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.

Red Sox Locked In
31-25

The Boston Red Sox are starting to look like the real deal. Chris Sale helped lead the charge against his former club the White Sox for a series win. They then battled with a recently resurgent Orioles team in route to a series split. This leaves the Red Sox 2 games outside of first, and in the lead for the top Wild Card spot overall.

The Red Sox offense has been as good as ever, helping bail out the bullpen and the rotation out of some tight jams. The Red Sox will get a chance to continue their successes against the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers this week.

Boston’s rotation got a huge boost with the return of David Price. The rotation now boasts, Sale, Price, and a Resurgent Drew Pomeranz at the top of the order. Rick Porcello is still looking to find the magic that landed him CY Young last year. Eduardo Rodriguez had been looking better, but the has landed on the DL.

Boston’s squad will be even more complete with team Captain Dustin Pedroia close to returning from injury. With a full squad and a dominant rotation front end, the Red Sox could quickly become the best team in the league.

Final Takeaway:

The Red Sox are quickly earning the praise from the off season. All of Baseball can finally watch the tandem of Price and Sale and weep if they hit a series with the top of the rotation.

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