The Toronto Blue Jays are now looking at a 3.5 game lead over the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East division. This is coming off of a four game series in which the Jays took three out of four. The Blue Jays are now in a good position and have some wiggle room to work with; they have 19 games left on their schedule and 16 of them are against AL East rivals. Nine of the 19 games will be played at home, including the final three game series of the season against the New York Yankees. If the Blue Jays play it right, they could take the division while they play their final homestand. Expect Jays fans to turn out at Rogers Center in full force for that.
Mid-September Blue Jays Notes
Now on to a couple of Blue Jays notes: as many of you know, Troy Tulowiztki was injured in a collision with outfielder Kevin Pillar on Saturday against the Yankees. Tulo is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury, as it was announced that he has a small crack on his shoulder. The Jays and their fans are hoping that this won’t be a long term injury. His bat was finally starting to wake up, while his defense has been sharp since he came to Toronto. To all baseball fans and players out there: this is why you always call “I got it” when the ball is in the air. Luckily, the Blue Jays picked up Darwin Barney from the L.A. Dodgers to help shore up the defense along with players like Cliff Pennington and Ryan Goins. Barney will not be eligible to play in the post season this October, but he can help the Jays clinch a playoff spot.
Marcus Stroman and many Jays fans finally got their wish: Stroman pitched on Saturday, he had a decent game seeing as it’s the first big league action he’s seen all season long. Stroman earned his first victory of the season in a 10-7 game over the Yankees. He went on to pitch 5 innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs, and two walks while registering two strikeouts. Stroman’s good showing is a welcome sight for the organization, seeing as Mark Buehrle’s shoulder could be a problem down this final stretch and of course Drew Hutchison “can’t pitch on the road”. Now they have even more options, which could throw off the teams they are set to face for the rest of the month. The question for everyone that over-hyped his return is this: are you happy now?
Finally, the Blue Jays are the best offensive team in the league and while that is no secret, it is still a lot of fun to look at the traditional offensive stats that the Blue Jays have put up. As of Monday, the Jays are in first with 790 runs, first with 202 home runs, and first with 756 runs batted in. At the end of the season, the Blue Jays will have three players that will have hit over 30 home runs and driven in over 100 runs: Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, and Josh Donaldson. The good news is now that the Blue Jays know how to use Ben Revere, they have a great hitter, and in 39 games with the Jays he has recorded 50 hits and 30 runs scored.
The whole lineup can cause damage in the offensive categories. People often say it’s the era of the pitcher; well the Blue Jays ruin that on most nights. The last couple of seasons, and especially this year, have been the era of offense in Toronto, and it has been exciting to watch.
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