Blue Jays AL East Recap: Looking for W’s in all the Wrong Places

Steady it Goes for Baltimore
8-3

The Baltimore Orioles continue their hot start to the season. Their offense has proven to be as mighty as it was last year. That said the surprising success of their rotation has won them a fair share of close games. In the early going, their starters have performed excellently, even with 2016 staff ace Chris Tillman on the shelf. If their rotation can sustain this success once he returns, they’ll have one of the best staffs in Baseball.

The Orioles will be without one of their best in Zach Britton for awhile. With the amount of close games they’ve won, losing out on their All Star Closer for any time will hurt. Brad Brach now figures to handle most of the closing work. He’s more than capable of doing it, but it reduces the strength of their set up staff. They’ll hope Britton can come back in the 10 Days Time.

Final Takeaway:

With the sluggish starts of their competitors, the Orioles have taken an early lead in the East. If they continue to fire on all cylinders, they can quickly build upon this lead. If their rotation falters however, they’ll have some problems.

5 Game Win Streak for New York
8-4

It was quite the week for the Bronx Bombers. They entered the week 3-4, but ended it in second place at 8-4. They quickly dispatched the Rays before a somewhat surprising sweep of the Cardinals. Their rotation has held up remarkably well in the early going, but still remains one of their biggest problem areas. The real hero is their offense, which laid waste to opposing pitchers. The likes of Alex Cobb, Carlos Martinez, and Adam Wainwright all looked like fools in front of the Yankees.

Their bullpen is as good as advertised with Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman rarely making a mistake. Their rotation will continue to be the weak spot in the lineup, though they haven’t looked like a liability in the early going. It’s a long season though, and it’s easy to wonder if Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda can hold up in the long run.

Final Takeaway:

New York has assembled quite the squad of young players, and boy do they know how to hit. Their offense isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, despite their star slugger Gary Sanchez remaining out of the lineup. A good thing to have when you need to bail out a troubling rotation.

Rebounding in Boston
7-5

The Red Sox are finally starting to look like the contender many predicted they would be. Their offense has finally started to wake up and their bullpen has looked every bit the excellent staff it was built up to be. The Red Sox big weakness right now is still their rotation. While it was predicted that their rotation would be one of the best in the league, it has not performed that way. Chris Sale has been the dominant ace he is, but both Rick Porcello and Steven Wright have struggled. With David Price out, the rotation gallery of pitchers after these three leave much to be desired.

It seems only fitting that the Red Sox and Jays struggle out of the gate. While the Red Sox are by no means in a nose dive, they are not performing up to lofty expectations. Boston might find the East harder to win with a surprising Yankees’ offense, and the steady production of Baltimore. The Rays and Jays can’t be counted out yet either.

Final Takeaway:

The Red Sox have finally shown some signs of life, and will now look to build upon that momentum. They’ll have to figure out how to stop the Bombers and catch up with the Orioles, but they are very much capable of it.

Rays go from Stunning to Stunned
6-7

The Tampa Bay Rays looked more like their 2016 selves this week, managing just one win with 5 losses. Their team looks just as good as it did last week, but just couldn’t come up with more than a lone win. Tampa’s rotation had some excellent performances while their offense produced steadily. The biggest flaw was their bullpen. The Rays pen let up 17 runs in 4 games, 3 of which resulted in a loss. Only one loss wasn’t charged to the bullpen, a weaker showing than many were expecting.

The Rays received more bad news as Jake Odorizzi was able to pitch just 1 inning on Saturday, and has been placed on the Disabled list. Odorizzi is their #2 starter and looks like a future ace, any start missed by him will have an impact on Tampa. The Rays still have the ability to contend, but their inconsistencies may land them on the wrong side of .500 sooner rather than later.

Final Takeaway:

The Rays will need to get back to the form we saw in week 1 for them to keep pace in the AL East. They shocked the Baseball world with their success last week, and need to do so again to keep the dream alive in Tampa.

Next: Blue Jays: No, Dalton Pompey still isn't healthy