Blue Jays AL East Recap: Jays Hang Tough

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: 32-22
Boston Red Sox 31-25
Baltimore Orioles: 29-26
Tampa Bay Rays: 29-30
Toronto Blue Jays: 28-29

The Toronto Blue Jays rode a  series sweep against the Reds into a tough battle against the AL East leading New York Yankees. Though tough, the Blue Jays left with a series split. The Blue Jays now sit a game outside of .500 and have been excellent at erasing the awful deficit from April.

Toronto now sits tied with the Rays, 5.5 games out of first, and 3.5 away from the Red Sox and the top Wild Card spot. The Blue Jays are nearing normalcy as both J.A. Happ and Francisco Liriano have returned form the DL to good results. Josh Donaldson belted 4 home runs in 5 games and hasn’t missed a beat since he came back.

Both Russell Martin and Devon Travis are day to day after suffering injuries, hopefully they’ll miss minimal amount of time. The Blue Jays have benefited from timely hitting as of late. Not only are they driving the ball out of the park, but they are doing so at key opportunities. Sunday’s game saw Justin Smoak drive his 14th ball out of the park to tie the game in the sixth. Donaldson followed up with a solo shot in the 8th that would be the deciding blow. To go along with this hitting the rotation has been solid and backed by surprising performances from most of the bullpen.

Final Takeaway:

Toronto will take their show on the road to face the Oakland Athletics and a hot Seattle Mariners. They tamed this Mariners team before, but will have to do so again in the confines of Safeco field. If successful the Blue Jays could be solidly on the otherside of .500 this time next week.