Opening Day drubbing captures how 'fragile' Blue Jays season may be, says Matheson

The Toronto Blue Jays got their 2025 season started off on the wrong foot Thursday, suffering a 12-2 dismantling at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles on home turf.

Toronto's offence didn't get a man on base until the fourth inning and finished with just four hits, while the Orioles smashed six home runs as part of a 14-hit barrage.

MLB.com's Keegan Matheson joined First Up on TSN1050 on Friday to discuss how the Blue Jays played, how he expects the season to play out and how the opening-day effort may be a microcosm of the entire season.

"We're back," said Matheson, succinctly summing up the experience of Opening Day. "[There was] a real sense of 'okay, we've seen this before.'"

Toronto's 2024 campaign, in which they finished last in the AL East with a 74-88 record, was plagued by a lack of offensive production and a struggling bullpen.

It was more of the same against the Orioles on Thursday, where the bullpen was shelled for six runs and the offence mustered only four hits and scored a pair of runs on a two-run homer by second baseman Andres Gimenez in the fourth inning.

What went wrong for the Blue Jays, and will it be fixed through the season?

"It's still all about the offence for me. Jose Berrios (Toronto's starter on Thursday, who allowed six runs in five innings) will find his way, he always does," Matheson said. "This is about the offence finding some upside this year, and they need to find it because this rotation is good."

The Blue Jays ranked 23rd in runs scored a season ago with 4.14 runs per game. Their 156 home runs hit as a team ranked fifth-worst in the major leagues.

"Yes it's opening day, yes it's one game, but I think if anything, [Thursday] showed me how fragile this season is going to be," Matheson said. "I think I'm starting to appreciate how quickly it can turn for the worst or for the better, if things go well, because right out of the gates fan sentiment tanks. People are angry. There's boos coming down on the home team on opening night."

"You need the offensive upside. Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander, they're probably going to provide most of that but you need something else," said Matheson. Bichette, Guerrero and Santander combined to go 0-for-10 with a pair of walks, but Bichette and Santander each fell short of a home run by a few feet in separate at-bats.

Bichette, 27, hit only four home runs in 81 games in what was a lost season a year ago. He eclipsed 20 home runs in each of the three campaigns before that. Santander was signed in the off-season after hitting 44 home runs with the Orioles in 2024. Outside of those three, Matheson has a few picks on who might be able to amplify the run-scoring potential of the lineup.

"I think [catcher] Alejandro Kirk can be part of this, I think [rookie outfielder] Alan Roden can be part of it, but you need that upside and you need power," said Matheson. "A little extra power can steal you a few games along the way, even when your pitching stumbles. It is still all about this offence. They need one or two hitters to step up and really play that supporting
role behind Bichette, Guerrero and Santander."

Roden impresses in big-league debut

Roden, a 25-year-old rookie outfielder, made his MLB debut for the Jays on Thursday after an impressive Spring Training in which he hit .407 with a stunning .541 on-base percentage across 20 games.

The lefty collected his first big-league hit on a groundball through the right side in the sixth inning, and worked a walk in the bottom of the eighth inning.

"I think a lot of the hype is warranted, for Roden," Matheson said. "I've been around young prospects who have had too much hype around them but I think he's a guy who can handle it. To see him get that out of the way and get on base a couple of times is pretty special."

Roden's demeanor after the game was almost out of a movie for a player making their major league debut.

"A group of us media were waiting to talk to Alan and I went up to him and said 'Hey Alan ,do you want to do this session right now or once you're done your [post-game routine],'" Matheson said. "And he looked around and said 'I don't know, what do you think?' And I told him 'Alan, you call the shots, you're in the big leagues, you do this when you want to do it.'"

Guerrero's contract situation will hang over the season like a cloud

Guerrero, a homegrown superstar who is slated to become a free agent at the end of the season, has been the centralizing story for the Blue Jays since spring training opened in February.

Reports have come out multiple times throughout camp about the ongoing negotiations between the 26 year old and the team.

"It's not going to go away," Matheson said, adding that he expects local media in every city the team plays in this year to take their chance to talk to Guerrero about where he might play next.

"Like we saw in spring training, someone will say 'Will you listen to all 30 teams? Will you listen to the Mets? To the Red Sox?' and Vladdy up to this point, a couple times, but just in a conversational manner says 'Yeah, sure, all 30 teams, the Yankees, yeah sure, no problem.'"

Matheson believes that there will not be a resolution during the season, that the situation will play out into the winter and be resolved in the off-season.

"No matter what the Blue Jays do this year, it's all going to be attached to Vladdy. Hopefully he doesn't fuel that discourse [by talking to the media openly about it]."