Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman has bounced back from a five-walk outing with one strikeout after another
Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast 'Deep Left Field.' Follow him on Bluesky: @wilnerness
Nobody ever said being the closer was easy. The expectation is perfection. Anything less, especially for someone new to a team, gets the fans riled up and leads to questions about whether there needs to be somebody else in the role.
Jeff Hoffman's last blown save fanned those flames awfully hard. After not having pitched in a week, he came in to protect a one-run lead with two on and two out in the eighth inning in Los Angeles on Aug. 10 and proceeded to walk the first two batters he faced, handing the Dodgers the tying run.
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