Blue Jays host Angels for weekend series, a team they’ve dominated in Toronto since 2023

Series Preview: Blue Jays host Angels for weekend series, a team they’ve dominated in Toronto since 2023

They’ve always been pretty slow starters, which includes both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Last season, the first major turning point of the season came against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, winning the series finale before sweeping their next series. Funnily enough, the second major turning point came after the Blue Jays were swept by the Rays in late May 2025, as they went on to win 13 of their next 16 games.

The third and final major turning point happened in late June/early July, sweeping the New York Yankees in a four-game series at Rogers Centre. They had won a game before the four-game series, which started an 11-game winning streak, their first since the two they had in 2015. The other team they swept in that winning streak was the Angels at home.

See, the Blue Jays have dominated the Angels the last few seasons, especially at home. In 2022, they won all four games they played in Anaheim, but were swept in a three-game series at Rogers Centre in late August 2022. Since then, they are 9-1 at home against the Angels, winning two of three at Rogers Centre in 2023, all four they played in 2024, and the three in 2025. In the last three years, the Blue Jays are 17-5 against the Angels.

Of course, the two teams played a series in Anaheim earlier this season. The Blue Jays won the first two games, but couldn’t string together hits off José Soriano in the series finale. That turned out to be their first series win since the season opener, and kick-started a four-series undefeated streak until the Jays were swept by the Rays earlier this week.

Ironically, it’s one year to the day that the Blue Jays won the series finale in Anaheim. Heading into May 8th’s game last season, the Jays were slashing .241/.310/.356 with 25 home runs and an 87 wRC+ after 36 games. They had hit the fewest home runs and had the seventh-lowest wRC+.

Flash forward a season, and they have 34 home runs, tied for the seventh-fewest, and a 92 wRC+, the seventh-lowest, in their 37 games played. Their pitching has been better so far this season when compared to this point last year. There’s still time, but the Blue Jays have to get going.

As for the Angels, it looks like it’ll be another losing season for them, but let’s take a look at what they have to offer.

Examining the Angels

So far this season, the Angels have been a better hitting team than the Blue Jays. They’ve hit 47 home runs, which is good enough to be tied for sixth this season. They’re offence has also been around league average, coming into this series with a 99 wRC+. That said, their offence isn’t perfect by any means, as their 25.5 K% is highest among the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

They also sit in the top third for starting pitching. Coming into this game, the Angels’ rotation has the 10th-best ERA (3.95) and the ninth-best FIP (3.86). The Angels also allowed just 17 home runs, tied for the third-fewest in MLB, two more than the Pittsburgh Pirates. One area of weakness with their starters is their 11.2 BB%, the second-highest walk rate for any rotation. That said, they have a respectable 22.8 K%, which sits in the middle of the pack.

There’s one big reason why the Angels’ starting pitch ranks so highly, but we’ll get to that in the next section.

Much like the Rays, if the Jays want to win this series, scoring runs off the Angels’ relievers is a must. In 142.2 innings pitched, Angels relievers have a 5.30 ERA, third-worst in MLB, and a 4.81 FIP, fifth-worst in MLB. Like the rotation, their relievers have struggled mightily with command, rocking a 12.5 BB%, tied for fourth-worst in the league.

The Angels’ rotation has done a great job of limiting home runs, but the same cannot be said about their relievers. In fact, their relievers have given up more home runs than their rotation, thanks to 19 long balls. That’s tied for sixth-most for any relief core in the league.

Make no mistake about it, this is a winnable series, but the Angels are also dangerous.

One player to watch: José Soriano

The last time that the Blue Jays played the Angels, we highlighted Mike Trout as the player to watch. He was a good candidate to be here again, but we’ll look at José Soriano this time.

Soriano started the series finale against the Blue Jays in late-April. Heading into that game, he had an MLB-best 0.28 ERA and 2.34 FIP, with a 32.5 K% and 10.8 BB%. Opponents were batting just .103 off him, just 11 hits over his first five starts, or 32.2 innings pitched.

It may sound weird to say that the Blue Jays found success off Soriano, given that he threw five scoreless innings, but they did just that. They picked up seven singles off the right-handed pitcher, raising his opponents’ batting average from .103 to .142. They just struggled to string together hits, which was a problem in the series opener against the Rays on Monday.

Those five scoreless innings dropped his ERA to 0.24. But in his two starts since then, Soriano has given up eight earned runs over nine innings of work. That includes four home runs, having just giving up one over his first six starts. Soriano’s ERA has “ballooned” to 1.74, which is still good enough for sixth-best among qualified pitchers.

That said, the Jays have found a modicum of success against Soriano and he’s proven to be hittable in the last two games. Hopefully, they can get their offence going and start to win some games.

Quick Hits

Soriano will pitch in the series finale on Sunday afternoon. On Friday, the Jays will face Reid Detmers, then Jack Kochanowicz on Saturday. In his last start against the Jays, Detmers gave up four earned runs over six innings of work, striking out five and walking two.
Kochanowicz’s best start of the season came against the Blue Jays. Over five and two-thirds innings of work, the 6’7″ righty allowed just one earned run, but struck out a season-low one batter and walked two. Patience is key.
Mike Trout is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and should go into Cooperstown unanimously, even if he doesn’t win a ring. The 34-year-old outfielder is slashing .260/.429/.550 with 11 home runs in 170 plate appearances for a 168 wRC+. What a damn good player he is.
Trout leads the team in home runs, but Jorge Soler is also off to a good start. This season, the designated hitter is slashing .238/.342/.475 with eight home runs in 146 plate appearances for a 125 wRC+. Oswald Peraza has a 120 wRC+ in 107 plate appearances, and Zach Neto has six home runs and a 107 wRC+ in 176 plate appearances.
Alek Manoah will serve as a reliever in this series for the Angels. The former Blue Jay most recently pitched in a big league game in early May 2024, before leaving and eventually requiring Tommy John surgery.
The Blue Jays weekend starters are Dylan Cease start on Friday, Trey Yesavage on Saturday, and Eric Lauer on Sunday. Similar to this Sunday’s game, Lauer was up against Soriano and gave up three earned runs over five innings of work.
Cease matched a season-high 12 strikeouts in his last time out against the Angels, doing so in just five innings of work. He only struck out seven last time out, but made it through seven innings, his longest outing of the season.
It won’t be ahead of Friday’s series opener, but the Blue Jays will activate Addison Barger at some point this series. The working theory is that it’ll be ahead of Saturday’s game. It would be nice to get his bat, along with Alejandro Kirk’s, back in the lineup.

Probable pitchers

Friday: Dylan Cease/Reid Detmers

Saturday: Trey Yesavage/Jack Kochanowicz

Sunday: Eric Lauer/José Soriano

Game times

Friday: 7:07 PM ET

Saturday: 3:07 PM ET

Sunday: 1:37 PM ET

CHECK OUT OFF THE ROSTER – NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEKDAY

Off The Roster is Toronto sports. Hosted by Cabbie Richards, Lindsay Dunn, and Dan Riccio, this is the go-to morning conversation for everything happening in the 6ix – Hockey, Baseball, Basketball and everything in between. From breakout performances and questionable trades to throwback jerseys, viral moments, and the stories fans are actually talking about—it’s smart, sharp, and never scripted. Live weekday mornings on the Nation Network YouTube channel and available wherever you stream podcasts, the show delivers real opinions, real chemistry, and real Toronto energy. Missed an episode? Catch up anytime. Off The Roster—The new sound of the 6ix.