When the Blue Jays starting rotation was announced, many people were confused by the order.
Marco Estrada was chosen as the opening day starter, which isn’t that odd, he was one of the Blue Jays best starters, but it was odd to see Aaron Sanchez as the fifth starter after leading the AL in ERA. It almost felt like they just chose the starting rotation at random.
In fact, Marco Estrada joked that with how deep their rotation is, they may have.
When asked about his spot in the rotation, Estrada told Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com:
“[They] basically had a hat and they just pulled my name out and it happened to be my turn”.
As Chisholm says in his article, “There's some self-deprecating humour in that line, but more than anything, it's a nod to the depth of the rotation”. Many believe that the Blue Jays have the best starting rotation in the AL, and Gibbons agrees, as he stated that “Any of them could have” started opening day.
If the Blue Jays want to return to the Playoffs this season, they will once again need a strong season from their rotation, which is why they definitely didn’t pull names out of a hat for this decision.
