TORONTO – In the week-and-a-half leading into this Bo Bichette-return series versus the New York Mets, the Toronto Blue Jays were, in the eyes of manager John Schneider, a team out of sync. Early deficits built against their starting pitchers were costing them “the time of possession war,” forcing the lineup to “play defence on offence a little bit and guys have to be a little bit more patient or try to do a little more … as opposed to kind of playing offence on offence.” There were other cascading effects, too, toll on the bullpen among them. 

To help the Blue Jays regain some rhythm, the coaching staff emphasized the team’s play “early in games, both when we're on the mound and at the plate, really,” said Schneider. “If you're playing from a hole, it's tough. The last series (against the Texas Rangers) was really frustrating. … It seemed like when we were limiting some runs, tough time generating runs. When we weren't limiting runs, it was OK, we can claw back. Generating offence early for us as a lineup is going to be important. And........

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