Blue Jays AL East Recap: Highs and Lows

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

Baltimore Orioles: 15-8

New York Yankees: 15-8

Boston Red Sox: 13-11

Tampa Bay Rays: 12-14

Toronto Blue Jays: 8-17

The Blue Jays faced some highs and lows and left April with plenty of questions. The Jays started the week by failing to secure a series win against the Angels. They then won game one against the Cardinals before things went sour. The Blue Jays would lose a double header to St Louis, and the first to Tampa Bay in large part to their bullpen. Toronto’s pen let up 13 runs during that period of time and squandered brilliant starts from Mat Latos and Marcus Stroman.

The Blue Jays turned it around during the weekend though. Francisco Liriano went strong through 5 innings followed by 4 shut down innings by the pen. After Aaron Sanchez‘ short debut, the bullpen managed to work 8 innings of just 4 hits and 1 run. Late offense by Russell Martin and Jose Bautista’s 1000th hit as a Jay, secured the win. The win was the first consecutive and series win for the Jays this season.

Roberto Osuna initially struggled to start the week, but secured back to back saves during the weekend. During those days he pitched 2 clean innings letting up just a hit with a pair of strikeouts. Aaron Sanchez is possibly headed back to the DL, after just one inning back. With an off day coming up, and the hopeful return of J.A. Happ. It’s possible the Blue Jays run with a 4 man rotation for the time being. Mat Latos appears to be the clear choice of spot starts after two admirable performances.

Final Takeaway:

The Blue Jays biggest weakness turned into their biggest asset this week. Toronto will need to see more of this bounce back resilience if they are to make it back to .500. Jays fans can, however, finally say the Blue Jays are not the worst team in Baseball.