Week 6

Currently the Toronto Blue Jays are sitting at .500, putting them at second place in the AL east (Boston and NY are also sporting .500 averages, both have played two games fewer than the Jays). While it is promising to see this position in the standings, this won’t continue to hold, knowing the strength of every other team in the division. Despite Tampa Bay sitting at 17 wins and 23 losses, it’s expected that they’ll go on a hot streak at some point and become a competing team once again, shown by them tying with the Yankees for the most playoff finishes over the past six years, with four for each team. The Jays can’t get too comfy, as they will need to step up their play if they want to continue to be a competitor in the AL east. Out of all teams in the AL east, the Jays hitting is currently 4th in OBP, but 1st in home runs, RBI’s, total bases, and slugging. Hitting isn’t a problem for the Jays, but you already knew that. What you also knew is that the Jays pitchers are struggling, but compared to the rest of their division it could be much worse. In the AL east their starters are 1st in ERA, 4th in strikeouts, 1st in opponent batting average, 5th in fewest walks and 5th in WHIP. While strikeouts and walks are a problem for the starters, ERA and opponent batting average are two very promising stats, showing that they are managing to get outs and not allow runs, despite the low strikeouts. The starters should try to simplify their approach and mainly focus on throwing fastballs for strikes, and develop their offspeed pitches from there. Their relief pitchers are 5th in ERA, 4th in opponent batting average, 1st in strikeouts, 5th in fewest walks, and 4th in WHIP. This is where it gets less promising for the pitchers, for obvious reasons. Out of the Jays 20 losses up until now, the relievers have accounted for 9 of those losses. That total is 4th highest in the MLB, higher than any team in the AL east. Once Janssen gets working again and Stroman starts adjusting to MLB batters the totals will hopefully become better, let’s just hope those days come soon.