NFL
By: Greg Rector
After a stretch of series that saw the Toronto Blue Jays bats go silent in early and Mid-August, they have come alive since then. The scary thing for AL East opponents is the pitching hasn’t dropped off one iota. This current hot streak is coming at exactly the right time. As I write this the Blue Jays find themselves tied with the Boston Red Sox for the AL Wild Card spots. At one point in August, they had fallen as far as 5 games out of the race. When a baseball team gets all 3 aspects of the game pitching, defense, and hitting, it’s a beautiful thing to watch. No deficit is too great to be overcome, and most nights opponents struggle to put more than a couple of runs on the board. Here’s why the Blue Jays have powered themselves into a likely playoff spot.
[pickup_prop id=”4424″]Pitching:
With Lance Lynn”s injury and Gerrit Cole having his struggles, the clear front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award is now Robby Ray. Since July 1st he has easily been the best pitcher in the American League. Remember that stretch of no runs in August? Well, Ray had 5 starts in that stretch. He had zero decisions in those 5 starts. However, he left two games with the score tied at 2, another two with a 1-1 score, and the fifth start was a scoreless game when Ray left. Overall Ray has a 12 and 5 record, his ERA is 2.64, he’s got 233 strikeouts, and has pitched 178 innings. Since that July 1st date his ERA is a paltry 1.81, primarily against the AL East. Everyone knows that is simply spectacular considering the home run ballparks in the division. If not for the lack of runs in August Ray’s record would be looking even more impressive.
Rookie Alex Manoah has been equally as impressive. He has a 4-2 record with an ERA of 3.39 again a number that jumps out at you when you consider how many rookies have seen inflated ERA’s over the years after pitching in Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, and that god awful excuse of a ballpark in Tampa Bay. These two left-handers consistently keep hitters off balance. Both work quickly which makes the defense behind them happy campers as well.
The other starters Hyun Ji Ryu, Jose Berrios, and Steven Matz are equally keeping the Blue Jays in just about every game. Combine that with the work of the bullpen that is finally getting holds and saves when needed and this group has been outstanding. So much so that for the first time in over their 100 plus year history in a recent 4 game series they held the Yankees lineup to zero walks and zero extra-base hits in Yankee Stadium in the first two games of a four-game series and another record fell as well as the Yankees never had a lead in a four-game series. With this streak of very good pitching seeing opponents become clearly frustrated at times you see another win coming, and that’s a special feeling.
Hitting:
In any other season, the AL MVP race would be over. The winner would be Vladamir Guerrero Jr hands down. Leading the league in batting average, home runs, and six behind the RBI lead, add in his hits and runs scored lead and easily the 22-year-old is the MVP right? Not so fast folks, there’s some guy in California that is hitting and pitching a la the great Bambino himself Babe Ruth of over 100 years ago. Shohei Ohtani also is a starting pitcher (Though as of today he may not start again this season with a sore arm) So that has grabbed everyone’s attention. Never mind that Guerrero Jr has helped his team into a playoff spot, while Ohtani’s Angels are nowhere near them. This rare combination is likely to be rewarded with the MVP award. Guerrero Jr like the rest of the hitters had a falling off in that August stretch of games where the offense went AWOL. Unless he powers through with a huge home run streak I don’t see him overtaking Ohtani. At just 22 though Guerrero Jr will have other opportunities I hope.
Meanwhile, Marcus Semien, Beau Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez, and the rest of the hitters have taken a ten-home run lead over the San Francisco Giants. They have hit 233 home runs and appear destined to eclipse the team record of 257 at this point. The veteran Semien is headed for a huge payday as he has eclipsed his career-high in home runs and RBI’s. This lineup is simply a “Murderer’s Row,” right now. So much so that in the second game of a recent double-header against the Orioles, the Jay’s were hitless going into the final 7th inning. No problem folks, the Jay’s lit up the Orioles for 11 hits, scored 11 runs and 4 home runs later, game over. That was after putting up 11 runs in the first game. They had an 8 run comeback against the A’s as well in this current stretch. The one thing that has stopped this offense from being a nightmare the whole season has been the absences of George Springer due to numerous injuries. When Springer is the lead-off hitter the Jays lineup is deadly, in my opinion, the best in the American League.
The Blue Jays are on a roll and as long as the pitching and hitting remain as good as they’ve been the last three weeks they should return to the AL playoffs. If they go with 3 starters in a series of Ray, Manoah, and Ryun that’s as good as any other staff out there. The last piece of this puzzle is also very evident, returning home to Rogers Center has been so important to this team. After playing home games in Dunedin, Fl, and Buffalo, having games in front of their own fans while limited to just 15,000 in the park has made a huge difference. Many nights the crowd noise has reached a level where you would think there are far more than 15,000 in attendance. Hopefully, the numbers will be allowed to be larger if the Government of Ontario feels the vaccination rate and cases of Covid-19 are not on the rise. Pennant races are fun and being to watch the Blue Jay’s play is a treat right now.
As always you can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys so long from north of the border.
