Opening Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Spring training is coming to an end and opening day for the Tampa Bay Rays is under a week away. To open the 2024 season, they will face the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field starting March 28th. Here is a look at what the Rays can expect from the Blue Jays.

In 2023, Toronto went 89-73 and finished third in the AL East. They made the playoffs as the third Wild Card team in the American League and went on to lose to the Minnesota Twins in two games. This is a mirror image of the Rays' exit from the playoffs, as they lost to the Texas Rangers in two games during the Wild Card round.

The head-to-head series between the Rays and Blue Jays last season was 8-6 in favor of Tampa Bay last season. In Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay was 4-3 against Toronto. The all-time series total sits at 245-206 in favor of the Rays.

The Blue Jays announced that Jose Berrios would get the Opening Day start. He is coming off of a 2023 season with a 3.65 ERA in 32 starts and 184 strikeouts in 189.2 total innings. He had very good command, with a 6.6% walk rate that was in the 77th percentile.

Berrios has pitched in 10 games against the Tampa Bay Rays in his career. Four of those games are from when he was with the Twins and six were with the Blue Jays. He has a 3-4 record against the Rays and a ERA of 4.91. His last start against the Rays was back in May in Tropicana Field, when he pitched seven innings of one-run baseball.

Some key injuries for the Blue Jays include catcher Danny Jansen and starting pitchers Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah.

First pitch on March 28th between Tampa Bay and Toronto is at 4:10 p.m. E.T.