Monday's series opener kicks off at 7:07 PM ET at Rogers Centre, and the vibes around these two teams could not be more different right now. The Astros are 35-41 and have been mashing the bottom of the AL West all month, while the Blue Jays have stacked three straight at Fenway to climb back to within a game of .500. The pitching matchup is the only thing the Jays will not have a definitive read on heading in, because Max Scherzer just landed on the 15-day IL with back spasms and Toronto is scrambling rotation pieces around him. Houston is in the same boat from a different angle — Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier, Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter are all on the shelf, which is a wild amount of rotation depth to be missing in one trip north. The Astros' offense is the louder problem though. They scored 4, 4 and 0 in their last 3 games against Detroit and Kansas City and got blown out 9-3 in the middle of that stretch. Jeremy Pena and Isaac Paredes have been carrying the heavier load, but with Carlos Correa out for the year post-ankle surgery and LaMonte Wade Jr. on the IL, there is not a lot of margin to play with on nights when the top of the order goes quiet. Toronto has the better story going. The Jays just took 3 straight from the Red Sox by scores of 6-1, 3-0 and 4-3, and Daulton Varsho is trending toward an activation off the 10-day IL this week per Blue Jays manager John Schneider. Getting his glove back in center alone tightens up a defense that has been carrying the rotation through the Scherzer/Berrios/Bieber/Francis avalanche of arm injuries. Houston is 35-41 for a reason. The pitching depth is shredded, the lineup is leaning on 2 guys, and they are now walking into a building where the home team is the hottest version of itself it has been in weeks. Monday's opener feels like a Toronto game to lose — and given the way the Jays just went into Fenway and choked the Red Sox out, that is not a great spot for the visitors.