Oakland at Toronto, Apr 15-17

We've got roughly a week of the 2022 season in the books. No one has burst from the gate with their hair on fire, no one has stumbled and now rolls around piteously. Everyone's won a couple, everyone's lost a couple. Well, everyone but Baltimore. Half the teams in the AL have won four games, including the Jays and the A's.

As is generally known, in the interval between the World Series and Opening Day the A's decided that after three straight years of post-season activity last season's 86-76 log was a harbinger of Bad Times to come. They decided to get a jump on the badness by getting rid of their best players. Accordingly, they traded away both of their corner infielders, the Matts Olson and Chapman, who were also their top two power hitters a year ago. Not being ones for half-measures; they also traded away two of their better starting pitchers, Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt, who combined to go 23-14 in 59 starts in 2021.  Longtime manager Bob Melvin read the tea leaves and decided the time was right to seek out pastures greener and golder.

The new man in charge is Mark Kotsay, who was an active player not so long ago and has now managed exactly seven games in the majors, even if he looks like a guy who's been doing the job for years. The Jays will see the two men taking the place of Manaea and Bassitt in the Oakland rotation. How's it going? Well, neither Blackburn nor Jefferies allowed a run in their season debut. It's going okay. Sunday's starter, Adam Oller, is filling in for James Kaprielian, who has just started a rehab assignment and should be back in action by the end of the month.

Matchups?

Fri 15 Apr - Stripling (0-0, 9.00) vs Jefferies (1-0, 0.00)

Sat 16 Apr - Ryu (0-0, 16.20) vs Blackburn (1-0, 0.00)

Sun 17 Apr - Manoah (1-0, 0.00) vs Oller (0-0, 33.75)