5 Reasons Why the Blue Jays are Better Than the Yankees

Sep 21, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Bautista (19) celebrates the win with third baseman Donaldson (20) at the end of a game against the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre. The Toronto Blue Jays won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The Record

There may be lots of folks who say that stats and figures are well and good, but the game of baseball is played between the lines and all of those numbers get tossed out the window once first pitch is thrown. The real measure of one team over another is the result of the games they play. Well, let’s look at what that reveals.

The Blue Jays and Yankees have played a total of 17 games. The Blue Jays hold the 12-5 advantage.

It all started way back on April 6th when Drew Hutchison opened the season with a win in Yankee stadium. Remember? Devon Travis hit his first MLB home run. Hutch picked up his first win of the season and we were excited that our #1 starter looked good. Daniel Norris started game 3 and got the win. The Blue Jays would win 2 of the first 3 games of the season.

Toronto Blue Jays

Roughly a month later, the Blue Jays won the series again, this time at home. R.A. Dickey held the Yankees in check for the win in the opener. Marco Estrada dropped the second game, but Mark Buehrle took the victory in game 3. At that point, the Blue Jays held a 4 games to 2 advantage.

The two clubs would not meet again until the dramatic roster overhaul the Blue Jays went through. The Yankees hadn’t done much to make a playoff push. But, heading into the Trade Deadline, they were in first place. On August 7th, the Blue Jays marched into Yankee Stadium and swept the home team. The visitors outscored them 10-1 and shut them out in the final two games. It was a statement series that saw the AL East lead cut to 1.5 games.

Mid August saw the Yankees come to Toronto and win 2 of 3 games. They were close games, but credit has to go to the visitors. When the series started, the Blue Jays were up half a game in the division race. By the end of it, the two clubs were still separated by 0.5 games. This time, the Yankees would be on top.

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The next time they would meet, the Blue Jays went into Yankee Stadium and asserted themselves in 3 of 4 games. It was a series that was impacted by the weather and included an old school double header that the Blue Jays won on the back of Marcus Stroman‘s improbable 2015 debut. By the time this series was over, the Blue Jays had built a 3.5 game lead in the division.

Now, the Blue Jays put an emphatic stamp on the season and sealed the lopsided advantage in head to head action with another series win in Toronto. The club started Price on Monday and wrapped up the series with Stroman on Wednesday. The rotation was laid out so that these guys would get the Yankees. And, it worked. Using their pitching advantage, the Blue Jays took 2 of 3 and increased their division lead to 3.5 games with 10 games remaining. Wednesday’s 4-0 shut out was an exclamation point on this head to head narrative.

It is clear that when the two teams have faced each other, the Blue Jays have been the better team. On any given day, any team can beat any other team. But, when you look back at all of the games combined, the Blue Jays have bested their rivals.

Next: Blue Jays vs Yankees: The 10th Player!