Photo by Jose Francisco Morales
The Toronto Blue Jays sit in third place in the American League East division with 40 games left to play, trailing the Baltimore Orioles (7.5 games ahead of Toronto) and the Tampa Bay Rays (5 games ahead of Toronto).
The good news for the Blue Jays is that the AL East is the best division in baseball this year, with four of five teams sporting records above .500 and the last, the New York Yankees, only a game below that margin at 60-61 at the end of play on August 17.
What’s Gone Right?
The Blue Jays have dealt with more than their fair share of struggles this season. One player who has managed to rise above those issues is shortstop Bo Bichette, who leads the American League with 144 hits despite missing nearly two weeks due to injury.
Part of why they have been able to stay afloat in the AL East is because they aren’t blowing the opportunities they’re given: closer Jordan Romano (who hails from Markham, Ontario, just outside Toronto) has established himself as one of the better relievers in baseball, pitching to a 2.72 ERA and 29 saves in 32 attempts this season.
Third baseman Matt Chapman is putting together a fine year in his first season with the Blue Jays, and right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman’s 187 strikeouts in 144.1 innings rank second in the American League, his 3.24 ERA helping to compensate for Manoah’s struggles.
Backed by a robust roster, savvy off-season strategies, an unyielding commitment to victory, and the enduring support of their fans, the team stands ready with the fundamental prerequisites for a promising playoff drive that could captivate the interest of Ontario sports betting followers.
What’s Gone Wrong?
To be honest, it’s a miracle that the Blue Jays are even in this position to begin with: it seems like everything that could go wrong for them has to this point in the season. In a division as top heavy as the AL East is, where a rough patch that goes on for a week or two could doom the season as heavyweights like Baltimore and Tampa Bay pull away, the Blue Jays have managed to tread water through their struggles regardless.
First and foremost is the collapse of third year right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah. Tabled by many as a Cy Young award favorite ahead of the season (after coming No. 3 in the voting last season), Manoah fell apart in 2023, pitching to a 5.87 ERA and averaging less than five innings per start (87.1 innings pitched across 19 games). The Blue Jays sent him down to their rookie ball training facility in the Florida Complex League in June, hoping to give him some time to work on what’s bothered him, but after another brief stint in the majors in July, they sent him back down to Triple-A.
Their presumptive ace entering the season struggling to hold on to a roster spot is difficult enough, but the Blue Jays have seen some of their impact bats fall off a cliff as well.
24 year old slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has managed just 18 home runs through 118 games this year, a far cry from his 2021 season where he challenged for the AL MVP award. Outfielder George Springer, similarly, has seen his bat fall below league average (his OPS sits at 99 to this point in the season) after being one of the Blue Jays’ most consistent bats during his first two seasons north of the border.
Outside of Gausman, the Jays’ rotation has struggled quite a bit… but they have one of the best bullpens in baseball to make up for it with Romano, Trevor Richards, Erik Swanson, Tim Mazya and Nate Pearson.
What’re Their Chances?
Right now, Fangraphs gives the Blue Jays a 65.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, which is pretty good when you consider they’re holding on to the last of three wild card spots.
Toronto holds a half game lead over the Seattle Mariners for that spot, but they’ve struggled in recent weeks as injuries start to pile up: Bichette, for one, and Chapman missed a couple games with a finger injury too.
If the left side of their infield defense is banged up down the stretch, that could prove disastrous for Toronto.
The good news is that they have some of the best talent in the league, and players like Guerrero and Springer are going to find a way out of their respective funks eventually. If Toronto needs a player to catch fire down the stretch to boost them into the postseason, they have a roster full of potential candidates to do so.
That’s part of why they largely stood pat at the trade deadline, tinkering with their roster instead of going for broke to acquire any big fish: they already have those big fish on the team, just waiting to return to form.
