Each year, I always enjoy seeing the Jays' upcoming schedule: look at all that baseball waiting to be played! The following are some random ramblings on the subject.
(Here is a link to the USA Today schedule page for the Blue Jays, if you want to play along at home.)
One refreshing change this year is that the Jays play all of the other teams in the AL East at least once in April, and face all their divisional opponents both home and away by May 4. (There have been years in which the Jays didn't face, say, the Baltimore Orioles until June or July.) The Jays also face all of their divisional opponents both home and away in September. Clearly, the schedule maker has deliberately decided to ensure that every team faces all of its rivals right off the bat and down the stretch. This is a good thing.
As usual, April is a cruel month for the Blue Jays. They face the Yankees twice, the Red Sox twice, Texas and Oakland once, and the Orioles once. The only soft opponent is the Devil Rays, who play six games against the Jays in April.
The toughest part of the Jays' April schedule is their lack of off-days: after an April 7 rest day, they play games on 17 straight days, finally getting a rest on the 25th. (Oddly enough, they don't travel on that day.) Since the Jays are likely to be without Ted Lilly for part of that month, and are still trying to consolidate the back end of their starting rotation, some of this month's games are likely to be ugly.
One thing I don't understand: in the old days (e.g., 1987), a team based in the Eastern time zone usually had to travel to the west coast only twice a year. And, when they travelled, they usually had an off-day on the way out, an off-day on the way back, or both. This year, the Jays swing out to the coast three times: an excursion to Oakland and Texas in mid-April, a week in Seattle and Oakland starting at the end of May, and a side trip to Anaheim in mid-August. The Jays have no off-day for travel, either there or back, for the first two trips.
I'm curious whether west coast teams do well against their opponents on the first game of home stands, as their opponents are likely to be tired and jet-lagged.
The softest part of the schedule is late June. Starting June 17, the Jays face Milwaukee at home, Baltimore at home, Washington away, and Tampa Bay away. Look for the club to make a move during that 13-game stretch, if they're going to make a move at all.
The Jays have a number of longer home stands this year. They play 10 days in a row at home in June (St. Louis, Milwaukee, Baltimore), and have a 10-game, 11-day home stretch in mid-September (Boston, Yankees, Seattle). They also have a 9-game home stand in May, and an 8-game one in April.
The Road Trip From Hell is in August, featuring 13 games in 14 days. They start off in Baltimore, fly out to Anaheim, back to Detroit, and finish it off with four games against the Yankees in the Bronx. Ugh. The Jays also have a 14-day, 13-game road swing in late May (Seattle, Oakland, Chicago Cubs, Houston), but at least this doesn't cover as many time zones.
My favourite pet peeve: why on earth are the Jays never home on Canada Day or during the August Civic Holiday weekend? I've never understood this. Giving the Jays a summer holiday home date would bring thousands of dollars of extra revenue into baseball's coffers. It's like free money; why are they not taking advantage of it? Do they feel that the Jays would have an unfair financial advantage if they get to play on a Canadian holiday? Or is the Rogers Centre always booked on holidays for rock concerts, monster truck pulls, or "Up With People!" conventions? What is going on here?
An oddity: the Jays have the day off on the Fourth of July. Since the American League has an even number of teams, and isn't playing the National League on that day, this means that another American League team has the day off on America's national holiday. This makes even less sense than making the Jays play on the road on Canada Day. What are they thinking?
Despite all of these complaints, I would say that this year's schedule is better and fairer than some of the strange travel itineraries foisted on the Jays in years past. Comments?
