Opening Day and the Jays

 Hello Friends!

Yesterday was Opening Dy across baseball and today I was pondering. After realizing the 2016 Cubs win was the first time the Cubs won in Wrigley, I started thinking about Opening Day win/loss records and Home Opener Win/Loss records.. 

Specifically for the Toronto Blue Jays. So.. I decided to look into it. After a quite messy method, I got my answers.

Of course, to log the Opening Day record, we have to go back to the first Opening Day for the Jays. 1977. April 7 had a nice blizzard blow in before the game, but the team was determined to have the game played. I'm sure many have seen the videos of players clowning around using shinpads as skis and bats as ski poles, etc.. After getting the Zamboni from the Maple Leafs to clear the infield, the game was underway..

We know the Jays won that fateful game 

But how about Opening Days after? 

To find my answer, I combed through Baseball-Reference and the box scores page for the Jays for ever year from 1977 to 2023. 

Originally I was going to just focus on Opening Day but then I also decided on Home Openers as well.. 

My methodology is this.. If it was an Opening Day game in Toronto, it counts as both Opening Day and Home Opener.. If they started the season on the road, The record would be recorded in Opening Day only. For the Home Openers, unless it was Opening Day, they were logged separate. 

As we know, Doug Ault was the hero of the day in 1977 with two homeruns..

Anyway..

In Opening Day games, the Jays were 26-21

In Home Openers, they were 30-17

I find it funny that a lot of the Home Opener wins came when they were either horrible, or mediocre.

Most of their Opening Day losses came on the road. Of course, we know they won last night, but I didn't add it to the data, since the Home Opener is April 8..