The Toronto Blue Jays have been impressing people around the MLB. John Schneider has recently sent a strong message to his team following their three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The rest of August is tough sledding for the Blue Jays. They have series against the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, and Seattle Mariners to close out August.
John Schneider Gives Message to the Toronto Blue Jays
They may have dropped their final game to the Phillies, but they took Games 1 & 2. They are 6-4 in their last 10.
Prior to the Phillies series, the Blue Jays came out with winning records against the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Nationals.
That’s when Schneider has displayed his faith in his team, offering up a strong message of confidence.
“If we can have the mentality, the intensity and the cohesiveness, everyone doing their part, I’ll take my chances with these guys,” Schneider said via MLB.com. “You never know when a team kind of finds itself and turns the corner a little bit. And I like what’s going on in the clubhouse.”
“When you’re getting into the dog days of August and down the stretch, there’s nothing better than meaningful baseball.”
Schneider went on to talk about some of the players that the team chose to keep when they could have been traded to clear contenders.
“We purposely kept guys here that we thought could help us win and purposely acquired guys that we thought could help us win this year and going forward.”
Schneider knows that every one of his players is putting in 110 percent effort every night.
“If me and the staff are tired, imagine how the players are feeling,” Schneider said via The Athletic. “They’re gassed. They’re leaving it all out there.”
“Yeah, it’s a tough stretch, but we’re playing good. And I like the fact that we won a series against a really tough team in their place. You’ve got to take that home with you.”
Acknowledging the players’ effort might seem trivial on the surface, but that acknowledgment goes a long way with the team.
This kind of belief could be the difference between the Blue Jays thriving during the grind of this week, or buckling and crumbling under the pressure.
Toronto Blue Jays Busy Trade Deadline
The Blue Jays had a very busy trade deadline.
They added Jameson Taillon from the Chicago Cubs, before turning around and sending Kevin Gausman there and getting Brett Bateman back in return.
Jose Soriano, Spencer Arrighetti, Josh Smith, Dasan Hill, and Josh Stephan all came in, with Jeff Hoffman, Daulton Varsho, and Gausman getting traded away.
Not to mention the emergence of Brett Bateman. Here is a young player who went from batting ninth to leadoff over a single series. So far, Schneider likes what he sees from him.
“The contact, the speed, the discipline, the defense, all that kind of stuff, I think is a pretty different profile than we’ve had here in a while,” Schneider said to The Athletic.
And that might explain Bateman’s rise to the top, and why Bateman is batting second in the order in their first game against the Boston Red Sox.
Perhaps the more telling move from the Blue Jays was keeping the likes of George Springer and Shane Bieber. Both players are on expiring contracts heading into the 2026 winter.
With the kind of support that the Blue Jays get from Schneider, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team get red-hot in the near future.
John Schneider Has Strong Message For Toronto Blue Jays After Phillies Series