Game Preview: Split-Squad action

The Blue Jays will play at home versus Detroit, while simultaneously playing an away game against the New York Yankees.

Split-squad days are common practice during spring, and allow teams to play multiple games in a day and give more players a chance to develop as well as streamline scheduling.

Teams generally have a couple of split-squad days throughout the Spring. The Blue Jays have three in 2025.

Friday's home contest sees Chris Bassitt take the mound for the Blue Jays versus the Tigers in his Spring debut, while Jake Bloss gets the nod against the Yankees in Tampa.

Bassitt will look to find his footing early in 2025 after an up-and-down and inconsistent 2024 which saw the veteran go 10-14 with 4.16 ERA in 31 starts.

Friday's game will be the second spring training for Bloss. In Sunday's contest against the Red Sox, Bloss came on in relief of Yariel Rodriguez and gave up two runs in 1.2 innings.

After being rushed to the majors last year while playing for Houston, Bloss' focus this spring will be building his strength and stamina as the Blue Jays seek to lengthen him out.

Scheduled to start the year in Triple-A, Bloss is first on the Blue Jays starting depth chart and will likely be the first in line for a call-up due to injury or ineffectiveness of the starting five.

Game one against the Tigers starts at 1:07pm ET, while the away game versus the Yankees begins at 6:35 ET. Both games can be seen on SportsNet.