toronto’s ‘pen was deserving of such harsh criticism. Statistically, the Blue Jays ranked near the middle of the pack, finishing 11th in reliever FIP (4.38) and 13th in K-BB% (14.9%). It had more to do with the handful of abominable outings through May and June from the likes of Travis Bergen, Tyler Chatwood and Rafael Dolis that stained the bullpen’s reputation — and that’s why the group is extra motivated in 2022.

“Based off of what happened last year, and then being one game away, I think it goes without saying that we're hungry and we have a chip on our shoulder entering this year, for sure,” said veteran reliever Tim Mayza.

Like with any group of people who’ve battled adversity, there’s the belief that this band of relievers can come back even stronger this season. In fact, the ups and downs of last year made this group grow even closer.

“When things go south or when things don't go their way, every guy has that sense of accountability,” Mayza said. “But as a ‘pen, as a whole, it's our job to pick up the next guy.”

For Toronto, one of its bigger weaknesses was the “bridge” innings between when the starter leaves the game and when the eighth-inning man takes over. Because of that, the Blue Jays were last in MLB with 58 holds last season.

“I think a little bit of it had to do with some injuries early,” bullpen coach Matt Buschmann said. “And kind of a rotating group that really didn't get their feet underneath them in that fifth, sixth, seventh inning to hand it off to those guys late.”

A newfound sense of stability will make the bullpen better this year, Buschmann said. Mayza and closer Jordan Romano have emerged as leaders of a group that’ll begin the season with a roster of all returning players, plus offseason addition Yimi García.

“I think that'll end up being a huge positive for them this year because they've lived through [last season],” Buschmann said. “They understand it.”

This Blue Jays lineup is going to hit and while the rotation faltered Friday, the starting pitching will still be reliable for the rest of the season.

With a truly dominant roster, the Blue Jays see themselves as a World Series calibre team. If they want a championship, they’ll need a steady presence from their relievers — and that tone-setting process begins right now.

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