Blue Jays and the full AL East Recap: Week 5

Despite positives, Blue Jays lose ground in the AL East

Each week, Jays Journal will take a look at the bigger picture of the AL East to help frame not only where the Blue Jays are in the standings, but why they are there.

Baltimore Orioles: 18-12
Boston Red Sox: 18-13
Tampa Bay Rays: 15-14
Toronto Blue Jays: 16-17
New York Yankees: 11-18

Despite a four-game win streak that saw the team win a four-game series against Texas and the first in the series against the Dodgers, the Blue Jays ultimately fell short of maintaining at least a .500 record again. The bullpen was still the team’s biggest weakness giving up two of the week’s three losses.

Drew Storen stands at the forefront of the problem as he’s a far cry from the form he was in during Spring Training, or even in any of his recent MLB seasons. If Storen can right things, it could be the momentum the bullpen needs to get from zero to hero.

Beyond those two losses, the bullpen did hold on long enough for the Blue Jays to walk it off in back to back games. These two games proved that the ‘pen isn’t all doom and gloom. Joe Biagini looked very good, allowing just an unearned run over three solid innings with just two hits, a walk, and a pair of strikeouts.

The offence looked poised for a breakout after the Blue Jays’ 12-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday, but the weekend treated the Blue Jays poorly as they faced Clayton Kershaw and the solid back-end of a bullpen the Dodgers have assembled.

The offensive setbacks are troubling, currently the Blue Jays barely scratch the top ten of any offensive stat. They will look to exploit a struggling San Francisco rotation in the Bay this week, especially Jake Peavy and Matt Cain.

Final Takeaway:
Early week positives gave way to weekend woes as the Blue Jays had an above-.500 week, but still settled for a below-.500 record on the season. Surging rivals made the weeks losses all the more profound.

Next: Baltimore Maintains Pace

Despite a Down Week, Boston Keeps Chasing

Boston Red Sox: 18-13

The Red Sox had a .500 week as they won a series against the White Sox early in the week, only to lose the series to the Yankees this weekend. The story remains positive for the Red Sox.

Their dominant ‘pen and powerful offence helped a shaky rotation keep pace this week. While not as solid as last week’s performance, the Red Sox’ rotation looked a lot better this week than it has in the past. Continued success from their starting arms will allow the Red Sox to keep chasing the Orioles and first place in the division.

However, the Red Sox are not without their troubles. Staff ace David Price was rocked again this week, and although his 4-1 record is appealing, the rest of his stats are not.

Price currently carries the highest ERA of their starting rotation at 6.75, his WHIP is in the bottom half of the rotation as well. And while his strikeouts are as high as ever, this is not the Price the Red Sox paid for.

Additionally, Boston lost Pablo Sandoval for the rest of the season with an injury, while replacing him in the short term is not a problem it does raise season-wide concerns for the team as a whole.

Final Takeaway:

Despite successes, the Red Sox have shown some signs of weakness. If the Sox are healthy, they are a team to be feared, player longevity may very well be their key to success.

Next: Rays Surge at Right Time

Rays Have Success Against the West

Tampa Bay Rays: 15-14

Ending the week with a four-game win streak has landed the Rays above .500 and in third place in the division. Consistent offence combined with a strong showing from their rotation allowed the Rays to roll, splitting their series against the Dodgers before dominating the Angels.

They’ll seek further success against the Mariners and the Athletics this week.

For the first time all season it appeared as if Tampa’s offence and pitching were in total sync, as their rotation looked strong in conjunction to a productive offence. Their bullpen was also very productive, netting Erasmo Ramirez yet another win in relief.

So far the relief staff for the Rays has more total wins than the rotation, Chris Archer leads starters with two. While this may seem as a weakness, it is in fact the same strategy they employed last year. Following in similar steps to the reigning champs the Royals. Only this year, the Rays may have the offence to stay more competitive in the division.

Final Takeaway:

The Rays offence was consistent, and their starting rotation was good enough to hand games over to the dominant pen. Despite a weak rotation, the Rays are seeing positive results.

Next: Yankees Remain Hit or Miss

Yankees Remain Consistently Inconsistent

New York Yankees: 11-18

The Yankees’ offence was inconsistent, looking grand at times, and looking bleak during others. CC Sabathia looked like a front-end starter in the New York rotation again, delivering a stunning performance on Wednesday that saw the Yankee’s put up seven runs.

With 20 runs scored in the past week, the Yankees still only managed to play .500 ball. One of the primary reasons is that 15 of the 20 runs came in just two games, as they spread out five runs across the other four. Their weekend series win against the rival Red Sox mostly just played spoiler for Boston’s bid at first place in the AL East.

The Yankees have a lot to do to get back on track, most importantly finding consistency in their offence. When they are mashing, it doesn’t matter how hard the rotation is struggling. If CC Sabathia or any other starter steps up and be consistent atop the rotation, the Yankees will look like the team they did at the beginning of the season.

With Aroldis Chapman set to see play for the first time this season, the Yankees will be able to manage with just a few extra innings out of their rotation.

Next: Jays head to San Fran: Full series previews and matchups

Final Takeaway:

With Chapman poised to make the bullpen even better, the Yankees just need to find consistent offense and starting pitching.