Blue Jays: A Rocky Rotation

The Toronto Blue Jays were projected to have one of the best rotations in the league coming into the 2018 season, but they have so far disappointed through the first quarter of the season.

Looking at the Blue Jays rotation in March everyone thought the team showed a lot of promise. Many sites and projections ranked them in the top ten, and deservedly so. With young great talents such as Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman and some of the most consistent pitchers in the game in J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada. Then Toronto brought in a solid fifth man in the shape of Jaime Garcia. Really what is not to love about the rotation before the season started. But then it all fell apart.

What Happened?

Well to be perfectly fair, I have no idea.

My best guess is just the league they play in. When you play in the A.L. East you are playing against players such as Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts. Not to mention the league as a whole has seen an explosion of home runs and offence.

The Blue Jays rotation (excluding Biagini) has some just terrible statistics. Their combined ERA is at 5.26 and their WHIP is at 1.45.

The best starter on the team right now is J.A. Happ who is playing like Happ always does. With a 3.67 ERA, he is average at best.

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The other four pitchers we can make up some reason as to why they are underperforming. Stroman’s shoulder is still probably bugging him, Sanchez didn’t pitch too much last year because of blisters, Estrada lost his touch with his strikeout change-up, and Garcia was never really that great, just a fifth starter for the team.

These are just some theories as to why they are playing the way they are but there is no really great explanation for how sub-par the team has been playing.

Thank God for Relief

Oh man, the bullpen has been saving the Jays from some really bad situations. I can confidently say that they are the reason Toronto is above .500 and they really make up for where the rotation isn’t performing.

Next: Blue Jays acquire Giovanny Urshela from the Indians

Tyler Clippard leads the team in wins as well as John Axford is playing really well all of a sudden.    I just wanted to give a quick shout out to the Pen because if it wasn’t for them we probably wouldn’t even be in wildcard contention.