Blue Jays AL East Recap: Blue Jays Regress

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.

New York Yankees: 25-16
Baltimore Orioles: 25-17
Boston Red Sox: 22-21
Tampa Bay Rays: 23-23
Toronto Blue Jays: 19-26

The Blue Jays lost all momentum they carried into the week, and barely salvaged the it with two wins. The rough week comes as a mighty set back after the Blue Jays clawed their way to .400. Toronto now sits four and a half games back from .500, and eight games behind the East leading Yankees. Their set backs on the field were maximized by the set backs off the field. Kevin Pillar was suspended two games for a homophobic slur. Both Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson faced set backs in making it back off the Disabled List. Aaron Sanchez was also placed on the Disabled List for the third time this season. His lingering blister issue still not recovered.

The Blue Jays did see some positives. Marco Estrada rebounded after a dismal start against the Braves and struck out 12 Orioles in route to a win. Marcus Stroman helped avoid a sweep in Atlanta by pitching, and hitting the team to victory. Russell Martin is back from the Disabled list, giving the Jays his excellent defense and a much needed boost to the batting order. With Aaron Sanchez down, a timely return from Francisco Liriano would be a boon for the rotation.

Final Takeaway:

The Blue Jays are quickly approaching the end of the rope. Breathing room will become few and far between heading into July, and the Blue Jays will need to find immediate success, with or without the regular stars. If they hope to even contend for the final Wild Card spot.

New York Struggles, But Stays Ahead

25-16

The New York Yankees faced some adversity this week. After winning a series against the Kansas City Royals they were handed some tough losses by the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite being under .500 for the week, the excellent team is still leading the East. The Bombers have been relying heavily on their amazing offense, led by offensive wunderkind, Aaron Judge. With the likes of Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius back in the fold, one of the best offenses in baseball is set for even more production.

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The Yankees weak point thus far has been the rotation. While the back end of the rotation hasn’t figured it out quite yet, the front end of their staff has been better than advertised so far. Despite the loss of Aroldis Chapman, a stocked bullpen and the brilliant arm of Dellin Betances should keep the Yankees a float. The Yankees get a rematch with the Royals to start the week and face the Oakland Athletics at the end of the week.

Final Takeaway:

The New York Yankees face some easy competition this week, and can easily pull away from the rest of the pack with some well timed offense and decent rotation starts.

Battlin’ Boston
22-21

A down week by their foes saw little upward movement from the Boston Red Sox. Boston saw successes against the St Louis Cardinals to start the week, but suffered some big losses to the Oakland Athletics at the end of the weekend. The Red Sox are still down by four games in the division, and clinging closer to .500 than the top. Eduardo Rodriguez was the highlight of an otherwise disappointing week for Boston’s rotation. Chris Sale has been the only consistent force this year, and a rebound from Rodriguez would help the rotation stay float while waiting for another ace, David Price to return. Red Sox bullpen arms did their best to mitigate the damage, but achieved mixed results bailing out the rotation arms.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend was the Red Sox offense. Despite coming alive to end the week, the Red Sox still suffered some pretty heavy adversity during the first three games of the Oakland series. Athletic bats matched Red Sox production pace for pace to start the weekend, something the Red Sox should have blown past. Boston will have to battle against a surging Rangers team and a struggling Mariner team this week, they’ll need to match the Rangers toe for toe to gain ground on their foes.

Final Takeaway:

The Red Sox have made little advancement past the middle of the division. Experts would not have predicted the Red Sox competing with the Tampa Bay Rays at this stage of the season, yet here we are.

Rays Appear Poised for Breakout
23-23

The Tampa Bay Rays have always managed to find success spoiling the fun of their division foes. But fresh off series wins against the Cleveland Indians and the Yankees, the Rays appear poised to strike at a soft American League East. Less than five games behind the division leader, the Rays could astonish the Baseball world as key players return from the disabled list one by one. Tampa Bay is managing to keep pace while their players are on the shelf (something the Jays have largely failed to do). The Rays could be just a few weeks away from surging into the competitive scene.

While the Rays received word that Shawn Tolleson would indeed miss most of the year, most of the rest of their injured stars are close to making it back to the team. In the mean time, the offensive contributions of Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson, and Derek Norris propelled the Rays offense against some sturdy foes. Tampa Bay’s rotation struggled slightly, but their bullpen kicked it into gear and gave them a solid week of competition. The Rays will square off against a weak Angels team before facing the strong Twins.

Next: Blue Jays: Navarro takes time off after almost losing his wife

Final Takeaway:

The Tampa Bay Rays have thus far proven baseball fans wrong. They have hung on long enough for key players to return, and could easily surge into contention in the coming weeks.