Jul 14, 2022; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Kansas City Royals center fielder Nate Eaton (18) reacts as he crosses home plate after hitting the first home run of his career against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

While a home series against the Kansas City Royals seemed like a great opportunity for the Toronto Blue Jays to finish a disappointing first half on a good note, the Blue Jays didn’t get off to a great start.

Thursday was the first of a four-game series in Toronto. The Royals were only 35-53 entering the series and had 10 unvaccinated players unable to cross the border, leading to several roster moves heading into the series.

It seemed like a prime sweep opportunity for the Blue Jays — but that will not happen. The Toronto bats were quiet in the first game of the series on Thursday, scoring only one run on seven hits. Kansas City didn’t have an offensive explosion but did enough to come away with a 3-1 victory.

Baseball is a highly unpredictable game-to-game sport, it’s normally not wise to overreact too much to one game, especially in mid-July. But this situation was different. Toronto is struggling but is a much better team than Kansas City, even when the Royals are full strength. So, it’s hard to simply ignore one loss.

Baseball fans did not and were highly critical of Toronto’s effort.

If the Blue Jays can manage to win the next three games and take three of four in the series, it will still be a net positive. But against this depleted roster, even a split would be a bad result and a series loss would be disastrous.

So, there will be a lot of pressure on the Blue Jays to right the ship over the weekend.

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