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.

Yankees Fight to Maintain Lead
32-22

The Yankees fought against some tough competition this week. They lost their opening series against Baltimore and only a split against the Blue Jays. This leaves them in first by 2 games and ahead of the Jays/Rays by only a 5.5 games. New York has now allowed the division open to more competitors instead of closing it off. The down week overshadows all the good this team has going for them. Despite the losing record on the week, New York’s bats continued to rake. A strong showing from their rotation shone through as well.

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The Yankees are evaluating Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, shutting him down from Baseball activities with concussion like symptoms. Though a star, this is should not prove an issue for a team as deep as New York. New York’s Aaron Judge hit Baseball’s best 18th home run this week following up on his AL Rookie of the month campaign with even more All Star and MVP worthy season.

The Yankees have not time to relax though. They’ll have to defend their title against the Red Sox and Orioles this week.

Final Takeaway:

The Yankees faltered a bit this week, opening the flood gates for others to contend. With everything firing properly, they could very easily shut down their competition and lock down the division.

Orioles Fight Back
29-26

Baltimore’s offense showed signs of life this week, helping to address fears of regression. The Orioles bat’s had been lacking in recent weeks, but came to life against the Yankees and Red Sox this week. They won an opening set against the division leaders before splitting a 4 game weekend set with the Red Sox.

On the week they snapped a losing streak and went on a 3 game streak. The Orioles hold on to 3rd and they are now 3.5 games out. Helping to lead the charge was Manny Machado who snapped an 0-18 stretch at the plate and is looking more like his old self at the plate.

The offense has helped to bail out a rather week rotation. Chris Tillman has been a far cry from his dominant self on the mound, and Kevin Gausman has struggled lately as well. Young Ace Dylan Bundy has also struggled lately. Brad Brach has helped to anchor a strong bullpen still without Zach Britton. The Orioles will be playing the Pirates to start the week before a rematch with the Yankees to end the week.

Final Takeaway:

The Orioles offense has started to wake up. They’ll be the key to getting this team back in fighting shape. A struggling Pirates team could help them tune up for a rough weekend set.

Rays Struggle Away
29-30

The Tampa Bay Rays struggled away this week. Despite winning a series against the Texas Rangers they were crushed by the Mariners to end the week. They now sit a game below 500 and are tied with the Blue Jays in the last place.

The Rays offense has been key to their successes lately, and their bats were alive and well against the Rangers, but silent in Seattle. Tampa’s rotation has struggled recently as well, their starters let up 31 runs on the week. Including a Alex Cobb being shelled by Seattle for 14 hits and 9 runs. This performance has created much fatigue with their relief corps as well. Especially as Erasmo Ramirez, their usual inning eater, is filling in again in the rotation.

The news doesn’t get much better elsewhere. Brad Miller is expected to return from the DL to help compliment their offensive capabilities but they did lose Matt Andriese to the DL as well. Derek Norris is also Day to Day with back spasms. Tampa will look to get off to a good start on their stint at home playing the White Sox and the Oakland Athletics.

Final Takeaway:

Tampa Bay is getting the offensive production they could have hoped for lately, but has seen leads evaporated as their rotation and bullpen have deteriorated in quality. As they get more and more plagued by injuries, they could fall even further in the standings.

Next: Blue Jays What If’s Part 3: The Donaldson Trade